RMS LUSITANIA
History in brief
RMS
Lusitania was a Lusitania-Class British luxury ocean liner
owned by the Cunard Line and built by John Brown and Company
of Clydebank, Scotland, torpedoed by a German U-boat on May
7, 1915. The great ship sank in just 18 minutes, eight miles
(15 km) off the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland, killing 1,198
of the 1,959 people aboard. The sinking turned public
opinion in many countries against Germany, and was probably
a major factor in the eventual decision of the United States
to join the war in 1917. It is often considered by
historians to be the second most famous civilian passenger
liner disaster after the sinking of Titanic.
History in details
RMS Lusitania was a Lusitania-Class British luxury ocean liner
owned by the Cunard Line and built by John Brown and Company
of Clydebank, Scotland, torpedoed by a German U-boat on May
7, 1915. The great ship sank in just 18 minutes, eight miles
(15 km) off the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland, killing 1,198
of the 1,959 people aboard. The sinking turned public
opinion in many countries against Germany, and was probably
a major factor in the eventual decision of the United States
to join the war in 1917. It is often considered by
historians to be the second most famous civilian passenger
liner disaster after the sinking of Titanic.
Overview
Owned by the Cunard Steamship Company and built by John Brown and
Company, Lusitania was named for the ancient Roman province
of Lusitania, in present day Portugal. Lusitania sailed on
her maiden voyage to New York City on 7 September 1907,
arriving on 13 September 1907, thus taking back from the
Deutschland the Blue Riband record for the westbound
crossing.
Lusitania and her sister, Mauretania, were built during the time
of a passenger liner race between shipping lines based in
Germany and Great Britain, and were the fastest liners of
their day. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the
fastest Atlantic liners were German, and the British sought
to win back the title. Simultaneously, American financier
J.P. Morgan was planning to buy up all the North Atlantic
shipping lines, including Britain's own White Star Line. In
1903, Cunard chairman Lord Inverclyde took these threats to
his advantage and lobbied the Balfour government for a loan
of £2.6 million to construct the Lusitania and the
Mauritania; this was conceded, on condition that the ships
met Admiralty specifications and that Cunard remained a
wholly British company. The British Government also agreed
to pay Cunard an annual subsidy of £150,000 in order to
maintain both ships in a state of war readiness, plus an
additional £68,000 in exchange for carrying the Royal Mail.
Design, Construction & Trials
The Lusitania Class ships were designed by Cunard's resident
naval architect, Leon Peskett. Peskett built a large model
of the proposed ships in 1902 showing a three-funnel design.
A fourth funnel was implemented into the design in 1904
because it was needed to vent the exhaust from Parson's new
turbines which had been settled on as a powerplant. Peskett
also design this class of ship with a very narrow beam as
Cunard wanted high speed. In so doing stability was
sacrificed and the Lusitania & Mauretania had tendencies to
roll through the ocean in high seas. Before installing the
turbine powerplant in the ships, Cunard installed a smaller
version of turbine in it's soon to be launched Carmania,
1905, so as to get a stat report on the new technology's
operation.
Lusitania's
keel was laid at John Brown & Clydebank as Yard no. 367 on
16 June 1904. She was launched and christened by Mary, Lady
Inverclyde, on Thursday, 7 June 1906. Lord Inverclyde
(1861-1905) had died before this momentous occasion.
Much of the trim on Lusitania was designed and constructed by the
Bromsgrove Guild.
Starting on 27 July 1907, Lusitania underwent preliminary and
formal acceptance trials. During these trials she smashed
all speed records ever set in the history of the shipping
industry. The shipbuilder's engineers and Cunard officials
discovered that high speeds caused violent vibrations in the
stern, and this led to the fitting of stronger bracing.
After these modifications, the ship was finally delivered to
Cunard on 26 August.
Comparison with the Olympic class
The Lusitania and the Mauritania were smaller than the White Star
Line's Olympic class vessels (which in any case only entered
service five years later). Although significantly faster
than the Olympics would be, the insufficient speed of these
two vessels meant that Cunard could not guarantee a weekly
transatlantic departure timetable. To achieve it, Cunard
required a third ship and in response to White Star's
announced plan to build the Olympics, Cunard ordered the
third ship, the Aquitania. Like the three White Star
vessels, the Aquitania was slower than her two sisters, but
larger and more luxurious.
The Olympics also differed from the Lusitania and the Mauritania
in the way in which they were compartmentalised below the
waterline. The Olympics were divided by transverse
watertight bulkheads. The Lusitania also had transverse
bulkheads, but in addition had longitudinal bulkheads
running along the ship on each side, between the boiler and
engine rooms and the coal bunkers on the outside of the
vessel. The British commission that had investigated the
Titanic disaster in 1912 heard testimony on the flooding of
coal bunkers lying outside longitudinal bulkheads. Being of
considerable length, when flooded these could increase the
ship's list and "make the lowering of the boats on the other
side impracticable" — and this was precisely what later
happened with the Lusitania.
Career
Lusitania
departed Liverpool for her maiden voyage on 7 September 1907
under the command of Commodore James Watt of the Cunard Line
and arrived in New York City on 13 September. At the time
she was the largest ocean liner in service and would
continue to be until the introduction of her sister
Mauretania in November that year. During her eight-year
service, she made a total of 202 crossings on the Cunard
Line's Liverpool-New York Route.
In October 1907 Lusitania took the Blue Riband for eastbound
crossing from Kaiser Wilhelm II of the North German Lloyd,
ending Germany's 10-year dominance of the Atlantic.
Lusitania averaged 23.99 knots (44.4 km/h) westbound and
23.61 knots (43.7 km/h) eastbound.
With the introduction of Mauretania in November 1907, Lusitania
and Mauretania continued to swap the Blue Riband. Lusitania
made her fastest westbound crossing in 1909, averaging 25.85
knots (47.9 km/h). In September of that same year, she lost
it permanently to Mauretania
Hudson Fulton
celebration
Lusitania and
other ships participated in the Hudson-Fulton Celebration in
New York City from the end of September to early October
1909. This was in celebration of the 300th anniversary of
Henry Hudson's trip up the river that bears his name and the
100th anniversary of Robert Fulton's steamboat, Clermont.
The celebration also was a display of the different modes of
transportation then in existence, Lusitania representing the
newest advancement in steamship technology. A newer mode of
travel was the aeroplane. Wilbur Wright had brought a Flyer
to Governors Island and proceeded to make demonstration
flights before millions of New Yorkers who had never seen an
airplane. Some of Wright's trips were directly over
Lusitania; a few interesting photographs of Lusitania from
that week still exist.
War
Lusitania, like a number of liners of the era, was part of a
subsidy scheme meant to convert ships into armed merchant
cruisers if requisitioned by the government. This involved
structural provisions for mounting deck guns. In 1913,
during her annual overhaul, Lusitania was fitted with gun
mounts on her port and starboard bow sides, hidden from
passengers under large coils of docking rope.
At the onset of World War I, the British Admiralty considered
Lusitania for requisition as an armed merchant cruiser;
however, large liners such as Lusitania consumed too much
coal, presented too large a target, and put at risk large
crews and were therefore deemed inappropriate for the role.
They were also very distinctive; smaller liners were used as
transports, instead.
Many of the large liners were used for troop transport or as
hospital ships. Mauretania became a troop transport while
Lusitania continued in her Cunard service as a luxury liner
ferrying people between Great Britain and the United States.
The newer Aquitania was pressed into service as a hospital
ship while White Star's Olympic joined the Mauretania
trooping to the Mediterranean. Cunard however was kept on
notice from the Admiralty that Lusitania could be taken at
any time if hostilities increased and before the year 1915
was out. To reduce operating costs Lusitania's transatlantic
crossings were reduced to monthly voyages, and boiler room
Number 4 was shut down. Maximum speed was reduced to 21
knots (39 km/h), but even then, Lusitania was the fastest
passenger liner on the North Atlantic in commercial service
and 10 knots (18.5 km/h) faster than submarines. However,
the Lusitania underwent many changes, several of which were
a response to the war:
The Lusitania's name was painted out to protect her identity from
Germans.
The compass platform was added at the top of the bridge.
The Lusitania's funnels were painted all black instead of red
with two or three narrow black bands and black top, to
protect her identity from the Germans.
Another compass platform was added between first and second
funnels.
A pair of luggage cranes were added on the aft deckhouse.
The last change on the Lusitania, and once again to confuse the
Germans about her identity, the Lusitania flew no flags
during her last voyage.
On 4 February 1915 Germany declared the seas around the British
Isles a war zone: from 18 February Allied ships in the area
would be sunk without warning. This was not wholly
unrestricted submarine warfare since efforts would be taken
to avoid sinking neutral ships.
Lusitania was
scheduled to arrive in Liverpool on 6 March 1915. The
Admiralty issued her specific instructions on how to avoid
submarines. Despite a severe shortage of destroyers, Admiral
Henry Oliver ordered HMS Louis and Laverock to escort
Lusitania, and took the further precaution of sending the Q
ship Lyons to patrol Liverpool Bay. Captain Dow of Lusitania,
not knowing whether Laverock and Louis were actual Admiralty
escorts or a trap by the German navy, evaded the escorts and
arrived in Liverpool without incident.
On 17 April 1915 Lusitania left Liverpool on her 201st
transatlantic voyage, arriving in New York on 24 April. A
group of German–Americans, hoping to avoid controversy if
Lusitania were attacked by a U-boat, discussed their
concerns with a representative of the German embassy. The
embassy decided to warn passengers before her next crossing
not to sail aboard Lusitania.
The Imperial German embassy placed a warning advertisement in 50
American newspapers, including those in New York.
Last voyage and sinking
Lusitania
departed Pier 54 in New York on 1 May 1915. The German
Embassy in Washington had issued this warning on 22 April.
NOTICE!
TRAVELLERS intending to embark on the Atlantic voyage are
reminded that a state of war exists between Germany and her
allies and Great Britain and her allies; that the zone of
war includes the waters adjacent to the British Isles; that,
in accordance with formal notice given by the Imperial
German Government, vessels flying the flag of Britain, or
any of her allies, are liable to destruction in those waters
and that travellers sailing in the war zone on the ships of
Great Britain or her allies do so at their own risk.
IMPERIAL GERMAN EMBASSY,
Washington,
D.C. 22 April 1915
This warning was printed right next to an advertisement for
Lusitania's return voyage. The warning led to some agitation
in the press and worried the ship's passengers and crew.
Captain William Thomas Turner, known as "Bowler Bill", had
returned to his old command of Lusitania. He was commodore
of the Cunard Line and a highly experienced master mariner,
and had recently relieved Daniel Dow, the ship's regular
captain. Dow had been instructed by his chairman, Alfred
Booth, to take some leave, following his protestations that
the ship should not become an armed merchant cruiser, making
it a prime target for German forces. Captain Turner tried to
calm the passengers by explaining that the ship's speed made
her safe from attack by submarine.
Lusitania steamed out of New York at noon that day, two hours
behind schedule due to a transfer of passengers and crew
from the recently requisitioned Cameronia. Shortly after
departure, three blind passengers (evidently stowaways) were
found on board and detained below decks.
Passengers
Lusitania
carried 1,959 people on her last voyage, with 1,257
passengers and 702 crew aboard. Those aboard included a
large number of illustrious and renowned people such as:
Canadian businessman Sir Frederick Orr Lewis, 1st Baronet
(survived)
William R. G. Holt, son and heir of Canadian banker Sir Herbert
Samuel Holt (survived)
Montreal socialite Frances McIntosh Stephens, wife of politician
George Washington Stephens (died)
Mary Crowther Ryerson of Toronto, wife of George Sterling
Ryerson, founder of the Canadian Red Cross (died)
Lindon W. Bates, Jr., New York engineer, economist and political
figure (died)
British MP David Alfred Thomas (survived)
His daughter Margaret, Lady Mackworth, British suffragist
(survived)
Theodate Pope Riddle, American architect and philanthropist
(survived)
Edwin W. Friend, professor of philosophy at Harvard University
and co-founder of the American Society for Psychical
Research (ASPR) (died) (left a wife five months pregnant
behind)
Oxford
professor and writer Ian Holbourn (survived)
H. Montagu Allan's wife Marguerite (survived) and daughters Anna
(died) and Gwendolyn (died)
Actresses Rita Jolivet (survived), Josephine Brandell (survived)
and Amelia Herbert (died)
Belgian diplomat Marie Depage (died), wife of surgeon Antoine
Depage
New York
fashion designer Carrie Kennedy (died) and her sister,
Kathryn Hickson (died)
American building contractor and hotel proprietor Albert Bilicke
(died)
Renowned chemist Anne Justice Shymer, president of the United
States Chemical Company (died)
Playwright Charles Klein (died)
American writer Justus Miles Forman (died)
American theatre impresario Charles Frohman (died)
American philosopher, writer and Roycroft founder Elbert Hubbard
(died)
His wife Alice Moore Hubbard, author and woman's rights activist
(died)
Wine merchant and philanthropist George Kessler (survived)
American pianist Charles Knight (died) and sister, Elaine Knight
(died)
Renowned Irish art collector and founder of the Hugh Lane
Municipal Gallery in Dublin Sir Hugh Lane (died)
American socialite Beatrice Witherbee (survived), wife of Alfred
S. Witherbee, president of the Mexican Petroleum Solid Fuel
Company
Her son Alfred Scott Witherbee, Jr. (died) and her mother, Mary
Cummings Brown (died)
American engineer and entrepreneur Frederick Stark Pearson (died)
and his wife Mabel (died)
Genealogist Lothrop Withington (died)
Sportsman, millionaire, member of the Vanderbilt family, Alfred
Gwynne Vanderbilt (died) -- last seen fastening a life vest
onto a woman holding a baby.
Scenic designer Oliver P. Bernard (survived), whose sketches of
the sinking were published in the Illustrated London News
Politician and future United States' ambassador to Spain, Ogden
Haggerty Hammond of Louisville, Kentucky (survived) and his
first wife, Mary Picton Stevens of Hoboken, New Jersey
(died), a descendant of John Stevens and Robert Livingston
Stevens (parents of former New Jersey Congresswoman
Millicent Fenwick)
Dr. Howard L. Fisher, brother of Walter L. Fisher, former United
States Secretary of the Interior (survived)
Herbert S. Stone, New York newspaper editor and publisher,
creator of magazines The Chap Book and The House Beautiful,
son of Melville Elijah Stone (died)
Rev. Dr. Basil W. Maturin, British theologist, author and rector
of St. Clement's Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (died)
Debutant Miss Phyllis Hutchinson, 20-year-old niece of
businessman Robert A. Franks of West Orange, New Jersey,
financial agent for Andrew Carnegie (died)
Irish composer and conductor Thomas Whitwell Butler, better known
by his pen name T. O'Brien Butler (died)
Arthur H. Adams, president of the United States Rubber Company
(died)
James A. Dunsmuir, of Toronto, Canadian soldier, younger son of
James Dunsmuir (died)
Charles T. Jeffery, automobile manufacturer who became head of
the Thomas B. Jeffery Company after his father's death
(survived)
Paul Crompton, director of Booth Steamship Company Ltd. (died),
and his wife Gladys (died), six children (died), and nanny
(died)
Elisabeth Antill Lassetter, wife of Major General Harry B.
Lassetter and sister of Major General John M. Antill
(survived)
Josephine Eaton Burnside, daughter of Canadian department store
founder Timothy Eaton (survived), and her daughter Iris
Burnside (died)
Albert L. Hopkins, president of Newport News Shipbuilding and
Drydock Company (died)
Eastbound
Lusitania's landfall on the return leg of her transatlantic
circuit was Fastnet Rock, off the southern tip of Ireland.
As the liner steamed across the ocean, the British
Admiralty, by means of wireless intercepts, was tracking the
movements of U-20, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Walther
Schwieger and operating along the west coast of Ireland and
moving south.
On 5 and 6 May U-20 sank three vessels in the area of Fastnet
Rock, and the Royal Navy sent a warning to all British
ships: "Submarines active off the south coast of Ireland".
Captain Turner of Lusitania was given the message twice on
the evening of the 6th, and took what he felt were prudent
precautions. He closed watertight doors, posted double
lookouts, ordered a black-out, and had the lifeboats swung
out on their davits so that they could be launched quickly
if necessary. That evening a Seamen's Charities fund concert
took place in the first class lounge.
At about 11:00, on Friday, 7 May, the Admiralty radioed another
warning, and Turner adjusted his heading northeast,
apparently thinking submarines would be more likely to keep
to the open sea, so that Lusitania would be safer close to
land.
U-20 was low on fuel and only had three torpedoes left, and
Schwieger had decided to head for home. She was moving at
top speed on the surface at 13:00 when Schwieger spotted a
vessel on the horizon. He ordered U-20 to dive and to take
battle stations. The previous week, U-20 had encountered a
small cargo vessel and allowed the crew to escape in the
boats before sinking it; Schweiger could have allowed the
crew and passengers of the Lusitania to take to the boats,
but due to the Q-ship program, he considered the danger of
being rammed or fired upon by deck guns too great. The
Lusitania's captain had, in fact, been ordered to ram any
U-boat that surfaced; a cash bonus had been offered for
successful ramming.
Sinking
German drawing of the Lusitania being torpedoed. Incorrectly
shows torpedo hit on port side of ship
English drawing of the Lusitania being torpedoed. Incorrectly
shows "second torpedo"
The Lusitania is sinking as the Irish fishermen race to the
rescue. In fact, the launching of the lifeboats was more
chaotic.
1915 painting depicting the sinking of Lusitania by the German
submarine U-Boat U-20
The track of Lusitania. View of casualties and survivors in the
water and in lifeboats. Painting by William Lionel
Wyllie.Lusitania was approximately 30 miles (48 km) from
Cape Clear Island when she encountered fog and reduced speed
to 18 knots. She was making for the port of Queenstown (now
Cobh), Ireland, 70 kilometres (43.5 miles) from the Old Head
of Kinsale when the liner crossed in front of U-20 at 14:10.
One story states that when Kapitänleutnant Schwieger of the U-20
gave the order to fire, his quartermaster, Charles Voegele,
would not take part in an attack on women and children, and
refused to pass on the order to the torpedo room — a
decision for which he was court-martialed and served three
years in prison at Kiel. However, the story may be
apocryphal; Diana Preston writes in Lusitania: An Epic
Tragedy that Voegele was an electrician on board U-20 and
not a quartermaster.
The torpedo struck Lusitania under the bridge, sending a plume of
debris, steel plating and water upward and knocking Lifeboat
#5 off its davits, and was followed by a much larger
secondary explosion in the starboard bow. Schwieger's log
entries attest that he only fired one torpedo, but some
doubt the validity of this claim, contending that the German
government subsequently doctored Schwieger's log, but
accounts from other U-20 crew members corroborate it.
Lusitania's
wireless operator sent out an immediate SOS and Captain
Turner gave the order to abandon ship. Water had flooded the
ship's starboard longitudinal compartments, causing a
15-degree list to starboard. Captain Turner tried turning
the ship toward the Irish coast in the hope of beaching her,
but the helm would not respond as the torpedo had knocked
out the steam lines to the steering motor. Meanwhile, the
ship's propellers continued to drive the ship at 18 knots
(33 km/h), forcing more water into her hull.
Within six minutes, Lusitania's forecastle began to go under
water. Lusitania's severe starboard list complicated the
launch of her lifeboats. 10 minutes after the torpedoing,
when she had slowed enough to start putting boats in the
water the lifeboats on the starboard side swung out too far
to step aboard safely. While it was still possible to board
the lifeboats on the port side, lowering them presented a
different problem. As was typical for the period, the hull
plates of the Lusitania were riveted, and as the lifeboats
were lowered they dragged on the rivets, which threatened to
seriously damage the boats before they landed in the water.
Many lifeboats overturned while loading or lowering, spilling
passengers into the sea; others were overturned by the
ship's motion when they hit the water. It has been claimed
that some boats, due to the negligence of some officers,
crashed down onto the deck, crushing other passengers, and
sliding down towards the bridge. This has been refuted in
various articles and by passenger and crew testimony.
Crewmen would lose their grip on the falls—ropes used to
lower the lifeboats—while trying to lower the boats into the
ocean, and this caused the passengers from the boat to
"spill into the sea like rag dolls." Others would tip on
launch as some panicking people jumped into the boat.
Lusitania had 48 lifeboats, more than enough for all the
crew and passengers, but only six were successfully lowered,
all from the starboard side. A few of her collapsible
lifeboats washed off her decks as she sank and provided
refuge for many of those in the water.
Despite Turner's efforts to beach the liner and reduce her speed,
Lusitania no longer answered the helm. There was panic and
disorder on the decks. Schwieger had been observing this
through U-20's periscope, and by 14:25, he dropped the
periscope and headed out to sea.
Captain Turner remained on the bridge until the water rushed
upward and destroyed the sliding door, washing him overboard
into the sea. He took the ship's logbook and charts with
him. He managed to escape the rapidly sinking Lusitania and
find a chair floating in the water which he clung to. He was
pulled unconscious from the water, and survived despite
having spent 3 hours in the water. Lusitania's bow slammed
into the bottom about 100 m (300 ft) below at a shallow
angle due to her forward momentum as she sank. Along the
way, some boilers exploded, including one that caused the
third funnel to collapse; the remaining funnels snapped off
soon after. Turner's last navigational fix had been only two
minutes before the torpedoing, and he was able to remember
the ship's speed and bearing at the moment of sinking. This
was accurate enough to locate the wreck after the war. The
ship travelled about two miles (3 km) from the time of the
torpedoing to her final resting place, leaving a trail of
debris and people behind. After her bow sank completely, the
Lusitania's stern rose out of the water, enough for her
propellers to be seen, and went down.
Lusitania sank in 18 minutes, 8 miles (13 km) off the Old Head of
Kinsale. 1,198 people died with her, including almost a
hundred children. Afterwards, the Cunard line offered local
fishermen and sea merchants a cash reward for the bodies
floating all throughout the Irish Sea, some floating as far
away as the Welsh coast. In all, only 289 bodies were
recovered, 65 of which were never identified. The Cunard
Steamship Company announced the official death toll of 1,195
on 1 March 1916. The bodies of many of the victims were
buried at either Lusitania's destination, Queenstown, or the
Church of St. Multose in Kinsale, but the bodies of the
remaining 885 victims were never recovered. |