Rick Smith from Stroudsburg recently visited the Palmerton Area Historical Society to discuss the sinking of the Royal Mail Ship Lusitania during World War I.

He said everyone born before the late 1960s probably heard of the Lusitania.

The ship’s sinking, became, as with the Maine in the Spanish-American War, a call to battle and was as devastating as 9/11 in the aftermath due to the propaganda.

The RMS Lusitania at the time was the largest and fastest ship built, beginning in 1904 and launched in 1906.

The ship crossed the Atlantic 202 times before it was torpedoed, Smith explained.

Though it had four stacks, it usually ran on three or three-quarters of available power. The ship used 840 tons of coal per day.

Sir Charles McLaren, of John Brown and Co., was in charge of construction.

Nearly 2,000 passengers made the fatal voyage. Of that number, 760 survived, Smith said.

Though Great Britain paid the cost, the ship belonged to the Cunard Steamship Co. Ltd.

The ship won the Blue Riband of the Atlantic for the fastest crossing westbound, had naval superiority and could be used for the military, if needed.

“Was it a warship?” Smith asked rhetorically. “There were 12, six-inch guns mounted and it was retrofitted with naval rifles but was considered a neutral merchant ship.”

At that time, wars were considered gentlemanly ventures that made the elders proud and gave them stories to tell the children. Most wars were short, Smith noted.

He said that after the war with Germany started, sportsmen were asked to enlist so they could hunt the ultimate prey - man.

The English Navy had 61 submarines in 1914 and the German Navy had 21.

The two rulers, King George V and Kaiser Wilhelm II were first cousins. Two years of war in the Balkans led to World War I which eventually led to World War II.

The Admiralty ordered attack subs to ram enemy shipping. Crews were treated as felons, not POWs.

Cruiser Rules said ships were to be halted by a single shot across the bow and searched.

If they did not have war material aboard, it would be considered a neutral merchant ship and allowed to continue.

The then Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill said all merchant ships should go armed. Ships were no longer stopped for a search but were rammed.

The German response was unrestricted naval warfare in all waters of the war zone.

Capt. Daniel Dow raised the United States flag as the Lusitania approached Ireland, which supposedly indicated, “Can’t you see, I’m a Yankee.”

The United States was selling war equipment to both sides so it wanted to retain its neutrality.

The German Embassy warned that passengers would no longer be safe. The Lusitania was escorted by an armed warship. It was carrying ammunition to Great Britain and the Admiralty pulled its escort.

Capt. William Turner, who took Dow’s place was told to zigzag as the ship came to the narrow channel between Ireland and England but he didn’t.

He slowed down and was in the path of the German sub. He survived and became captain of another ship.

The Lusitania was believed able to outrun a sub and was used for Canadian troop movements and carried munitions. Great Britain was spending $10 million a day on the war effort while the United States economy was booming.

On May 7, 1915, the ship sank in only 18 minutes from a single torpedo, in only 300 feet of water.

There were two explosions. One was the torpedo, but all munitions aboard were of a type that would not have exploded. When divers went down they found the coal bunkers empty and it was assumed coal gas exploded.

U.S. President Woodrow Wilson still wanted to remain neutral but former President Theodore Roosevelt said, “It seems unconscionable that we can refrain from taking action in this matter.”

Great Britain dynamited the remains saying it was to retrieve the bodies but actually the English destroyed it so nothing could be learned from the wreckage.

Turner was blamed for negligence but not held responsible.

John Charles Bigham, 1st Viscount Mersey, who headed the Board of Trade inquiry into the sinking, is reported to have said the case was “a damned dirty business.”

Many enlistment posters featuring “Remember the Lusitania” and urging the purchase of bonds were printed. Artists depicted the sinking. Smith said they were great artists but poor historians.

One of the medals had the wrong date. Though there were 250,000 medals made, Smith took years to find one from the first manufacture.

Smith concluded by saying Germany expressed sympathy but said England had forced the comment.