Essay About American Owner Of The Ill-Fated Lusitania And Subject Of A Major Movie

The Secrets Of The Lusitania
Essay Preview: The Secrets Of The Lusitania
Report this essay
The American owner of the ill-fated Lusitania is planning to explore and
hopefully salvage the liner, sunk off the south-west coast of Ireland on May
7, 1915, killing 1,198 people.
“The Lusitania is probably the most important shipwreck that hasnt been
investigated in any detail so far,” says Gregg Bemis. And although there are
striking similarities between the Lusitania and the Titanic, recently the
subject of a major movie, Bemis believes that the Lusitania is “a much more
interesting and historical story – and you dont have to make up any phoney
romance the way they did with the Titanic.”
It is a story which involves US President Woodrow Wilson, Winston Churchill
and the still unanswered question of what the liner was carrying on board.
The Lusitania, pride of the Cunard line, was sailing from New York for the
port of Liverpool when a single torpedo from a German U-boat crashed into her
hull between the third and fourth funnels.
The ship sank in just under 20 minutes. Of those killed, 128 were American
citizens, and the incident influenced the eventual US decision to enter the
war two years later. It also provoked curiosity and mystery that naval
historians have argued over ever since. Was the Lusitania, as the Germans
claimed persistently, heavily loaded with
Liliya Goldenberg 2
weapons of war? If she was, who tipped Germany off? In addition, did she
carry priceless works of art in watertight containers, and what of the six
million dollars in gold bullion rumored to have been taken aboard but which
was not on the manifest? Following the
discharge of the fatal torpedo, there was a second blast deep inside the ship
a few minutes later – could this have been a secret cargo of explosives? What
is certain is that since the fatal day of May 7, 1915, the wreck of the
Lusitania has lain untouched 100 meters deep off the Old Head of Kinsale, a
prominent peninsula on Irelands southern coast.
Gregg Bemis is in no doubt that she was carrying weaponry. “She went down in
18 minutes,” he says. “That would have been impossible with one torpedo for a
ship that size. There were high explosives on board, all right.” Bemis also
points out that one of those who perished was Sir Hugh Lane, Irish art
collector and head of Londons National Gallery. He was believed to have had
a stack of paintings by Rubens, Titian and Monet on board in watertight
containers and worth a fortune.
If indeed the Lusitania had been carrying arms, passengers embarking at New
York would have been blissfully unaware of it. They had been far more
occupied taking in the ships luxury appointments, handsome state rooms with
soaring Doric columns, shimmering chandelier, damask and inlaid mahogany
furnishings. There had been lifts, a nursery, diet kitchens for babies, a
fully staffed hospital, kennels, telephones and special rooms for maids and
valets.
Above all, with her double-bottom and watertight compartments, the Lusitania
was reckoned to be one of the safest ships afloat, and with her revolutionary
steam turbines, one of the fastest. But aside from all the splendour and
comfort, there was one
Liliya Goldenberg 3
factor that could not be forgotten – a grim warning contained in an
advertisement placed in New Yorks newspapers on May 1:
“Travellers intending to embark for an Atlantic voyage are reminded that a
state of war exists between Germany and her allies and Great Britain and her
allies vessels flying the flag of Great Britain or any of her allies are
liable to destruction.”
The signatory was the Imperial German Embassy in Washington.
The Cunard authorities took the threat seriously enough to question each
passenger and closely examine their credentials. Anonymous telegrams were
received by scores of passengers, warning them of the ships imminent
destruction and urging them to disembark. Most of the passengers ignored any
threat. One of the most celebrated of them, the multi-millionaire Alfred G
Vanderbilt, scoffed:
“Why should we be afraid of German submarines? We can out-distance any
submarine afloat.”
Amid the gaiety of waved straw hats and tossed confetti, the tunes Its a
Long Way to Tipperary and The Star-spangled Banner had accompanied the
departure from the New York pier. It was in sharp contrast to the muted
departure during the early hours of April 30 from the dock in Germanys
Emden,