who found the lusitania wreck

Mai", two days before the actual sinking. 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 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. [59] They also stated that since she was classed as an auxiliary cruiser, Germany had had a right to destroy her regardless of any passengers aboard, and that the warnings issued by the German Embassy before her sailing plus 18 February note declaring the existence of "war zones", relieved Germany of any responsibility for the deaths of American citizens aboard. [2]:156,445446 Also among the crew was an Englishman, Neal Leach, who had been working as a tutor in Germany before the war. Marguerite, Lady Allan, 42. One of these was the shutting down of her No. Goetz had put an incorrect date for the sinking on the medal, an error he later blamed on a mistake in a newspaper story about the sinking: instead of 7 May, he had put "5. ", "Detective-Inspector William John Pierpoint", "Wreck Commissioner's Inquiry The torpedoing of the ship The launching of the life-boats", The Sinking of the Lusitania: Terror at Sea, "Miss Kathleen Kaye (Hannah Ermine Kathleen Kirschbaum)", "Sinking Justified, Says Dr. Dernburg; Lusitania a "War Vessel", Known to be Carrying Contraband, Hence Search Was Not Necessary", "A NEW THEORY OF THE LUSITANIA SINKING. The Cunard liner was attacked by U-20 commanded by Kapitnleutnant Walther Schwieger. It will not be the last. [36] While it was still possible to board the lifeboats on the port side, lowering them presented a different problem. Judge Julius Mayer, presided over the case: he had previously presided over the case brought following the loss of the Titanic, where he had ruled in favour of the shipping company. Although luxurious, the Lusitania was noted more for its speed. tHh, tTfA, . The United States authorities would not permit us to carry ammunition, classified as such by the military authorities, on a passenger liner. In the United States, 67 claims for compensation were lodged against Cunard, which were all heard together in 1918 before the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. She departed Pier 54 in New York on 1 May 1915 on her return trip to Liverpool with 1,959 people aboard. On board the Lusitania, Leslie Morton, an eighteen-year-old lookout at the bow, had spotted thin lines of foam racing toward the ship. In the event, both Churchill and Fisher were replaced in their positions before the enquiry because of the failures of the Gallipoli campaign. Schwieger was condemned in the Allied press as a war criminal. Commander Walther Schwieger could not believe his luck when the Lusitania sailed into view on the seventh day of its passage towards Liverpool from New York. This was accurate enough to locate the wreck after the war. One day short of the one-year anniversary of the Lusitania sinking, Theodate Pope married diplomat John Wallace Riddle. [2]:238240. This first blast was enough to cause, on its own, serious off-centre flooding, although the sinking would possibly have been slower. About one minute after the electrical power failed, Captain Turner gave the order to abandon ship. (1995). He testified that the second explosion had sounded to him like the rattling of machine gun fire and appeared to be below the second class dining room at the rear of the ship where he had been seated. Bernier, Michelle. In the years since he first advanced this theory, it has been argued that this is nearly impossible. Lord Mersey queried which message this was, and it transpired that the message in question existed in the version of evidence given to Smith by the Board of Trade Solicitor, Sir Ellis Cunliffe, but not in versions given to others. January 1968: Greg Bemis and partners buy salvage rights from Light. On the cases it was stated that the medals had been distributed in Germany "to commemorate the sinking of Lusitania" and they came with a propaganda leaflet which denounced the Germans and used the medal's incorrect date (5 May) to incorrectly claim that the sinking of Lusitania was premeditated, rather than just being incident to Germany's larger plan to sink any ship in a combat zone without warning. This was unsurprising, since the regulations quoted had been approved only on 25 April, after Lusitania's last arrival in New York, and started distribution on 13 May, after she sank. Only the very highest officers in the Admiralty saw the information and passed on warnings only when they felt it essential. [2]:367, It was during the closed hearings that the Admiralty tried to lay the blame on Captain Turner, their intended line being that Turner had been negligent. Dernburg further said that the warnings given by the German Embassy before her sailing, plus the 18 February note declaring the existence of "war zones" relieved Germany of any responsibility for the deaths of the American citizens aboard. Lifeboats 9 (5 people on board) and 11 (7 people on board) managed to reach the water safely with a few people, but both later picked up many swimmers. [70], During the weeks after the sinking, the issue was hotly debated within the administration. [2]:132133 Shortly after departure three German-speaking men were found on board hiding in a steward's pantry. Layton, J. Kent. Captain Webb, Director of the Trade Division, began to prepare a dossier of signals sent to Lusitania which Turner may have failed to observe. Of the 1,960 verified people on board Lusitania, 767 survived. *****. 1,193 of the 1,960 people aboard killed, leaving 761 survivors. Captain Turner was on the deck near the bridge clutching the ship's logbook and charts when a wave swept upward towards the bridge and the rest of the ship's forward superstructure, knocking him overboard into the sea. On May 7, 1915, less than a year after World War I (1914-18) began in Europe, a German U-boat torpedoed and sank the RMS Lusitania, a British ocean liner en route from New York to Liverpool, England. Evidence produced in open court for the Mersey investigation was considered, but evidence from the British closed sessions was not. [78] Many popular magazines ran photographs of the medal, and it was falsely claimed that it had been awarded to the crew of the U-boat. [2]:497503, The contemporary investigations in both the United Kingdom and the United States into the precise causes of the ship's loss were obstructed by the needs of wartime secrecy and a propaganda campaign to ensure all blame fell upon Germany. They had probably been tasked with spying on Lusitania and her cargo. On 17 April 1915, Lusitania left Liverpool on her 201st transatlantic voyage, arriving in New York on 24 April. The following month it won the Blue Riband for fastest Atlantic crossing, averaging nearly 24 knots. [87], The last American survivor was Barbara McDermott (born Barbara Winifred Anderson in Connecticut on 15 June 1912, to Roland Anderson and Emily Pybus). Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. The Evidence of the German Medal Dated May 5 and the Report of the Explosive "Cigars" on Board. The next day, we dived again on the wreck, but time to explore the Lusitania was limited because I did not want to take any risks. Among the most recognizable of these liners, some were eventually used as troop transports, while others became hospital ships. A lifeboat davit and some other artefacts are displayed at the Lusitania Museum & Old Head Signal Tower on Old Head of Kinsale. Lusitania remained on the official AMC list and was listed as an auxiliary cruiser in the 1914 edition of Jane's All the World's Fighting Ships, along with Mauretania.[7]. At the outbreak of the First World War, the British Admiralty considered her for requisition as an armed merchant cruiser, and she was put on the official list of AMCs. Bailey, Thomas A. The Lusitania was a British passenger ship that was owned by the Cunard Line and was first launched in 1906. She remembered holding onto her spoon as she saw fellow passengers running about the badly damaged ship. This report was inaccurate as no submarine had been at that location, but gave the impression that at least one submarine had been safely passed. Two days before, U-20 had sunk Earl of Lathom, but first allowed the crew to escape in boats. As was typical for the period, the hull plates of Lusitania were riveted, and as the lifeboats were lowered they dragged on the inch-high rivets, which threatened to seriously damage the boats before they landed in the water. At the outbreak of hostilities, fears for the safety of Lusitania and other great liners ran high. Audrey Johnston died on 11 January 2011, a month before her 96th birthday. There were no survivors from U-88's sinking. At first, the Germans used them only to attack naval vessels, and they achieved only occasionalbut sometimes spectacularsuccesses. The Cunard vessel, steaming from New York to Liverpool, was sunk eight miles off the Irish coast by a U-boat. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Signed R Baudichon. Her father worked as a draftsman for an ammunitions factory in south-western Connecticut. [126] It is also known the forward boiler room filled with steam, and steam pressure feeding the turbines dropped dramatically following the second explosion. The German embassy in Washington was notified about Leach's arrival in America, where he met known German agents. Once again, Woodrow Wilson was furious and on 6 April 1917 the United States Congress followed Wilson's request to declare war on Germany. Bailey, Thomas A. The Attorney General, Sir Edward Carson, represented the Board of Trade, assisted by the Solicitor General, F. E. Smith. 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