Debris
and bodies littered the vicinity as off in the distance, a fleet
of rescue vessels, mostly tugs and trawlers, sped out to the
wreck site. By the time the sun set, little hope was left for
finding anyone alive. More than a thousand had survived the
actual sinking only to perish in the frigid sea. While the horrifying
news spread out across the globe, the rescue ships began to
return to Queenstown with survivors and victims.
The corpses were laid out in rows on the waterfront for identification.
The townspeople made their way down to the wharf to gawk and
whisper among themselves. Some spoke of the horrific nature
of the tragedy, others of the obvious implications on American
involvement in the war. Some claimed that this was bound to
happen; the Germans had been out to sink Lusitania for
some time. Whatever the discussion, the Queenstown waterfront
teemed with activity as the dead were laid out and the survivors
wandered about, looking for friends and relatives; dead or alive.
Avis
Dolphin had been loaded into a lifeboat. Terrified and trembling,
she watched helplessly as the boat she was in bobbed up and
down underneath the sinking hulk of Lusitania. She and
two friends she had made onboard, Hilda and Sarah, were huddled
together as the other occupants of the boat screamed to loved
ones and the seamen tried in vain to maneuver the boat away.
Without warning, two men tried to jump into the boat from the
deck high above. One of them struck the lifeboat, splitting
it in two and capsizing it. Avis went into the icy water. Clawing
her way to the surface through debris and a tangle of writhing
passengers, she found a raft and clung to it, slowly drifting
away from the chaos. She would survive the sinking, but her
two friends were gone. Margaret Mackworth also survived the
sinking, plucked unconscious from the water by a sailor aboard
the trawler Bluebell. Initially she had been thought
dead and was placed on the ship's deck. When she awoke several
hours later, she found herself covered by a blanket and surrounded
by corpses. She was helped to a cabin where she was joined by
other survivors, including Captain Turner. Neither Alfred Vanderbilt
nor Charles Frohman survived the sinking. Vanderbilt is said
to have been a gentleman to the very end, defining the true
nature of chivalry. His final acts were seeing to it that any
and all women and children had lifejackets and were loaded into
lifeboats if possible. He was last seen with Frohman in the
entrance hall, though a crewman claimed to have tried to help
Vanderbilt adjust his lifebelt in the water after the sinking,
but had been unable to and the two men had been separated. Frohman
is said to have quoted from the play Peter Pan; "Why
fear death? It is the most beautiful adventure in life."
Frohman's body was found, Vanderbilt's was not.
In
all, 1,195 of the
1,918 aboard perished. Among
the dead were 128 Americans.
Of the dead, 785 were passengers. There had been 129 children
aboard and 94 were lost. The scale of the tragedy impacted Queenstown
like nothing ever before seen. As more and more bodies were
brought ashore, or washed up on local beaches, the staggering
death toll became full realized. In Old Church Cemetery on the
outskirts of town, a mass grave was dug for the 140 bodies that
could not be identified. Despite the number of corpses filling
the makeshift morgue, more than 800 victims were never recovered.
In
Liverpool and London, outrage over the sinking sparked riots.
Angry mobs attacked German-owned business and anybody with a
name that even sounded German. British citizens of German-birth
were attacked on the street. London hotels refused rooms to
people with German names and in some instances German speaking
Brits were arrested and thrown into cells with murderers and
thieves. British newspapers were quick to tell the story of
the tragedy, calling on the American President Woodrow Wilson
to declare war on Germany "...or forfeit European respect..."
Despite the call for action, at home and abroad, Wilson's only
response was a strongly worded letter in which he decried the
act as a flagrant show of disrespect for American neutrality.
Berlin had apologized, expressing sympathy for the death of
U.S. citizens but blaming the British government for its "...starving
of the German civilian population..." that had forced Germany
to take measures such as submarine warfare. Wilson urged the
Germans to take strong measures to see to it that no more Americans
were harmed and warned of serious consequences. Wilson's letter
seemed to calm the anti-German sentiment that had permeated
America's citizenry. In the weeks following the disaster, it
became clear that the United States would not enter the war.
Most Americans felt the war was Europe's business and despite
the loss of Americans aboard Lusitania they did not support
U.S. involvement in the conflict. Although the sinking did spark
anti-German sentiment, it was not until 1917 that the United
States made a formal declaration of war on Germany.
The
formal British inquiry into the disaster was headed by Lord
Mersey, who had resided over the Titanic hearings and
also the inquiry into the loss of Canadian Pacific's Empress
of Ireland. The hearings were extremely unfavorable to Captain
Turner at first. Several top brass accused him of negligence,
incompetence and even cowardice. The Admiralty denied ever ordering
Turner to put into Queenstown, and the list of messages the
naval attorneys produced did not include the last communication
Turner received. Although both wireless operators aboard Lusitania
survived, the one who took the message in question was ignored.
His partner, who wasn't even on duty at the time of the message,
was instead put on the stand. He, of course, had no knowledge
of the message! Additionally, several passengers testified to
the fact that no lifeboat assignments had been given and although
the crew had performed admirably the evacuation of the ship
was chaotic. It looked as though Turner would be made to be
the scapegoat, but in the end the usually stern Lord Mersey
all but absolved Turner of any blame. Below is an excerpt from
Lord Mersey's report to the Admiralty:
"...Captain Turner was fully advised as to the means which
in the view of the Admiralty were best calculated to avert the
perils he was likely to encounter, and in considering the question
whether he is to blame for the catastrophe in which his voyage
ended U have to bear the circumstances in mind. It is certain
that in some respects Captain Turner did not follow the advice
given to him. It may be (though I seriously doubt it) that had
he done so his ship would have reached Liverpool in safety.
But the question remains, was his conduct the conduct of a negligent
or of an incompetent man. On this question I have sought the
guidance of my assessors, who have rendered me invaluable assistance,
and the conclusion at which I have arrived that blame ought
not to imputed to the captain. The advice given to him, although
meant for his most serious and careful consideration, was not
intended to deprive him of the right to exercise his skilled
judgment in the difficult questions that might arise from time
to time in the navigation of his ship. His omission to follow
the advice in all respects cannot fairly be attributed either
to negligence or incompetence. He exercised his judgment for
the best. It was the judgment of a skilled and experienced man,
and although others might have acted differently and perhaps
more successfully he ought not, in my opinion, to be blamed.
The whole blame for the cruel destruction of life in this catastrophe
must rest soley with those who plotted and with those who committed
the crime..."
Following
the closure of the Board of Trade Inquiries, Lord Mersey, 74-years
old, wrote a letter to Prime Minister Asquith and told him that
he would wave his fees for the case, but added that he "...must
request henceforth to be excused from administering His Majesty's
Justice..." The whole Lusitania matter, which he
described to his children as "...a damned dirty business..."
had just taken the fight out of him. He retired from the bench
and left the public life. Despite the outcome of the hearings,
which cleared Cunard and Turner of blame, Lusitania's
master was a shattered man. His wife had not spoken to him since
the hearings had started and Cunard had placed him in command
of a pitiful 10,000-ton freighter, Ultonia, steaming
from France to Quebec City. In 1916 Cunard again gave him a
liner to command, this time the 14,000 ton Ivernia. In
service as a troopship, Ivernia was torpedoed off Cape
Matapan on New Year's Day in 1917. Turner again survived, but
36 people died. Turner died in 1933.
The
man who sank Lusitania, Walther Schwieger, did not receive
a medal for sinking the Cunarder. He did, however, receive the
Poue le Mérite for some 190,000 tons of Allied
shipping he had destroyed. He was given command of the U-88,
a larger and more powerful sub than the U-20. In September
1917 Schwieger and his crew vanished at sea without a trace,
presumed lost to a mine or depth charge.
As
for Lusitania herself, the sad remains of this once magnificent
vessel lie within arm's reach of the Irish shore at a depth
of about 300 feet. She lies on her starboard side, her once
sleek hull shattered and bent in a boomerang shape. A tangled
mass of fishing nets is hopelessly snared on the wreck, as many
local fisherman can tell you; she's an underwater hazard! The
hull is pitted as well, possibly by underwater charges set off
during later battles in the area. The superstructure has collapsed
and slid into an almost unrecognizable pile of debris. The wreck
was first visited in the 1935 by an Englishman name Jim Jarrat.
Using early diving equipment that provided little mobility or
visibility, he reported that the ship lay on her port-side.
He also reported holes in the forward hull that appeared to
have been caused by an internal explosion, fueling the notion
that Lusitania had been carrying "contraband"
explosives. That same year it was reported that the Admiralty
was blasting the wreck, possibly to open her up and retrieve
something from the cargo hold. It wasn't until 1953 that the
wreck was dove on again. The divers report that the ship is
lying on her starboard side, not port, as had been reported
20 years earlier. In the early 1960's John Light began salvaging
artifacts from the wreck. In 1982 Oceaneering International
recovers several artifacts from the wreck and is challenged
in court by the Irish government. The courts rule in favor of
the salvagers. In 1993 Robert Ballard visited the wreck and
photographed it extensively in a mission funded by National
Geographic. I am working on obtaining permission from The Society
to publish the pictures of Lusitania's wreck here on
LostLiners and hope to do so soon...
The
sinking of RMS Lusitania was a tragedy that, in the scope
of the Great War, was quickly lost in the headlines. Although
she remained fresh in the minds of many, the staggering loss
of life in the Western Trenches quickly took pole position in
the barrage of daily headlines circulating throughout the globe.
On that beautiful sunny afternoon so many years ago a crime
was committed. But what one person saw as a travesty, another
saw as a justified act carried out in accordance with the articles
of war in effect at the time. The question remains; was Lusitania
carrying more than she was supposed to? Were there explosives
in the cargo hold? One plausible explanation for the second
explosion is that coal dust, kicked up into the air by the first
explosion, was ignited by a simple spark. Coal dust is highly
combustible and there would have surely been enough of it to
cause a massive detonation. Another theory is that the boilers
exploded when they came in contact with cold sea water. Again,
another possible explanation for the second explosion. We know
that the U-20 only fired one torpedo. So what did cause
the second explosion; the one that more than likely doomed the
great ship? We may never know. As for Lusitania, like
all wrecks her time is limited. Underwater for more than 86
years now, her condition deteriorating, she is perhaps the saddest
of all ocean liner wrecks. Twisted and torn, her shattered remains
forever bear testament to the horrors of war. For her we can
only remember her name, and honor it with humble tributes such
as this Web site. I honor not only the ship, but those who lost
their lives aboard her. May their loss not be in vain, may their
legacy continue to humble us.
Thank you for taking the time to learn about the loss of RMS
Lusitania. I am certain that I will have more to add to
this site so be sure to check back for updates. Be sure to visit
the rest of my Web site and learn about many other ocean liners,
the Queens of the Golden Age of Ocean Travel...
