Afternoon of May 7, 1915.
The ocean liner Lusitania was sailing about eleven miles off the Old Head of Kinsale, off the Cork coast. The ship had departed New York six days earlier, bound for Liverpool.
Then, out of the murky depths, a German torpedo sped towards the giant liner. The weapon struck the vessel just below the wheelhouse, on the starboard bow. Then, moments later, a secondary explosion rocked the entire ship, and Lusitania began listing sharply starboard.
The vessel vanished beneath the waves 18 minutes later. Out of the 1,962 people on board, 1,191 souls perished. The ship’s killer, German u-Boat U-20, captained by Walther Schwiger, slipped back into the darkness below.
Much has been said and written about the ship’s sinking, and conspiracy theories abound as to why an ocean liner (a nonmilitary vessel) was attacked in the first place, or the type of cargo that Lusitania was carrying.
The people of Cork, and Ireland in general, will soon commemorate this remarkable historic landmark with a series of lectures and other events in and around Cork and Kinsale.