SOUNDINGS

No. 08 · Ocean liner

RMS Lusitania

Lost 7 May 1915 · Celtic Sea · 90–93 m

A Cunard liner sunk by a German submarine off Ireland in 1915 with the loss of nearly 1,200 lives.

Flag
United Kingdom (Cunard Line)
Built
John Brown, Clydebank, 1904–1907
Length
about 240 m
Aboard
1,960
Lives lost
about 1,197–1,201
Survived
about 761–767
Position
51°24.8′ N, 8°32.9′ W
Lies at
90–93 m, sand and gravel
KINSALEOld Head of KinsaleCeltic Sea9°W8.5°W8°W51.5°N010 nautical milesRMS Lusitania90–93 mN
Celtic Sea, about 11 nautical miles south of the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland.
RMS Lusitania coming into port, possibly New York (Bain News Service)
RMS Lusitania coming into port, possibly New York (Bain News Service). George Grantham Bain, 1907-1913 · Public domain

Lusitania had been one of the fastest liners in the world. In May 1915, with Germany declaring the waters around Britain a war zone, she sailed from New York for Liverpool with nearly two thousand people aboard.

Cause. She was torpedoed without warning by the submarine U-20. A second explosion followed inside the hull and she sank in about 18 minutes.

Plate · elevation, starboard side

The ship

LUSITANIA AB

Load waterline

A The forward funnels, bridge and lifeboats
B The stern

Elevation, starboard side

The last hours

Ship drawn to scale; the water below is not.

  1. 1 May 1915, 12:20

    Out of New York

    Lusitania sailed from Pier 54 for Liverpool under Captain William Turner.

  2. 7 May, morning

    Fog off Ireland

    Approaching the Irish coast in fog, she slowed and sounded her horn. By late morning the fog had lifted.

  3. About 14:10

    The torpedo

    U-20 under Walther Schwieger fired a single torpedo, which struck the starboard side behind the bridge. A second, larger explosion followed inside the ship.

  4. 14:10–14:25

    The boats

    She listed heavily to starboard and kept moving forward, which made the boats very hard to lower. Only six of her 48 boats got away successfully.

  5. About 14:28

    She goes down

    About 18 minutes after the torpedo struck, she sank bow first, in sight of the Irish coast.

  6. 7–8 May

    From Queenstown

    Fishing boats, tugs and steamers from Queenstown and Kinsale brought survivors and the dead ashore through the evening and night.

10 m · 5 fm
20 m · 11 fm
30 m · 16 fm
40 m · 22 fm
50 m · 27 fm
60 m · 33 fm
70 m · 38 fm
80 m · 44 fm

At 90–93 m the pressure is about 10 times what it is at the surface.

1Fishing nets snagged on the hull2Hull collapsing and flattening3Bow
  1. Fishing nets snagged on the hull
  2. Hull collapsing and flattening
  3. Bow

Survey plan, seen from above: she lies on her starboard side, so her port side faces the surface.S sand and gravel · 90–93 m

As found

Where she lies

She lies on her starboard side in about 90–93 m of water. Her hull has collapsed and flattened over the decades and is heavily draped in fishing nets.

Found

Located in 1935 by echo-sounding from a salvage ship, and reached by a diver in an armoured suit.

Today

Protected by an Irish Underwater Heritage Order since 1995; any dive needs a licence. A memorial stands in Cobh.

Sources