The Lusitania's Last Voyage: Being a narrative of the torpedoing and sinking of the R. M. S. Lusitania by a German submarine off the Irish coast, May 7, 1915 — John Shaqi
The Lusitania's Last Voyage: Being a narrative of the torpedoing and sinking of the R. M. S. Lusitania by a German submarine off the Irish coast, May 7, 1915Lauriat, Charles Emelius, Jr.
History
The Lusitania's Last Voyage: Being a narrative of the torpedoing and sinking of the R. M. S. Lusitania by a German submarine off the Irish coast, May 7, 1915
Lauriat, Charles Emelius, Jr.
Lusitania (Steamship)
The “Lusitania” was a Turbine steamship built by John Brown & Co., of
Clydebank, in 1907, for the Cunard Steamship Company. She was built
under Admiralty Survey and in accordance with Admiralty requirements,
and was classed 100 A.1. at Lloyd’s. Her length was 755 feet, her beam
88 feet, and her depth 60 feet 4 in. Her tonnage was 30,395 gross and
12,611 net. Her engines were of 68,000 h. p. and her speed 24½ to 25
knots. She had 23 double-ended and two single-ended boilers situated in
four boiler-rooms.
The ship was divided transversely by eleven principal bulkheads into
twelve sections.
The two forward bulkheads were collision bulkheads without doors. The
remaining bulkheads had watertight doors cut in them which were closed
by hand. In places where it was necessary to have the doors open for
working the ship they could be closed by hydraulic pressure from the
bridge. A longitudinal bulkhead separated the side coal bunkers from the
boiler-room and engine-rooms on each side of the ship.
The “Lusitania” was a passenger as well as an emigrant ship as defined
by the Merchant Shipping Acts. She fulfilled all the requirements of
the law in this connection and had obtained all necessary certificates.
She had accommodation on board for 3,000 persons (including the crew).
_The Life-Boats and Life-Saving Appliances_
The ship was provided with boat accommodation for 2,605 persons. The
number of persons on board on the voyage in question was 1,959.
The number of boats was 48. Twenty-two of these were ordinary life-boats
hanging from davits--eleven on each side of the boat deck. These had a
total carrying capacity of 1,323. The remainder (26) were collapsible
boats, with a total carrying capacity of 1,282. Eighteen of these
collapsible boats were stowed under eighteen of the life-boats. The
remaining eight were stowed four on each side of the ship abaft the
life-boats.
In addition the ship was provided with 2,325 life-jackets (125 of which
were for children) and 35 life-buoys. All these were conveniently
distributed on board.
The boats, the life-jackets and the life-buoys were inspected at
Liverpool on the 17th of March, 1915, by the resident Board of Trade
Surveyor, and again on the 15th of April, 1915, by the Board of Trade
Emigration Officer. Both these gentlemen were called before me and
satisfied me that the condition of the different appliances was in every
way satisfactory.
The boats were also examined by the ship’s carpenter at New York on the
commencement of the homeward voyage on the 1st of May and found to be in
good order.
_The Captain, the Officers and the Crew_
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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