Divers have recovered a telegraph machine from the wreck site of the Lusitania off the south coast.

The main ship's telegraph was found during licensed dives recently and its position was marked on the sea bed.

An attempt to retrieve the telegraph last July failed due to equipment failure, however questions were raised at an Oireachtas committee meeting as to why a diver was allowed carry out the botched operation without an archaeologist present.

Yesterday, the telegraph was brought to the surface under the supervision of an archaeologist from the National Monument’s service.

Another telegraph from the Lusitania was recovered last October.

Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Heather Humphreys said US businessman Greg Bemis, the owner of the wreck and who authorised the recent dives and recovery operation, plans to put the telegraph found last year on display in a local museum.

The Cunard British cruise liner, the largest ship in the world when built, was torpedoed by a German U-boat off the coast of Co Cork on 7 May 1915, with the loss of 1,201 lives.

Its wreck, 11 nautical miles off the Old Head of Kinsale, is regarded as a war grave and protected by an Underwater Heritage Order under National Monuments Acts.

Among the liner's 1,266 passengers and around 696 crew, there were 129 children, of whom 94 died as the ship, sailing from New York, sank in just 18 minutes.

Built at the John Brown shipyard on the River Clyde in Scotland, the Lusitania was carrying 159 Americans, of whom 128 were killed.

The ship's captain, William Turner, who survived after the ship went down, had received messages on the morning of the disaster that there were German submarines in the area and he altered course.