On May 1, 1915 at the Cunard Pier in New York City German spies stowed away on the last voyage after Germany’s warning to all who sailed her to beware. The men were caught by Captain Turner two days into the seven-day voyage and imprisoned in the brig, to be dealt with as soon as the ship docked in Liverpool. What exactly these men were up to we don’t know to this day. This might have been carrying acid bombs that ignited on contact which was something German spies were known to be doing in those days. But their fate was certain. They went down with the ship about six miles from shore near Queenstown once another German, a U-boatman, torpedoed the ship and made it sink in eighteen seconds.
A Malaysian man was arrested for smuggling 9 Chinese aliens into the U.S. on the ship just this year, 2011. The Chinese carried forged Japanese passports but couldn’t speak Japanese. They were caught by immigration officials after disembarking on April 26 after boarding the ocean liner in Dubai. Speaking on behalf of the cruise line, Jackie Chase, Cunard public relations manager, told the press, “To the company’s knowledge, this is a first time occurrence.”
They ruins of the Great War casualty, the Lusitania, still at rest in a seabed off the coast of Ireland, attest to the cruise line’s mental lacuna.
