Tag Archives: Lusitania

Diary entries which mention the sinking of the Lusitania on 7 May 1915 and its aftermath.

13 May 1915; Thursday

May 1915, , ,

At work as usual. A lot of Roots† now to Lusitania1. Finished in decent time. Got work pulled up a bit. Received news of the loss of the “Goliath”2 in the Dardanelles, sunk by Turkish torpedo boats. Heavy loss of life, probably 800 men.

  1. Lusitania: See notes on 7 May. ↩

  2. “Goliath”: pre-dreadnought battleship, 13,150 tons, built in Chatham 1898, torpedoed as stated above in Morto Bay, near Cape Helles, 13 May 1915, with loss of 570 out of crew of 700. ↩

8 May 1915; Saturday

May 1915, , , ,

At work as usual1. Finished in decent time. Met Charlie in the station. At work at night. Went to Roker.

Heavy loss of life in Lusitania2 disaster. Got news at night of loss of “Maori”3 off the Belgian Coast.

  1. Saturday morning working was of course normal – as it remained until the 1960s. ↩

  2. Lusitania: See notes on 7 May. ↩

  3. “Maori”: RN destroyer, built 1909, sunk by a mine on 7 May 1915 off Zeebrugge. ↩

7 May 1915; Friday

May 1915, , , , ,

At work as usual. Busy all day. Finished late. Wrote up some of Parson’s Weekly News. Wrote up shop books. Received word of Bob’s Death1.

Lusitania2  3 sunk, with about 1900 people on board, by German submarine4. Relations between Japan & China very strained.

  1. See Robert Thomas Brotherston on this site. ↩

  2. “Lusitania”: too well known to require much comment, but – launched 1907, briefly world’s biggest ship (31,500 tons), commandeered as armed cruiser in 1914, but unsuitable so returned to passenger use on condition she carried government cargoes; left New York 1 May 1915 (allegedly carrying munitions), torpedoed 7 May 11 miles from S. Irish coast, sank in 11 minutes; 1,195 lives lost, including 128 Americans, thus influencing American opinion against Germany. ↩

  3. Coincidentally, the departure of the Lusitania (presumably from New York) is noted in the same New York Times headline as reports the declaration of war on Germany by “England” on 5th August 1914. ↩

  4. The submarine was the SM U-20. ↩