Part of the external exhibition of the maritime museum is a propeller from the ill-fated merchant ship Lusitania. Much controversy surrounds her cargo and sinking. It is suggested the the British deliberately sent her into danger to provok great outrage in the United States which helped create the climate of public opinion that would later allow America to join the war.
The Lusitania carried a healthy complement of American passengers when she departed New York for Liverpool on May 1, 1915. As the Lusitania neared the end of her crossing, a German U-boat sank three British ships in the waters south of Ireland through which she was about to sail and on May 7, 1915, the Lusitania was too slow in noticing both the periscope and the torpedo of a German submarine to escape her fate. She was just 10 miles from the southern coast of ireland.
The German government apologized for the incident, but claimed its U-boat only fired one torpedo and a second explosion was a result of a secret cargo of heavy munitions on the ship. If this true, Britain was guilty of breaking the rules of warfare by using a civilian ship to carry ammunition. British authorities rejected this charge and claimed that the second explosion was caused by coal dust igniting in the ship's almost empty bunkers.
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on Aug 24, 2002
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