Lusitania: 100 Years Later
Lusitania: A Shipwreck to Remember
Lusitania
This week, we have been looking into a shipping disaster which caused one of the biggest changes to the First World War, an event which shocked the 20th century world. We have been reading newspapers, watching videos, drawing photos of the ship & passengers and even looking deep into the seas of Cork’s coastline where the ship now lies to find out more about this incredible event!
Check out some photos of what we’ve been doing on the Lusitania!
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- Our Lusitania Board!
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- Lusitania
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- Here’s our wall decorated with everything Lusitania!
The Story behind the ship!
Nicole has been looking into the story behind the ship and gives her opinion on who she thinks is responsible for the disaster
Lusitania: The story behind the ship By Nicole Kelly, Aged 13
The Lusitania started construction in 1903. The ship was nicknamed “Greyhound of the Seas”. The Lusitania was installed with guns and ammunition.
On May 7 1915, the Lusitania neared the coast of Ireland. A German submarine torpedoed the ship at 2:10 in the afternoon. Chaos reigned.
Within 18 minutes, the giant ship sunk beneath the sea. 1,119 passengers died on the ship. Two of the richest men in the world Alfred Vanderbilt & Carl Frohman attempted to save any infants that were on board. They placed them into wicker baskets, but none of the infants survived.
The U.S. declared war on Germany in 1917. The Americans were enraged with the Germans for murdering 114 American passengers. I think that the British/American ship should not have taken the risk of having weapons & passengers on the ship at the same time. I believe that everyone, Americans, British & Germans were all responsible for the sinking of the Lusitania.
Here’s a look at a re-enactment of what may have happened on that fatal day when the ship was struck down.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXsTOAtRADQ[/youtube]
Under the Sea
Back in 1994, John Chatterton went on an expedition below the sea to find out what the Lusitania looks like today. You can even do a scuba diving tour in Cork and see the wreckage yourself. Check out this video below which looks at just some of the objects that were found. There’s also some photos we found of the expedition. Enjoy!
A diver exploring the front part of the ship
A closer look at the ship’s front
The remains of a shower stall found in first class. A bathtub lies next to the shower
A diver explores the remains of the floor on board the ship
Here’s the link to the expedition carried out back in 1994!
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6POiLr6-vAA[/youtube]
Read all about it! Read all about it!
We decided to take a look at just some of the news reports
Benjamin had a look at some of these newspapers and found there was a lot of differences in the reports on the sinking of the Lusitania. Historians usually look for a lot of clues to find out about the past. Let’s see what Benjamin had to say about these newspapers:
- According to the newspapers, how many people lost their lives on the Lusitania?
When the Lusitania sank, the newspapers reported a lot of different things. Some newspapers said that 1,500 people died. Other reports suggested that 1,253 people were actually killed and even 1,260!
- How long did the ship remain a float after it was struck?
There are a lot of differences in the reports I read from the newspapers. The amount of people that died on the ship varied from newspaper to newspaper. The time the ship stayed a float also differs slightly. One newspaper says that the ship went down in 15 minutes. Another said that it sunk within 30 minutes while the other newspaper claimed it took 12 hours for the ship to go down!
- Where exactly was the ship struck down?
The ship was struck down off the west coast of Ireland. It was in an area called Queenstown which is now called Cobh in Co. Cork.
- Are there any differences in the newspaper articles on what is being reported? Explain the differences.
This tells us that we can never trust just one newspaper to tell us the truth. We have to read lots of sources to tell us the truth.
- From reading the newspaper articles, what countries are involved in the disaster?
There was a number of different countries involved in the disaster. The ship was travelling to New York so there were a lot of Americans involved. Britain was also involved as they built the ship. Other countries like Germany, China, Japan and of course Ireland are also mentioned in the reports.