The Sinking of RMS Lusitania

Today is the 103rd anniversary of the sinking of RMS Lusitania, an event that ostensibly caused the United States to declare War on the German Empire two years later.

1915 painting of the sinking

By Bundesarchiv, DVM 10 Bild-23-61-17 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5371980

Lest anyone think that because of my German surname I'm trying to whitewash the policy of the Kriegsmarine of unrestricted submarine warfare, I would like to point out that my Uncle Roy fought the Germans on the Western Front as a soldier in the AEF, and that my Grandfather, Charles Oxley, fought them and their jihadist allies on the Mesopotamian Front as a Gunner in the Royal Field Artillery.

However, the Allies were aware of the policy, since the Germans had officially stated in February, 1915, 

(1) The waters around Great Britain and Ireland, including the whole of the English Channel, are hereby declared to be a War Zone. From February 18 onwards every enemy merchant vessel encountered in this zone will be destroyed, nor will it always be possible to avert the danger thereby threatened to the crew and passengers.

(2) Neutral vessels also will run a risk in the War Zone, because in view of the hazards of sea warfare and the British authorization of January 31 of the misuse of neutral flags, it may not always be possible to prevent attacks on enemy ships from harming neutral ships.

(3) Navigation to the north of the Shetlands, in the eastern parts of the North Sea and through a zone at least thirty nautical miles wide along the Dutch coast is not exposed to danger.

Specifically it is important to remember that the Germans warned the world that they would sink RMS Lusitania if they could. Below are two ads, next to each other from a newspaper in April 1915. On the right, an ad from Cunard, advertising the voyage to England on 1 May, and on the left a notice from the Imperial German Embassy, stating,

Travelers 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 travelers sailing in the war zone on ships of Great Britain or her allies do so at their own risk.

These ads appeared, as you see them, side by side in the New York World, on the morning of the departure, so there were no 'innocent victims' on board. 

It was admitted at the official enquiry regarding the sinking that RMS Lusitania was carrying 5,000 cases of .303 rifle ammunition. Thus, the Germans were quite justified in sinking her even without the policy of unrestricted submarine warfare. There have been rumours ever since that cases of rifle ammunition were not the only war materiel she was carrying.

However, on 10 June, just before the enquiry began, significant changes were made to the Defence of the Realm Act (DORA), which made it an offence to collect or publish information about the nature, use, or carriage of 'war materials' for any reason. Previously, this had only been an offence if the information was collected to aid the enemy. This was used to prohibit discussion about the ship's cargo.

In 1982, 67 years after the sinking, the Government of the United Kingdom was still so sensitive to the possibility that it would be discovered that RMS Lusitania was carrying far more war materiel, that when a private salvage operation was organised, memoranda were exchanged in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, warning that the operation could become a major embarrassment in UK-US relations. Here is a link to a story in The Guardian from four years ago detailing the story.

Lusitania divers warned of danger from war munitions in 1982, papers reveal

I discovered this video recently. It is The Sinking of the Lusitania, made in 1918 after twenty-two months of work, a silent animated short film by American cartoonist Winsor McCay. It is a piece of propaganda re-creating the never-photographed 1915 sinking of the British liner RMS Lusitania. At twelve minutes it has been called the longest work of animation at the time of its release. The film is the earliest surviving animated documentary, and may be the very first, as well as being a serious, dramatic work of animation.