THE SINKING OF THE LUSITANIA.

Matamata Record, Volume III, Issue 114, 9 January 1919, Page 1

THE SINKING OF THE LUSITANIA.

German Reports. The great silent ocean is avenged. The German submarine commander who torpedoed the Lusitania is dead. Outside the harbor of Zeebrugge, Belgium, the. TJ-bcat which he commanded stru'u: a mine, exploded and disappeared. His little craft, too, was sunk without warning. The death of young Schwieger unsealed the months of some of his colleagues, and has brought to light the fact that the Lusitania had on board infernal machines. From Schwieger’s report to Von Tirpitz, and from the statements of one of Captain Boy-Ed’s assistants, the allied and American governments have learned that the sinking of the Lusitania was planned in Kiel by the German naval stafif and in New York city by Boy-Ed, with neither of the two plotters knowing the other’s preparations. Von Tirpitz’s object was to win a “ moral victory ” and frighten England and the • neutral world. Boy-Ed had in mind the destruction of a part of the Liverpool docks. By some it is considered a mere coincidence that the German naval attache to the United States should have placed his infernal machines, or “cigars,” amid the cargo of the Lusitania when it left for England on the same voyage that Von Tirpitz had selected for the torpedoing. Others believe that Captain BoyEd had been laying his plans for some time, and that he was forced to select the first trip in May .of- the. : warning from Berlin to passengers not to journey on the Lusitania. They think that Boy-Ed read in this message, which Count von Bernstorff advertised in the New York newspapers,. the plans of his superiors, and that he chose this opportunity to complete his work and win the Kaiser’s reward before the submarines could act in British waters. When the United States sent a Note to Berlin the Berlin authorities, through the Foreign office, replied that the Lusitania was not sunk by the torpedo, but by ammunition, which it was supposed to have aboard. At the time the German note was published no one could understand the grounds Germany had for charging that the Lusitania carried war munitions which exploded about the same time or shortly after the explosion of the torpedo. This point is now explained by Schwieger’s report. After leaving Kiel with Von Tirpitz’s orders to sink the first large passenger liner he encountered off the coast of Ireland, Schwieger reached the waters off Queenstown. For fear of being detected he submerged, retaining his periscope above the surface of a rather calm sea. After waiting twenty-four hours and sighting no ships ho ventured upward with his submarine, ordered the men above for fresh air and put up the wireless masts. While cruising about in this manner for some hours he picked up a message from the British Admiralty warning all ships to avoid the sea route which was designated, on the ground that an enemy submarine was somewhere in the vicinity. Astonished to learn that his presence was known to the British Government Schwieger ordered the masts lowered. ' His men descended to their bottled posts. The officer followed and within a few minutes the U-boat, with the exception of the telltale periscope, was under water. Schwieger was disgusted with his luck, and had started to run away when he sighted a large steamer approaching in the distance. The engines were -stopped. ' The submarine floated while Schwieger watched. He timed the speed of the advancing ship, judged it to be between twenty-two to twenty-four knots, and satisfied himself that she was not a warship.

He awaited bis prey. At twenty-two knots it would require accurate and quick firing. Schwieger’s eyes were fixed. As the liner came nearer he judged her speed at seventeen knots and knew his job would not be so difficult as he had expected, When questioned Schwieger said he was sure the Lusitania slowed down between five and seven knots as it approached him.

When the great ship with its priceless • • -human cargo was directly between Schwieger and the Irish he., launched a torpedo and plunged bis submarine down into the sea, only to rise a few minutes later at another point. As soon as his periscope wps above watir Schwieger saw the explosion and read the name Lusitania on the prow of the ship. This was the first time Schwieger recognised the liner, so he stated in his report, and while he was watching the ship in distress he noticed a violent explosion, which he could not account for because he had fired but one torpedo. After the great ship plunged to its immortal grave Schwieger returned to the Kiel. When crossexamined at Kiel by the admiral, Schwieger stated that the liner must have had ammunition aboard, because the color of the smoke which followed the first explosion was different from that which followed the second one. This statement furnished the excuse that the German Government was seeking. Without revealing its source of information the Imperial Government stated that the Lusitania carried ammunition, and added something Schwieger did not report, namely : That the vessel was armed. The German Admiralty, which framed the original reply, desired in this manner to place the blame for the loss of life —more than eleven hundred persons perished on this eventful May day—upon England and the United States.

The missing links are supplied by a report made to the German Admiralty by a potty officer aboard the U-C 52, who returned to Germany as an attache of the German Embassy with former Ambassador Count von Bernstorff. Before the Lusitania sailed on itjj, last. voyage this young naval officer was ordered to place bombs or infernal machines in the cargo ot the Lusitania. The machines wero timed so as to explode when the Lusitania reached Liverpool. This officer stated that he succeeded in placing soven such machines in the hold of the liner, it being the scheme to destroy a great portion of the British docks in the Mersey River. So far as this petty officer knew these instructions did not come from Berlin, and when Von Bernstorff heard of the plans a serious dispute developed. It reached a crisis when the Lusitania sank. What Von Bernstorff’s reactions wero the petty officer did not state, but the interviews that the Ambassador gave out at the time would lead one to believe that he knew nothing of either of the plots, such was his ability to camouflage his knowledge with English sentences.

It is a curious coincidence that at about the same time that tho report of young Schwieger and the confession of the naval officer reached the outside world several alleged German spies were being examined in New York City before the courts. They were under indictment for placing infernal machines aboard the Lusitania. In their statements to the courts, which later led to their conviction, thoy declared that they had placed seven machines in tho cargo of the great liner and that these machines were referred to by German naval officers under Captain Boy-Ed as cigars.