Sinking of the Lusitania

DEFTLEFTHAND · 21-12-2019 5:12pm #1

I was playing golf on the old head of Kinsale last weekend and noticed all the Lusitania memeorabilia in the club house.

Lusitania sank 9 miles off the head of Kinsale after being struck by a German U boat torpedo in 1915. The ship immediately began listing to port and the captain ordered full steam ahead in an effort to beach the liner on the Irish coastline. However the ship went down in 20 minutes and many perished.

You'd wonder did the brits allow this to happen in order to force America into the Great War. The Royal Admiralty failed to pass on uboat warnings to the Lusitania and no Royal escort arrived to take them in as promised off the Irish coast.

bodhrandude · 21-12-2019 5:25pm

Yes it is odd considering the Lusitania was a legit target as it was carrying armaments, there should have been at least two destroyers accompanying the ship.

21-12-2019 5:27pm

Let's raise the Aongus von Bismarck.

StupidLikeAFox · 21-12-2019 5:34pm

The sinking of the Lusitania was a propaganda story, quite possibly to bring the USA into the war as you say. it never actually sank. What actually happened was a man was swimming nearby, saw it in distress, drank all the water in sea and then walked all the way to Italy.

Fann Linn · 21-12-2019 5:39pm

Makes fascinating reading alright and plenty of theories which would let you assume that from the time she left the US there were other forces with ulterior motives at play.

AulWan · 21-12-2019 5:57pm

Recommended Christmas Gift:

RMS Lusitania: The Story of a Wreck

bodhrandude · 21-12-2019 5:58pm

Quite a decent telling of the story, a docudrama from 2007.

corner of hells · 21-12-2019 6:06pm

StupidLikeAFox wrote: »

The sinking of the Lusitania was a propaganda story, quite possibly to bring the USA into the war as you say. it never actually sank. What actually happened was a man was swimming nearby, saw it in distress, drank all the water in sea and then walked all the way to Italy.

You know feckin' well that's not what happened.

It's a well know fact the Lusitania was carrying a cargo of ice bergs that melted causing the ship to roll over.

tuxy · 21-12-2019 6:08pm

Forget all that, can tourists visit the lighthouse on the old head?
Scandalous that a private company owns it :mad:

yabadabado · 21-12-2019 6:13pm

Dead Wake is a very good book about the ship.

Rows Grower · 21-12-2019 6:31pm

The Edmund Fitzgerald was the best ship that sank...

It gave us this song and also is responsible for the tune for Bobby Sand's "Back home in Derry."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vST6hVRj2A"

corner of hells · 21-12-2019 6:44pm

Rows Grower wrote: »

The Edmund Fitzgerald was the best ship that sank...

It gave us this song and also is responsible for the tune for Bobby Sand's "Back home in Derry."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vST6hVRj2A"

Little known fact,
Bobby Sands was the captain of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Rows Grower · 21-12-2019 6:53pm

corner of hells wrote: »

Little known fact,
Bobby Sands was the captain of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

And it was a voluntary job.

corner of hells · 21-12-2019 6:55pm

Rows Grower wrote: »

And it was a voluntary job.

Cap'n Bob.

Effects · 21-12-2019 7:07pm

tuxy wrote: »

Forget all that, can tourists visit the lighthouse on the old head?
Scandalous that a private company owns it :mad:

I think they applied for a pub licence a few years ago, so technically can't refuse access to the public.

But they had no issues breaking the law by cutting off access in the past.

Rows Grower · 21-12-2019 7:12pm

Effects wrote: »

I think they applied for a pub licence a few years ago, so technically can't refuse access to the public.

But they had no issues breaking the law by cutting off access in the past.

I very much doubt that.

touts · 21-12-2019 7:21pm

I'm pretty sure Leo Varadkar says Fianna Fail did it.

Anyway I don't think the British sunk the ship. It would have come out by now in some released government paper or memoir. Too many people would have had to be involved. That's not to say they didn't do all they could to make sure the ship was safe.

Skylinehead · 21-12-2019 8:41pm

bodhrandude wrote: »

Yes it is odd considering the Lusitania was a legit target as it was carrying armaments, there should have been at least two destroyers accompanying the ship.

Convoys weren't a thing until a year later, and not common for another 2 years really.

Oink · 21-12-2019 8:53pm

I read in a magazine that I have now lost that the captain was an awful eejit who decided amongst other brilliant things to sail in a perfect straight line in that particular stretch of sea. He stopped short of painting a bull’s eye on the hull. Maybe he forgot.

Church on Tuesday · 21-12-2019 8:55pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Let's raise the Aongus von Bismarck.

It would be cheaper to lower the Atlantic.

the dark phantom · 21-12-2019 8:55pm

We serve neither King or Kaiser but Ireland

corner of hells · 21-12-2019 9:21pm

the dark phantom wrote: »

We serve neither King or Kaiser but Ireland

I'm alright with Burger King , don't like Kaiser Chiefs at all.

Church on Tuesday · 21-12-2019 9:22pm

corner of hells wrote: »

I'm alright with Burger King , don't like Kaiser Chiefs at all.

I predict a riot.

Bishop of hope · 21-12-2019 10:02pm

Church on Tuesday wrote: »

It would be cheaper to lower the Atlantic.

Another green snowflake!

FanadMan · 22-12-2019 2:25am

Rows Grower wrote: »

The Edmund Fitzgerald was the best ship that sank...

It gave us this song and also is responsible for the tune for Bobby Sand's "Back home in Derry."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vST6hVRj2A"

Beautiful song!

Effects · 22-12-2019 3:09am

Rows Grower wrote: »

I very much doubt that.

Public gets right of access to exclusive golf clubhouse

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/public-gets-right-of-access-to-exclusive-golf-clubhouse-31122844.html

tuxy · 22-12-2019 3:26am

Effects wrote: »

Public gets right of access to exclusive golf clubhouse

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/public-gets-right-of-access-to-exclusive-golf-clubhouse-31122844.html

There are open days 2 weekends a year where a limited number of small buses can gain access for a short time.
https://www.kinsale.ie/event/2019-old-head-of-kinsale-lighthouse-open-days/
https://www.kinsale.ie/event/old-head-of-kinsale-lighthouse-open-days-august-2019/

There is no way for the general public to gain access. They will not open the gates for the public. If you had been there you would see all the barbed wire, cameras and staff that watch you like a hawk.
It's disgusting and I can understand why foreigners would be ignorant of the situation but disappointed to see many Irish people supporting the Golf club. It would be the same as denying access to the cliffs of moher.

Dakota Dan · 22-12-2019 1:35pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Let's raise the Aongus von Bismarck.

They say it was scuttled.

Dakota Dan · 22-12-2019 1:40pm

Rows Grower wrote: »

The Edmund Fitzgerald was the best ship that sank...

It gave us this song and also is responsible for the tune for Bobby Sand's "Back home in Derry."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vST6hVRj2A"

And also the tune to the wreck of Hillary Clinton.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xOwSaSl_PGk

Sephiroth_dude · 22-12-2019 2:36pm

Great Documentary here, the brits should never have gotten away with what they did to the site.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go_n1HSPz-k

kyote00 · 23-12-2019 1:42am

Pretty sure it was 'Sylvest' who sank the Lusitania

Rows Grower · 23-12-2019 9:56am

Au contraire mon ami....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfSyNhgQsgE&authuser=0

wawaman · 23-12-2019 10:51am

kyote00 wrote: »

Pretty sure it was 'Sylvest' who sank the Lusitania

This must have been before he made Rocky

whisky_galore · 23-12-2019 10:51am

tuxy wrote: »

There are open days 2 weekends a year where a limited number of small buses can gain access for a short time.
https://www.kinsale.ie/event/2019-old-head-of-kinsale-lighthouse-open-days/
https://www.kinsale.ie/event/old-head-of-kinsale-lighthouse-open-days-august-2019/

There is no way for the general public to gain access. They will not open the gates for the public. If you had been there you would see all the barbed wire, cameras and staff that watch you like a hawk.
It's disgusting and I can understand why foreigners would be ignorant of the situation but disappointed to see many Irish people supporting the Golf club. It would be the same as denying access to the cliffs of moher.

Not to mention the pollution from golf balls ending up in the sea around the Head. Those things break up in the sea and have components in them toxic to marine life as well as bits of plastic that can be ingested.

Rows Grower · 23-12-2019 11:11am

Effects wrote: »

Public gets right of access to exclusive golf clubhouse

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/public-gets-right-of-access-to-exclusive-golf-clubhouse-31122844.html

The question asked was would the public have access to the lighthouse and that was what I was responding to.

The lighthouse is completely separate from the Golf Clubhouse, and the owners of the Golf Club do not own it or the immediate grounds around it. The lighthouse keeper lives there with his family and is an old friend of mine. Needless to say, but I'll say it anyway, it's a beautiful part of the world.

Sinking of the Lusitania

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