The Sinking of RMS Lusitania

I have had the 56mm iron medallion shown in Fig.1a for quite some time.

- Allan Wallace

It was found while holidaying on the east coast. Much to the dismay of the ‘others’, I have always been drawn to any sort of ‘flea-market’. “You’ve got 15 minutes,” was the terse comment. The wooden box was full of rusty tools and looked as though it had just come from an old tool shed; the sign said “Any Item 50p.” In the bottom of the box were the usual odd assortment of bolts and washers among which I found a rather grimy disk and paid my 50p. “Just look at you,” was the comment when I returned back; but I had my treasure.

The 1915 Lusitania Medal, 55mm in diameter and 4mm deep – by Karl Goetz (1875-1950) of Munich, could well be considered to be in bad taste. It makes a sarcastic swipe at Cunard for the, alleged, shipping of arms from the United States to Britain for the war effort, and Cunard’s lack of regard for the German U-Boat threat.

In February 1915, the German government announced an unrestricted warfare campaign. This meant that any ship taking goods to allied countries was in danger of being attacked; this, of course, broke international agreements.

The British Admiralty had warned the Lusitania of the threat off the south coast of Ireland, warning them to avoid the area and to set an evasive tactic of erratic zigzagging, changing course every few minutes; but the ship’s crew chose to ignore these recommendations.

Cunard’s liner RMS Lusitania was torpedoed off the Irish coast on 7 May 1915 (Fig.1b). With nearly 2,000 passengers on board, including 128 American citizens, she sank in under 20 minutes. Some 1,201 men, women and children were lost with only 20 getting home to Wilhelmshaven on 13 May 1915.