[null and void]

the U-boats were NOT to be torpedoing passenger liners and they had promised not to do so in any event.

Horse sh..., uh road apples:

The first clear indication of increased peril to LUSITANIA was the extraordinary notice placed in American newspapers by the German Embassy on 1 May 1915, the day the Cunarder sailed: "Travellers intending to embark on the Atlantic voyage are reminded that a state of war exists between Germany and her allies and Great Britain and her allies; that the zone of war includes the waters adjacent to the British Isles; that, in accordance with formal notice given by the Imperial German Government, vessels flying the flag of Great Britain, or of any of her allies, are liable to destruction in those waters and that travellers sailing in the war zone on ships of Great Britain or her allies do so at their own risk."

[nina0113]

"Travellers intending to embark on the Atlantic voyage are reminded that a state of war exists between Germany and her allies and Great Britain and her allies; that the zone of war includes the waters adjacent to the British Isles; that, in accordance with formal notice given by the Imperial German Government, vessels flying the flag of Great Britain, or of any of her allies, are liable to destruction in those waters and that travellers sailing in the war zone on ships of Great Britain or her allies do so at their own risk."

My modern translation:

"Human shields won't work."

[Alia]

Trivia contribution to this thread: I have a Lusitania medallion. For a look at what the original text accompanying the medallion read, click the link.

"The obverse text 'KEINE BANN WARE!', around the upper edge, is translated as 'No contraband goods'. The text in five lines in the obverse exergue 'DER GROSS-DAMPFER=LUSITANIA=DURCH EIN DEUTSCHES TAUCHBOOT VERSENKT 5.MAI 1915' is translated as 'The liner Lusitania sunk by a German submarine 5 May 1915'."

My great uncle, former Buckingham Palace Guard, and then Canadian Infantry, bequeathed this medallion to me. He was given it by my great grandfather.

In shortform, I don't think this mystery is going to be solved.

[LS]

Sorry. Little legal disclaimers for PASSENGER SHIPS won't work. Even the Germans knew it was immoral and stupid, or they wouldn't have run disclaimers in the first place.

We should have declared war after they sank the Housatonic. Reagan would have.

[wolfcreek]

It’s possible the British concocted a paln to get the US into the war.

“Colin Simpson, author of “The Lusitania,” wrote that Winston Churchill, head of the British Admiralty during the war, had ordered a report to predict the political impact if a passenger ship carrying Americans was sunk. German naval codes had been broken by the British, who knew approximately where all U-boats near the British Isles were located.

According to Simpson, Commander Joseph Kenworthy, of British Naval Intelligence, stated: “The Lusitania was deliberately sent at considerably reduced speed into an area where a U-boat was known to be waiting...escorts withdrawn.” Thus, even though Wilson had been reelected in 1916 with the slogan “He kept us out of war,” America soon found itself fighting a European war.”