A crew member on the Lusitania recalls the sinking of the vessel after it was hit by a German torpedo.
The Cunard ocean liner RMS Lusitania sank on 7 May 1915 when it was torpedoed by a German U-boat eleven miles off the Old Head of Kinsale in County Cork. 1,198 passengers died and 761 survived. The ship had been bound for Liverpool from New York with a stopover at Cobh.
While on the ship's bridge waiting for orders, one crew member remembers that ten minutes elapsed before lifeboats could be launched. He managed to launch two boats but the ship began to list so heavily that it was not possible to launch the remaining boats.
Noticing that the bridge was under water, he decided to abandon ship, and jumped over the side.
There was a big wave rushing up the boat deck, taking in people, chairs, everything.
Swimming away a whirlpool sucked him down into the water, but inexplicably he was forced up to the surface again and saw that,
The ship was gone, there was just a big round frothy ring with heads bobbing about.
Managing to reach an upturned lifeboat, he was one of the fortunate ones to eventually be rescued.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 7 May 1962.
