World Was Appalled By The Lusitania Sinking

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30739, 1 May 1965, Page 5

World Was Appalled By The Lusitania Sinking

(Specially written for “The Press by

ROBYN JENKIN.)

rpHE date was May 7,1915. It was lunch time on board the Lusitania, the pride of the Cunard fleet, and her passengers held that air of gaiety tinged with apprehension always to be found as a ship nears its destination. It had been a normal, relatively uneventful trip.

A et before that afternoon was over, events would take place which would not only horrify the rest of the world but change the course of the First World War.

The Lusitania had left New York, unescorted, on May 1. and at 2 p.m. on May 7 was off the Old Head of Kinsale on the south coast of Ireland.

What happened from then on is best told in the words of her commander, Captain W. T. Turner at the inquest.

“The weather was clear and we were going at a speed of 18 knots. I was on the port side and I heard the second officer, Herford, call out: ‘Here’s a torpedo.’ “I ran over to the other side and saw clearly the wake of the torpedo.

“Smoke and steam came up between the last two funnels and there was a slight shock. “Immediately after the first explosion there was another report, but that might possibly have been internal. “I at once gave the order to lower the boats to the rails and I directed that the women and children should be got into them. Unable To Stop “I also gave orders to ‘stop ship’ but we could not stop her. We found the engines were out of commission. “It was not safe to lower the boats until the speed was off. The vessel did not stop. As a matter of fact there was a perceptible headway on her up to the time she went down. The moment she was struck she listed to starboard.

“I stood on the bridge and the Lusitania went down under me.” But this brief, unemotional account gave little of the story. Of a total of 1959 passengers and crew, 1198 were lost in 20 minutes.

Because of the list of the ship, many of the boats on the port side, all filled with women and children, could not be lowered. On the starboard side one boat was lowered, but the cables of the second boat snapped sending it hurtling on to the first, killing everyone in it.

In all, 10 of the boats managed to get away.

Many more passengers died when the Lusitania’s four great funnels crashed on to the water or were left to drown before help could reach them.

There were many accounts of heroism and most said there was little panic at the time, though there were dreadful scenes as families became separated. Most of survivors were taken to Queenstown and the next morning dozens were down on the quays looking for relatives among the hundreds of bodies laid out on the Cunard wharf and at the morgues. Soldiers were requisitioned as grave-diggers. Among those in the Lusitania were Alfred Vanderbilt who was seen giving his life belt to a woman and loading children into the life-boats. He was never seen again alive. Others who died included Charles Frohman, the American showman and the author Elbert Hubbard. With the news of the tragedy came a wave of horror round the world. This was not war, the sinking, without warning, of a liner carrying only noncombatants, many from neutral countries. The newspapers described it

as a cold-blooded, premeditated murder and many interesting facts began to emerge, which pointed to the fact that the sinking could well have been planned. On the day the Lusitania was due to leave New York an advertisement close to the Cunard notice appeared in the New York newspapers. It had been inserted by Count Von Bernstorff, of the German Embassy in New York, and read.

“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 Great Britain or of any of her allies are liable to destruction in these waters, and that the travellers sailing in the war zone on ships of Great Britain or her allies do so at their own risk.”

This notice caused some excitement among the passengers and a few cancelled the trip. On the dock many more received bogus telegrams stating the ship would be torpedoed. but Captain Turner laughed at the threats, —“They’ll never catch us, we’re too fast for them” and the Lusitania sailed. German Claims But why should the German command have wanted to sink a passenger ship full of civilians? The answer, in the first place, probably lies in the building of the Lusitania. She was one of two ships, the other was the Mauretania, built by Cunard in conjunction with the- British Admiralty. The company undertook to provide two fast, passenger ships which could be used in time of war and to equip them to carry guns. The Admiralty had the right to call on them at any time and they were allowed to fly the Naval Reserve flag. But when war broke out, the Lusitania was not taken off her usual Atlantic run and the Germans alleged and went on alleging that she was, in fact carrying guns and ammunition, that her passengers were only a subterfuge in ignorance of the true mission of the ship. For weeks after the sinking the German newspapers used gun-running as their excuse. The “Cologne Gazette” deprecated the drowning of non-combatants, but continued.

"England will doubtless make a terrible cry about the so-called barbarous warfare, but will say nothing of the great quantity of war material for the Allies aboard the Lusitania. Moreover, two 12-centimetre guns were mounted on the vessel.”

Germany sent a message of deepest sympathy to the United States blaming the British “for carrying 5400 cases of cartridges” in the ship. The Admiralty denied any ammunition was in the ship but the Germans said the second loud explosion proved

there was. They maintained only one torpedo was fired and that the second explosion must have been caused by ammunition detonating.

Germany continued to maintain that she had torpedoed the ship because she was carrying arms, but Lowell Thomas, who talked with some of the crew of the U-20 gave other aspects of the sinking. Terrible Sight Captain Schweiger of the U-20, was according to Thomas, patrolling in the Irish Sea with instructions to torpedo every ship he could. On May 7, he had two torpedoes left but short of fuel and so he decided to set a course for Germany. About noon he raised his periscope and saw a large liner right in his path. He fired one torpedo then turned to his pilot, a former Merchant Navy skipper and asked him to look to see the result. The pilot looked and said: “My God its the Lusitania!” For Schweiger it was the most terrible sight he had ever seen. “The scene was too horrible to watch and I gave the order to dive to 20 meters and away.” Schweiger gives no indication that the sinking was premeditated but the German Government continued to try to justify the action by saying the ship was armed. Schweiger himself could not understand the world hatred against him, nor the reprimand he received from the Kaiser. He felt he had just obeyed orders, but, in fact, he had disobeyed one international law in time of war —that an enemy merchant ship must be given fair warning of an attack so the passengers and crew could take to the boats. The Lusitania had no such warning. Rhine Celebrations While America and Britain mourned the loss of life the Germans boasted. Rhine villages were bedecked with flowers, children were given spring holidays and a medal was struck. Anti-German demonstrations reached an unprecedented intensity. In New York and England, German shops were looted, German goods were boycotted. The wave of hatred even reached New Zealand. In Dunedin, the Liedertaefel considered changing its name and in Christchurch a man was dismissed from the City Council staff because of his German ancestry.