Balsa (Roman town) Balsa (Roman town) Balsa was a Roman coastal town in the province of Lusitania, Conventus Pacensis (capital Pax Julia). The modern location is in the rural estates of Torre d'Aires, Antas and Arroio, parish of Luz de Tavira, county of Tavira, district of Faro, in Algarve, Southern Portugal. Balsa is a pre-Roman place-name with a probable Phoenician etymology: "B'LŠ...", a possible theonym connected with the older Phoenician occupation of neighbouring Tavira. It is mentioned by Pomponius Mela (DC III 1, 7), Pliny (HN IV 35, 116), Ptolemy (GH: II 5, 2), and Marcianus of Heracleia (PME: II, 13). Mints bronze
RMS Lusitania Some of Wright's trips were directly over "Lusitania"; several photographs of "Lusitania" from that week still exist. When "Lusitania" was built, her construction and operating expenses were subsidised by the British government, with the proviso that she could be converted to an armed merchant cruiser (AMC) if need be. A secret compartment was designed in for the purpose of carrying arms and ammunition. When war was declared she was requisitioned by the British Admiralty as an armed merchant cruiser, and she was put on the official list of AMCs. "Lusitania" remained on the official AMC list and was listed as