RMS Lusitania:

[Admin]

On the 7th of may 1915, the Cunard liner RMS LUSITANIA was sunk off the Old Head of Kinsale on its way from New York to Liverpool.

She was torpedoed by the german submarine U20, with the loss of 1,195 out of 1,959 passengers, some of whom are now buried at St. Multose Church in Kinsale. Carrying many important personages, including the wealthy american, Alfred Vanderbilt and the art collector, Hugh Lane, the sinking had the immediate effect of bringing America into WW1 and it is because of this that many conspiracy theories exist,not least that Winston Churchill,then Lord Admiral, had prior knowledge of the impending danger from U-boat attack and may have allowed her to be sacrificed for that very end. The LUSITANIA's military cargo, a question which provokes heated debate even today, fuels the argument that, militarily speaking, the Germans may have had a right to sink her.

The inquest into her sinking was held in Kinsale three days after the disaster and its findings have been a matter of much controversy.

Today at the Kinsale museum,apart from the court itself, their are various artifacts from and relating to the Lusitania including the famous Lusitania medallion.

LINK: homepage.eircom.net/~kinsalemuseum/RMSLusitania.html

[Admin]

The Lusitania, was torpedoed by a German submarine in 1915, an event America later used to justify its entry into the First World War. It was mainly fishermen from Kinsale, Cobh and Courtmacsherry who rescued survivors and carried out the grisly task of fishing the dead from the sea.

1916 On the 7-May the famous liner Lusitania is sunk off the Old Head of Kinsale with the loss of 1,198 souls - torpedoed by German submarine U-20. She sank in just 17 minutes. Courtmacsherry lifeboat Keria Gwilt was the first rowed boat to the scene.

For over seventy years Courtmacsherry has harboured a lifeboat station (formerly based at nearby Barry's Point) and its volunteer crews have performed many rescues. The most famous was in May 1915 when the lifeboat of the day (the Ketzia Gwilt) rescued survivors of the RMS Lusitania sinking.

Several famous lifeboatmen were involved on that fateful day. They were Tim Keohane (father of Antarctic explorer Patsy Keohane), John Murphy, and his son Jerry. The current Courtmacsherry lifeboat is the Frederick Storey Coburn.

We were out here one year with the Merchant Navy Association from Barry Dock in Wales, all strong men who had seen and experienced a lot at sea themselves and lost companions and relations during the Second World War and they all had tears in their eyes, imagining what it must have been like for those aboard the Lusitania...

.. the sudden hitting of a torpedo, then passengers who had been at their lunch onboard, now fighting for their lives in the water out here. It's one of the biggest graveyards off the Irish coast. Imagine that where we are now, there were hundreds of people fighting for their lives. It's a place that could be creepy. It must have been an awful sight. When the bow hit the bottom, the stern was sticking up out of the water. Imagine that and the screams and cries of the people struggling to live, others dying.... Seascapes

[Admin]

Apart from both town's family connections and a shared maritime history, both Barry, Wales and Kinsale, Eire are linked to Lusitania, though Kinsale dealt much with both the rescue and aftermath, bodies were reported to have been found off the Welsh coast and as far as Barry.

Some are thought to be at rest at Merthyr Dyfan, Barry.

The Merchant Navy Association (Wales) Barry Branch has a long existing Friendship pact with the Kinsale Harbour Board Authority and Fishing Community and more recently a similar pact has united both town's, mayor's and councils.

Quote Kinsale Mayor, Tomas O Brien : "Many a young Kinsale man left to go to Barry, which to them was the gateway to the world. For some it was the first time they had left their native town, and their families survived on the money they sent home. "Some settled in Barry and have families there today. Many others died in the wars while serving in both the Royal and Merchant Navies." This is Barry. Thursday 1 September 2005

[Admin]

The Lusitania disaster - pictures from the past:

A photographic highlight selected by the picture desk. On 7 June 1906, the first rivet on the keel plates of the British ocean liner RMS Lusitania was laid at the John Brown Shipyard in Glasgow. At the time of her maiden voyage in September 1907, she was the world's largest ship. In August 1914, the Lusitania was requisitioned by the Admiralty and, nine months later, she was torpedoed by a German U-Boat eleven miles off the southern coast of Ireland. The sinking provoked widespread condemnation of German brutality and contributed to America's entry into the war

LINK: www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/picture/2013/jun/07/photography-firstworldwar