Kaiser Wilhelm II reflects on the tone of the third note received from President Wilson regarding the sinking of passenger ships by German submarines. How much more before the U.S. might enter the war?
This untitled illustration by cartoonist Clifford Berryman, which appeared in the Washington Evening Star on June 1, 1915, shows a serious President Woodrow Wilson reaching for his pen to prepare a response to Germany’s denial in the sinking of the British liner Lusitania, which killed nearly 1200 people, including 128 Americans. (From the Scope & Content notes.)
This untitled illustration by cartoonist Clifford Berryman, which appeared in the Washington Evening Star on May 16, 1915, shows Bernhard Dernburg packing for return to Germany. A former representative of the German Red Cross and skilled propagandist, he had established a propaganda office in New York to gain sympathy for Germany in the war in Europe. However, as German submarines attacked merchant ships without warning, especially the Lusitania, many Americans became outraged and much sympathy for the German cause was lost. (From the Scope & Content notes)
Imagine you were en route to Europe one hundred years ago aboard the Lusitania. The majestic ship, one of the larger passenger vessels in the world at the time, neared the Irish coastline several days after its May 1 departure from New York. What was it like to experience the tragedy first-hand?
R.M.S. Lusitania, Hit by Torpedos Off Kinsale Head, Ireland Credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.
U.S. Consul at Cork Wesley
Frost’s May 9, 1915, telegram provides two intimate snapshots of Lusitania survivors’ harrowing ordeal. Passenger
Robert Rankin testified that throughout the morning of May 7, “Lusitania going slow,” and “had been
blowing foghorn till about 10a.m.” Rankin noted that around noontime, the ship
started “to zigzag course.” Yet, this was not cause for too much alarm. After a quick
lunch, Rankin and three companions walked about on deck. At 2:10pm, one of his
party spotted what looked like a submarine, a “low black ridge” just off the
ship’s starboard bow. “Torpedo left submarine almost instantly,” Rankin stated, and
“traveled rapidly toward boat, leaving white tail.”
Below deck, first class passenger Mrs. Jessie Taft
Smith heard and felt the torpedo’s impact. In the reading room after lunch, she
stated, she “heard noise and ship seemed to lift.” Smith left for her stateroom,
though “was told not to hurry as there was no danger.” Thankfully, she was
prepared. “Had beforehand got life belt ready in cabin,” she testified. “Now
put it on and went upper deck. Steward helped me into boat hanging in davits.
Between 40 and 50 people got in, boat was lowered and we pushed off.”
“Telegram
from U.S. Consul at Cork (Frost) to the Secretary of State, May 9, 1915” Credit:Foreign Relations of the United States 1915.
Supplement, The World War,
(p 386-387)
Read further details of their accounts: “Telegram
from U.S. Consul at Cork (Frost) to the Secretary of State, May 9, 1915,” in
the Foreign Relations of the United States
1915. Supplement, The World War, (p 386-387)
– and check back this fall for release of the volume online at http://history.state.gov.
2 p.m. Straight ahead the 4 funnels and 2 masts of a steamer were visible…
3:10 p.m. Clear bow shot at 700 m…Shot struck starboard side close behind the bridge. An extraordinarily heavy detonation followed, with a very large cloud of smoke…
Great confusion arose on the ship; some of the boats were swung clear and lowered into the water…
The ship blew off steam; at the bow the name “Lusitania” in golden letters was visible.
War diary of Kapitänleutnant Walter Schwieger, of His Majesty’s Submarine U-20, recording the attack and sinking of the Lusitania, May 7, 1915 (translated from the German)
Crossing the Atlantic between New York City and Liverpool in the midst of World War I, the ocean liner RMS Lusitania carried over 1,900 passengers and crew, plus a cargo of munitions for the British war effort. On May 7, 1915, While only a few miles off the coast of Ireland, the liner was spotted and torpedoed by a German U-boat. Over 1,100 of those on board died, including 120 Americans. The incident helped to fuel anti-German sentiment in then-neutral United States.
Kapitänleutnant Walter Schwieger was the thirty-year-old commander of the submarine U-20 that sank the Lusitania. His war diary describes the attack and the rapid sinking of the great liner as he viewed it through his periscope.
This copy of Schwieger’s diary came to the Department of the Navy (and, eventually, to the National Archives) through the U.S. Army’s Military Intelligence Division.
In the diary, typed from his handwritten notes, Schwieger stated that he caught sight of the Lusitania in the distance, while his submarine was surfaced; he quickly submerged his vessel, moved into an attack position, and at 3:10 p.m., ordered the launch of the torpedo from a distance of 700 meters.
The diary chronicles the chaos and panic he observed while the ship’s crew and passengers tried to put the lifeboats in the water as the ship listed sharply starboard. The ship sank after eighteen minutes; only six of the forty-eight lifeboats had made it safely into the water.
RMS Lusitania Leaves New York City on its Fateful Last Voyage, May 1, 1915
One hundred years ago, in the midst of the First World War, the RMS Lusitanialeft New York for Liverpool, England with nearly 2000 passengers and crew members aboard. In the film below, passengers arrive in a flurry of a cabs and board the ship. Less than a week later, most of them were dead, victims of Germany’s escalating wartime tactics.
On May 7, 1915, just off the coast of Ireland, the ship crossed paths with a German U-boat and was struck by a torpedo. 1,191 passengers and crew would lose their lives. 128 were Americans, including writer Elbert Hubbard, who is seen in the featured film at 3:00. Many attribute the sinking of the Lusitania with increased hostility toward Germany in isolationist America. The United States entered World War I two years later.
Built in England, the RMS Lusitania was the pride of the Cunard Line’s fleet. Lusitania completed 201 Atlantic ocean crossings between her maiden voyage in September 1907 and May 1915, holding the record for the fastest time between 1907 and 1909.
The Lusitania left New York for the final time on May 1, 1915, under good weather, but that did not mean she was entering calm waters.
Although technically still neutral in 1915, the United States continued to conduct commerce with the Great Britain, a practice that put the Lusitania at risk. Fearing passenger boats would be used to ship war material, the German government approved unrestricted submarine warfare in February 1915.
After sighting her on May 7, 1915, off the coast of Ireland, the German submarine U-20 fired a single torpedo at the ship at 3:10 p.m. It was a direct hit.
A secondary explosion rocked the Lusitania shortly after the torpedo hit, only adding to the confusion on the ship. As passengers and crew scrambled to the lifeboats, survival took precedence over custom and law as those aboard discovered that many lifeboats were impossible to launch.
Survivor James Leary recalled that he reminded a crewmember that sailors were legally required to save passengers before abandoning ship. The crewman replied “passengers be damned: save yourself first.”
Eighteen minutes after being struck, the Lusitania lay beneath the waves. In total, 1,198 civilians perished, including 128 Americans, largely due to the Lusitania’s poorly designed lifeboat launch system.
A century later, historians question whether the U-20’s sinking of the Lusitania led the United States to enter World War I. Yet, they generally agree that it played a significant role in turning public opinion against Germany. Past blogs have explored this relationship, which can be found here and here.
Regardless of whether or not it was a contributing factor in sending our doughboys to France, the Lusitania is a notable chapter in the history of World War I and the United States more generally.
In recognition of the centennial of the sinking of the Lusitania, a sketch of the lifeboats will be on display in the East Rotunda Gallery of the National Archives in Washington, DC, from April 30 through June 3, 2015.
From the file unit: In the Matter of the Petition of the Cunard Steamship Company, Limited, as Owner of the Steamship LUSITANIA for Limitation of its Liability. Series: Admiralty Case Files, 1790 - 1966.
The pride of the Cunard Line, the ocean liner RMS Lusitania left New York City with over 1,900 passengers and crew on its fateful final voyage 100 years ago on May 1, 1915.
The Lusitania was a luxury ocean liner, advertised by the Cunard Line as one of the fastest in the world. The most expensive cabin on the Lusitania would cost nearly $47,000 today for a one way ticket. During its last voyage from New York to Liverpool the ship had a top speed of about 21 knots, as opposed to its usual 25 knots in an effort to conserve coal.
Passengers were informed by a war clause on their tickets that a war was being fought by the United Kingdom. World War I had raged in Europe since the previous summer, and while the United States was still officially neutral, passenger ships leaving the US were thought to be carrying supplies to the British.
However, the war clause merely stated that arrival, departure, routes, and ports of call were subject to change, not that the Lusitania was a potential target for German U-boats. Besides that, most thought that the Lusitania was simply too fast for a German submarine to catch…
![“[Untitled,] 6/1/1915
From the series: Berryman Political Cartoon Collection, 1896 - 1949
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This untitled illustration by cartoonist Clifford Berryman, which appeared in the Washington Evening Star on June 1, 1915, shows a serious President Woodrow...](https://cdn.statically.io/img/64.media.tumblr.com/f1d716d5cf51bed1abfab239a86de5c7/tumblr_np4k6luQ2t1qhk04bo1_1280.jpg)
![“Are you leaving soon, Doctor?
[untitled], 5/16/1915. From the series: Berryman Political Cartoon Collection, 1896 - 1949
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This untitled illustration by cartoonist Clifford Berryman, which appeared in the Washington Evening Star on May 16, 1915,...](https://cdn.statically.io/img/64.media.tumblr.com/31b275ae1a6db81e83bbcc405ef2a2df/tumblr_noco69FQN91qhk04bo1_1280.jpg)
![“ Sketch Showing Lifeboats Stowed and Secured on Board the SS [RMS] Lusitania, 12/6/1917
From the series: In the Matter of the Petition of the Cunard Steamship Company, Limited, as Owner of the Steamship LUSITANIA for Limitation of its...](https://cdn.statically.io/img/64.media.tumblr.com/ad175ef50ce20b4771cf09bff7302634/tumblr_nnvw6sQqQ91qhk04bo1_1280.jpg)
