Hysteria Part 5. The Lusitania: The Ship that Launched Millions of Deaths
Not only were the British employing the illegal, disastrous blockade to stop, destroy
or confiscate ships carrying cargo, including food, to Germany, British ships also
engaged in wartime activities using neutral flags as cover, and the British Admiralty
issued orders for merchant ships to ram German U-boats.The Royal Navy showed
its own disregard, even contempt, of civilians by loading passenger ships with
munitions and weapons without the passengers even being aware that the ships they
were on held lethal cargoes making them targets.
Q ships were British warships that were disguised as merchant ships. When the war first began, German U-boats
would surface, allowing enemy merchant crews to abandon their ships before they sank them, as an honorable
gesture. The British, however, used this opportunity to shoot at them and the policy was therefore brought to an
abrupt halt.
However, a single torpedo might have ignited the ship if, as the Germans thought, it carried
explosives and munitions. When the wreck was investigated in modern salvage operations in the
summer of 1993, indeed, it showed that it had been struck by only one torpedo. It had also been
tampered with extensively. The wreck lies in just 295 feet of water, making it relatively easy to visit.
Reports of "blasting and salvaging" operations, some apparently conducted by or for the Royal Navy,
date back to 1946. Even in the 1980s, salvagers had removed parts of the ship.
The U-boat captain Walther Schwieger, who had never before been accused of atrocities such as
deliberately drowning, bombing or machine-gunning survivors, noted in his war diary:  

"An unusually heavy explosion takes place with a very strong explosion cloud (cloud reaches
far beyond front funnel). The explosion of the torpedo must have been followed by a second
one (boiler or coal or powder?). The superstructure right above the point of impact and the
bridge are torn asunder, fire breaks out, and smoke envelops the high bridge. The ship stops
immediately and heels over to starboard very quickly, immersing simultaneously at the bow. It
appears as if  the ship were going to capsize very shortly,
The Lusitania's sinking was a huge propaganda bonus for the
British. Pro-war newspapers distorted the sinking, and after a storm
of protest the Kaiser called a halt to unrestricted submarine warfare
and made reparations. But by 1917, the CPI apparatus was
distributing more than 6,000 press releases and 20,000 newspaper
columns, with hundreds of them using the Lusitania as a rallying cry
to "freedom" from the blood-thirsty Hun.
High-fives and Happy Smiles for a Propaganda Bonanza
Karl Goetz, a Munich-based medallist, created a medallion to commemorate the event which he
regarded as stemming directly from the irresponsibility of the British Government and the Cunard
Steamship Company in allowing the return of the liner from New York to Liverpool at a time of
intense U-boat activity.
Unfortunately, he got the date of the sinking from an incorrect newspaper
account which gave May 5th as the date and this went on the first few
medallions. Although later corrected, this mistake was to provide British
Intelligence with the basis for an impressively successful anti-German
propaganda campaign: 300,000 British copies of Goetz's original medallion
were made on the instructions of Captain Reginald Hall, RN, Director of
Naval Intelligence. They were sold in a nice case with a bogus description of
events concocted to whip up war fever and were soon spread over Britain and
the U.S.A. intentionally using the mistaken date so as to imply 'advanced
planning' on the part of the Germans. It came in a pretty box with the words:
"This medal has been struck in Germany with the object of keeping alive in
German Hearts the recollection of the glorious achievement of the German
Navy in deliberately destroying an unarmed passenger ship, together with
1,198 non combatant men, women and children."
Schwieger was killed in action  on September 5th, 1917,  just short of his 33rd birthday. Turner lived out his life until
1933. Captain Turner died a bitter man, unable to bear the public scorn for the loss of his ship. He never forgave the
Admiralty, and particularly Winston Churchill, for their thorough attempts to exonerate themselves at his expense, even
going so far as to suggest that he was a German sympathizer.
In 1918, one of  "animation’s finest achievements ever" was the masterpiece made by Winsor
McCay, an animator who worked for William Randolph Hearst. He produced his most ambitious
film in his narrative about the Lusitania. The film, with its decidedly anti-German position,was
intended to bolster continued support for the Allied cause. An emotional, seemingly realistic film with
animation of smoke billowing from the dying ship and blowing in the sea winds, it showed the
innocent passengers leaping from the sinking stern of the Lusitania.
Lost in the Lusitania frenzy was the fact that, from the onset of war in 1914, Britain's tight blockade
on Germany under its First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill prevented food from being
imported into Germany and brought death, starvation and malnutrition to thousands more people
than died on the Lusitania. Britain's blockade violated the tenets of generally accepted international
law which had been codified by several international agreements of the previous two centuries and is
believed to have caused up to a million German civilian deaths.
U.S. Senator Robert LaFollette pointed out, in vain, that food blockades violated international law
and struck at America’s rights as a neutral power. LaFollette even cited an admission by Lord
Salisbury, one of England’s prominent statesmen, that "food for the civilian population was never
contraband...a principle that the English were callously ignoring in their blockade of Germany."
Germany responded to Wilson's demands on May 4, 1916 with what is called the "Sussex Pledge"
and promised to alter their naval and submarine policy of unrestricted submarine warfare and stop
the indiscriminate sinking of non-military ships. Instead, Merchant Ships would be searched and sunk
only if they contained contraband, and then only after safe passage had been provided for the crew
and passengers. The German guarantees were honored for a year, until their public announcement of
the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare in February 1,1917. On April 2, Wilson addressed
Congress and pleaded with them to declare war against Germany, which it did on April 6, 1917.
Her 101st voyage on May 7, 1915 was her last. Under the command of Captain William Thomas
Turner, Lusitania sank within 20 minutes of being hit by a German U-boat. Only 764 out of the
1,201 people aboard were saved. There were far greater maritime tragedies, but none provided such
a perfect opportunity for pro-war propaganda, and probably never before were innocent dead as
quickly and blatantly exploited.
The Lusitania had not been warned by the Admiralty of three recent U-boat victims, including the
Centurion and the Candidate, in the area near where the Lusitania was about to travel. And Captain
Turner violated Admiralty orders, including zig-zagging, travelling near the middle of the channel and
avoiding headlands. Curiously as well, the cruiser Juno, an old war ship, which was within the area
of the disaster did not pick up a single survivor. When she received the distress signal, she hurried
out toward the sinking luxury liner, but even within sight of struggling survivors in the water she
turned back because of an official "recall signal" from the Admiralty. Others in the area responded
and picked up survivors. The newspaper headlines at the time, through information received from
the British Admiralty, indicated that the Lusitania had been sunk by two torpedoes as it would be  
assumed that one torpedo could not possibly have sunk an unarmed ship that large.
While the Lusitania was instrumental in the United States entering the War, the
sinking of another ship was the final excuse Wilson needed for a declaration of
war against Germany. Wilson informed Congress that a German submarine had
sunk the French steamer Sussex in the English channel in violation of international
law, and that United States citizens aboard the S.S. Sussex had perished with the
ship. On a crossing to Dieppe, in March 1916, the ship was mistaken for a
minelayer and torpedoed by a German U-boat.
Germany's claim that the Lusitania was carrying munitions for the killing of German soldiers was
proven correct in examination of a portion of her manifest, kept secret until the 1950s. She had
originally said that she would take platinum, bullion, diamonds and various other precious stones
along with her passengers, but these items were never found and port records do not list them either.
A licensed Irish dive team made the first known discovery of munitions aboard the ship in 2006 and
these included 15,000 rounds of 0.303 (7.7×56mmR) caliber rifle ammunition in boxes in the bow
section of the ship, munitions used by the British in all of their battlefield rifles and machine guns.
Sir Gilbert Parker, who was at the time the member of the British propaganda bureau in charge of
information and propaganda aimed at the USA, rushed the infamously dishonest Bryce Report of
German Atrocities, which was already in the works, into print so that it was available five days after
the sinking of the Lusitania with the sole aim of bringing the United States into the war.
The Sussex did not sink and managed to limp into a French port. 50 persons were killed but no
Americans lost their lives, although some were injured.Wilson issued the following remarks to
congress on March 24, 1916:  "...I have deemed it my duty, therefore, to say to the Imperial German
Government, that if it is still its purpose to prosecute relentless and indiscriminate warfare against
vessels of commerce by the use of submarines, notwithstanding the now demonstrated impossibility
of conducting that warfare in accordance with what the Government of the United States must
consider the sacred and indisputable rules of international law and the universally recognized dictates
of humanity, the Government of the United States is at last forced to the conclusion that there is but
one course it can pursue; and that unless the Imperial German Government should now immediately
declare and effect an abandonment of its present methods of warfare against passenger and freight
carrying vessels this Government can have no choice but to sever diplomatic relations with the
Government of the German Empire altogether."
By 1915, war was in progress, but not yet involving a reluctant America. It was just a matter of time.
When the Lusitania was launched, she was intended to be the largest, fastest
ship built and expected to restore Britain's reputation which had sagged
because of the modern and extravagant German ocean liners. At top speed she
could do better than 25 knots. Her maiden voyage was on September 7, 1907
and for the next nine years, the Lusitania crossed the Atlantic 100 times.
Almost as if planned, in the midst of all of this, there was the convenient issue of
the Zimmermann Telegram, which would put the frosting on the cake of war.
Great confusion ensues on board; the boats are made clear and some of them are lowered to the water with
either stem or stern first and founder immediately. On the port side fewer boats are made clear than on the
starboard side on account of the ship's list. The ship blows off [steam]; on the bow the name "Lusitania"
becomes visible in golden letters. The funnels were painted black, no flag was set astern. Ship was running twenty
knots. Since it seems as if the steamer will keep above water only a short time, we dived to a depth of twenty-four
meters and ran out to sea. It would have been impossible for me, anyhow, to fire a second torpedo into this crowd
of people struggling to save their lives."
The British, who had enjoyed naval superiority since 1815, were gravely impacted by the popularity and financial
success of the German lines of Hamburg-Amerika and Norddeutscher Lloyd, and in 1903, British Prime Minister
Balfour authorized a 20-year loan for £2.6 million at 2.5% interest for Cunard chairman Lord Inverclyde to
construct the Lusitania and Mauretania. When they were completed, the British government then paid Cunard a
subsidy of £150 000 for maintaining both ships in a state of war readiness, although the Lusitania remained a
merchant vessel because of her large size and fuel consumption.
As early as March of 1915, Germany was so deprived of money, energy and food because of the British blockade
that she was ready to arrange a peace. But something saved the day for a continued conflict: a source of credit
for the Germans arranged through the American M. M. Warburg & Company. To take advantage of the war, the
Warburg and the Schroder banking families opened banking institutions in Hamburg, Germany after being
approved by the Accepting Houses Committee which was associated with the Bank of England, which was in
turned controlled by the House of Rothschild, the same players as in the Baghdad to Berlin Railway turmoil.
Even after the sinking of the Lusitania and its ensuing propaganda, President Wilson declared a U.S.
policy of absolute neutrality, a popular and official stand which had won him election. By 1917,
however, Wilson succumbed to intense personal and political pressure from special interest groups
favoring British interests for a variety of political and financial reasons.
With help from the American media, the public was led to believe that the
Germans had, without any warning, torpedoed the  innocent passenger ship, and
the fact that there were indeed clear and repeated warnings was mostly concealed
from the public. Even on April of 1915, as the travel season was about to begin,
German-American organizations and German officials met in New York City and
agreed to once again publish a series of warnings, which they did, on the travel
page of forty separate April 24th American newspapers announcing that a state of
war existed and that passengers would be travelling at their own risk. A warning
put out by the German Embassy, left.
Indeed, Lusitania carried 2,400 cases of Remington rifle cartridges, 1,248 cases of three foot
shrapnel shell cases, 18 cases of non-explosive fuses and 4,927 boxes of cartridges with 1,000 rounds
in each box, all under the guise of bales of fur and cheese boxes. The British denied suspicions that
the Lusitania was carrying contraband and her manifests were falsified to hide this fact.
From 1914 to 1918, more than half of the people on earth would break off their previously pleasant relationship with
Germany and many, such as China, Japan, Brazil, Belgium, Green, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Cuba,
Nicaragua, Panama, Uruguay, Haiti and Liberia would soon declare war against Germany without any valid basis other
than from being bullied, bribed or otherwise intimidated into declaring their loyalties elsewhere.