The Lusitania: Murder on The High Seas

A lookout saw the the torpedo approaching and shouted the warning, “Torpedo coming on the starboard side!” But it was too late to take evasive action. Just 70 seconds after it was launched the torpedo struck, there was a terrific explosion, but this was followed soon after by a secondary much bigger explosion. One torpedo should not have been enough to sink the Lusitania but this second explosion doomed the ship. She began to list severely. Captain Turner knew that he could not keep the Lusitania afloat, he also knew they were within sight of land, so he ordered that the ship be turned towards the Irish coast and at full-speed ahead he hoped to be able to beach her. In the meantime, he gave the order to abandon ship. On board chaos reigned and panic soon spread as the electricity failed and the lights went out. Some people found themselves trapped in the electric elevators and could not get out. By now the ship was listing so severely that the passengers were struggling to remain upright. It was also proving almost impossible to launch the lifeboats. Some were smashed against the side of the speeding ship throwing the people inside around like rag dolls, others overturned tipping people into the swirling sea below. Of the 48 lifeboats aboard only 6 were successfully launched. Just 18 minutes after the torpedo struck the Lusitania went to the bottom taking 1,198 of the 1,959 people aboard with her.

Irish fishing vessels, the crews of which had been able to witness the scene from shore, rushed out from Queenstown to help those still struggling in the water. Captain Turner survived, plucked unconscious from the sea. Cunard offered a cash reward for bodies recovered but only 289 ever were.

The tragedy of the Lusitania was a propaganda coup for the British and Allied Governments for amongst the victims were 128 American citizens. President Woodrow Wilson was never going to take America to war over the sinking of the Lusitania, but he did protest in the strongest possible terms and the Germans fearing American intervention in the war abandoned temporarily the policy of unrestricted submarine warfare. They resumed it again in February 1917, and as a result in the next 10 months Britain came close to starvation. Without the sinking of the Lusitania continued unrestricted submarine warfare may well have brought Britain to its knees. It also made convincing the American people to go to war in April, 1917, that much easier. In the meantime, the Germans had struck a medal to commemorate the event. It carried a picture of the sinking Lusitania with the words – No Contraband!