LUSITANIA: A HISTORY OF THE                                               SINKING OF THE SHIP

 

By

CHARLENE BURTON

RIVERSDALE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

4B

 

Back in the twentieth century, the only way to travel the Atlantic was by an ocean liner. There was fierce competition between the rival lines. Passengers were not only expecting a speedy journey, but luxurious accommodations. In 1903 Lord Inver Clyde led the Cunard Line which began construction on two fast and luxurious ocean liners to challenge the German vessels that had held the “Blue Riband” since 1987. The Lusitania and Mauretania would be regarded as a firm reassertion of British supremacy at sea.

 

 

Lusitania was a grand ship which was launched at the river

Clyde in June 16, 1906. The Lusitania was a grand ship and it was the first of the two sister ships to be launched.

It was 785 feet in length and 31,550 gross tons, she took the title of the largest liner afloat. Her maiden voyage took place in September 7th, 1907, and in October 1907 she recaptured the coveted “Blue Riband” from the German liner Deutschland. The Lusitania and the Mauretania were declared by the New York Times as “unsinkable as ships can be”. The Lusitania was also noted by Sir Charles McLaren as the “the fastest and most powerful cruiser in the world”.

 

 

When World War One began in the summer of 1914, no one foresaw even the contours of the disaster ahead. “However, as the land offensives ground to a halt and the casualties raised this romantic view of war quickly disappeared”. At sea the war thought in theory to have produced a series of almighty contests between the bristling fleets of battleships. In practice, the German fleet after one major encounter off the coast of Denmark (the battle of Jutland) retreated to part

 

 

 

The German navel strategy for the remainder was to use their submarines in the Atlantic to starve British into surrender. “This type of submarine warfare had intensely to the level that Admiral Pohl stated that “it will be impossible to avoid danger to the crew of neutral ships”. The British, who could not cope with German submarines operating from Kiel to Bremerhaven which had sank over twelve million tons of allied shipping over the course of the war. There was a dramatic turn in the Atlantic war foot plane with the sinking of the Lusitania by submarine U-20 on the 7th of May 1915.

 

The construction of the Lusitania had been financed by generous loans from the British. In return for the generous loans, the Admiralty could requisition Lusitania or her sister in times of war. At the onset of World War 1 in August 1914, Lusitania, Mauretania and the newer ‘sistership’ Aquitania were officially requisitioned for war duites. All but Lusitania were given official orders, so Lusitania continued her regular transatlantic passenger services.

 

 

On the 1st of May 1915, the New York’s docks were getting ready for the sailing of the Lusitania. There was a big turnout of New Yorkers. The voyage would consist of

large numbers of American citizens setting out for their long destination to Ireland. A rumour had spread that the ship was carrying high explosives which were destined for warfronts.

 

 

 

 

On Thursday evening, May 6th, the Lusitania received a message from Queenstown that there had been submarines in the area. Lifeboats had been taken out in case of danger. Only twelve miles Southwest of the Old Head of Kinsale Lighthouse, off the coast of Ireland, the Lusitania had now come under great threat. Lieutenant Walter Schwieger (Captain of the U-20 submarine) was to bring death, woe and desolation on board that ship within the next eighteen minutes. As passengers on deck enjoyed a light breeze as they viewed the shores if Ireland, a disturbance was noticed on the mirror-calm sea off the starboard bow. This is followed by “a thin streak of white foam as a torpedo sped towards the Lusitanian and exploded under is bridge”.

 

The first explosion was quickly followed by a second. The ship’s bow had begun dipping into the sea. Women and children were to be safely into lifeboats. Captain Turner eagerly tried to head the doomed Lusitania north towards land, to find her out of control.

 

An unexpected power cut left the powerless ship in darkness. Panic-stricken passengers came on deck. As the ships began to sink beneath its feet, Turner stood calmly

giving orders to his crew. Husbands and Fathers stood tearful as the women and children were lowered onto the lifeboats which had capsized when they had reached the ocean. As the bow dipped to make its final death plunge, “the stern raised high in the water and exposed the brass propellers which glinted in the sunlight”. Tossed bodies like corks had been shrouded in smoke and steam. Finally, the water flattened and calmed which left a glass-like finish over the tomb of the Lusitania.

 

While the living cried out for some help, the dead drifted on by. A steamship and Heron and two trawlers gathered up the dead which later returned to Queenstown with over 100 bodies. “Queenstown became known as the town of “death”. This was due to the ever-increasing numbers of the dead bodies which had been recovered from the Lusitania and been put into temporary morgues throughout the town.

 

All that evening ‘a ghastly procession of rescue ships’ drew alongside the quay at Queenstown on the southern coast of Ireland. Under flaring gas torches, they landed the living and the dead. Most survivors were in shock, wrapped in blankets and staring silently ahead. Many were injured; at least two quick amputations, without unaesthetic, were conducted aboard the rescue fleet. Adult corpses were lifted ashore on stretchers to be stacked ‘like cordwood… among the paint kegs and coils of rope on the shadowy old wharves’. Sailors gently carried dead children and babies in their arms to the hastily improvised mortuaries. Waiting journalists recorded how one woman, a baby in her arms and a rough blanket donated by a sailor around her shoulders, refused to leave the quay. She waited, the very emblem of forlornness, ‘until the last survivor had passed, searching each face as it went by in the vain hope of finding her husband from whom she had been separated in the last terrible scene on the liner’s deck.

 

 

In total 1,198 lives were lost on the Lusitania “including 128 Americans”[1][1], 70 were children including 39 infants under the age of two years. 200 corpses were recovered from the sea while the remainders were never found.

 

The sinking of the Lusitania shocked the United States. President Woodwork Wilson was so affected by the news that he went into seclusion for two days, seeing and talking to no one but his family and White house staff. After the sinking, the outpouring of acrimony from the US took the German High Command by surprise and the skilled British propaganda machine did much to inflame public opinion in America against Germany. Cognizant of this perfect opportunity to incite the US into the war, the sinking loudly proclaimed as “Demonical” and the German Kaiser himself branded, “the Lord of Torture and Bloodshed”. The Germans expected as much from belligerent like Britain, but the volume and vehemence of the American protests took them off guard. There were cells for “action” and the U-boatman were vilified as “murderers” and “pirates”. Nevertheless even the most indignant shied away from demanding war and indeed, President Wilson declared that there was such a thing as being “too proud to fight”. It was the Germans failure to realize this fact, and press home their advantage, that was at the heart of Germany’s mistake.

 

In conclusion the sinking of the Royal Mail Ship Lusitania by U-20 on May 7th, 1915 was, arguably, one of the most notorious milestones of World War One. Popular history sees the sinking of The Lusitania as the start of the U-boats’ attack on British shipping. Some historians assert that “it was the most publicized tragedy of the First World War”. Others contend that it was the “major catastrophe” that finally shifted American opinion far enough for the country to seriously entertain the possibility of joining the struggle. However, by far the most serious consequences of the sinking, was the reaction of the Germans themselves. Appalled at the violence of the American response to the sinking,” the Kaiser called a halt to unrestricted submarine warfare in British waters”. Consequently, for the better part of two years, Britain enjoyed a respite from an all-out U-boat offensive, giving her some time to recoup her losses and build up both the merchant and naval shipping tonnage, as well as eventually goad the U.S into the war. This mistake would ultimately cost Germany World War One. The concept of a clean “no hard feelings” war which had prompted the fraternisation and games of football between opposing troops on the Western Front, mainly at the instigation of German soldiers singing ‘Silent Night’ at Christmas in 1914 was banished. Instead, the events of early summer 1915, including the destruction of the Lusitania, were signposts on the path to Guernica, Hiroshima and beyond. They heralded a time when the best available technology would be unleashed without warning on an enemy’s population regardless of age, sex and whether or not they were combatants in order to secure victory at the lowest cost to the attacker. Despite their protestations as to the moral superiority of their cause, each major power would feel compelled to follow that path. The new barbarism of total war had begun.

 

 

SHORT QUESTIONS:

 

SHORT QUESTION  1: EXPERIENCES/SKILLS

 

When I studied this topic I learnt:

1: I learnt my way through the local libraries to find books suitable for my project.

2: I learnt how to search the internet to find extra information for my essay.

3: I have learnt how to use Microsoft Word.

4: I have also learnt how to read and compare many different sources and put them together.

 

SHORT QUESTION  2:  REVIEW

 

Wilful Murder: The Sinking of the Lusitania by Diana Preston

 

 

On May 7th, 1915 a passenger ship crossing the Atlantic ship crossing the Atlantic sank with the loss of 1200 lives. On board were some world-famous figures, including multimillionaire Alfred Vanderbilt. But this wasn’t the Titanic and there was no iceberg. The liner was the Lusitania and it was torpedoed by a German U-boat. “Wilful Murder” is the story of the sinking of the Lusitania. The book looks at the events in their full historical context, while placing the human dimension at its heart. Using first-hand accounts of the tragedy the author brings the characters to life, recreating the splendour of the liner as it set sail and the horror of its final moments. Using British, American and German research material, Diana Preston aims to answer many of the unanswered and controversial questions surrounding the Lusitania: why didn’t the Cunard listen to warnings that the ship would be a target of the Germans? Was the Lusitania sacrificed to bring the Americans into War? What was really in the Lusitania’s hold? Was she armed? Had Cunard’s offices been infiltrated by German agents? And did the Kaiser’s decision to cease unrestricted U-boat warfare in response to international outrage expressed after the sinking effectively change the outcome of the World War One?

 

Since the sinking of the “Lusitania” in May 1915 she has been political fodder, the stuff of legend and the darling of conspiracy theorists. Preston’s latest book not only gives truly harrowing accounts of the liner’s sinking, but also explains why and how the “Lusitania” sank and the role the three governments (British, American and German) played in her demise.

 

The only, slight, criticism of the book is that Preston’s knowledge of other ocean liners (the “Lusitania’s” rivals) is a little hazy. She totally ignores the LUSITANIA’s first major rival, the “Olympic,” and erroneously states that the “Titanic” came into service in 1911.

 

 

SHORT QUESTION 3: BIBLIOGRAPHY

Soifer, Paul and Hoffman, Abraham.

U.S. History II, Cliffs notes, Nebraska, IDG Books worldwide, Inc. California, 1999.

 

Cunliffe, Barry, Bartlett, Robert, Morrill, John, Briggs, Asa and Bourke, Joanne. British & Irish History

Penguin books LTD. London, 2001.

 

Preston, Diana, Wilful Murder, The sinking of the Lusitania, Doubleday edition, Great Britain, 2002

 

Gardiner, Juliet, Wenborn, Neil The Companion to British History  Collins & Brown Limited, Great Britain, 1995

 

 

SHORT QUESTION 4: HOW THE ESSAY WAS WRITTEN.

 

I found out about this essay when I first came into History after Christmas. My teacher explained this essay was 20% of our Leaving Cert and basically this essay is really important. We were given a week to think about the topic we wanted to study and do our essay on. So it was really good the way we got a choice. When I decided on which topic I was going to study I went to the schools library to get my books which I would get my information out of. One of the books I chose was Wilful Murder: The Sinking of the Lusitania by Diana, Preston. I found this book very helpful I also used footnotes out of this book. I also used the internet to get information on the sinking of the Lusitania but I found the Books more helpful.

 

I planned out how I would do the essay and what information I would use. Then when I had my first draft written and I found more information I would put it in as footnotes. I typed up this essay using Microsoft Word. Then when it was typed up I made what ever changes or corrections where needed. When my essay was finished I printed it out and put it on the schools website.

 

 


 


[1][1] Juliet Gardiner & Neil Wenborn,The Companion to British History ,page 486