Members of Kinsale History community will hold a commemoration today at 2pm to mark the anniversary of the sinking of of the Cunard liner RMS Lusitania off the Old Head of Kinsale on May 7th 1915, according to the Federation of Local History Societies.
The ship had traveled from New York en route to Liverpool when it was struck by a single torpedo from the U20, killing 1298 passengers and crew. Kinsale based fishing boats were first on the scene but many were forced to transfer survivors and victims to English naval craft for passage to Cobh. This why so few were buried in Kinsale.
The inquest was held in the Courthouse (Museum) where a verdict of willful murder was returned by the 14-man jury of shopkeepers and fishermen. The loss of the Lusitania was regarded as an outrage and resulted in anti-German feeling in the United States though President Wilson did not enter the war until 1917.
The sinking caused considerable controversy at the time and ever since as the German authorities sought to justify the attack on the grounds that the ship carried a cargo of explosives which caused it to sink so quickly while the British maintained that the cargo of bullets was allowed.
