Competition

The Lusitania was built by Cunard and was sure that this ship would put the White Star Line which was the company that the TITANIC. It was completed on June, 1906 along with it's sister ship, Maurentania. The Lusitania was christened by lady Inverclyde because Lord Inverclyde, (the ship's owner) died earlier that morning. They were the biggest, grandest, and fastest ships afloat and even set a record across the Atlantic Ocean carrying the Blue Riband . The ships had all of the latest technology and the most famous people on board.

The Germans were beginning to attack English ships and sinking them with submersibles. This was often a very common threat. The Maurentania was transformed into a army transport and was rented by the Royal Navy for 150,000 english pounds. The Royal Navy also paid the Cunard 64,000 english pounds to use the Lusitania as a mail transport. There was a submarine (U-20) spotted off the coast of the English Channel, headed straight for the Lusitania.

The Lusitania was told that a submarine was in the area but the wireless operator ignored the message and it didn't go to the bridge. It was 30 miles off the coast of Clear Sound Island. It was May 7, 1915 the passengers were just sitting down to breakfast when a huge explosion erupted. Then, there was a second explosion. Immediately, water started coming into the hold. The order was given by Captain Turner to begin to lower the lifeboats but the crew was already loading and lowering. The lifeboats were lowered so quickly, that some of them were flipped over dumping the passengers into the sea. The Lusitania sank in 18 minutes. On the way down to the bottom, most of the boilers exploded causing great damage to the ship. 1,198 people died out of the 1,959 on board.

The bodies that were not recovered on the shore of Queenstown, Ireland were more than likely trapped in the wreck. Mrs. Stephens was one of the bodies recovered and on the way to America, the ship carrying
her remains was sunk by U-20: the same submersible that killed her on the Lusitania.
Today, the wreck is barely distinguishable except a few bones and personal belongings.