Lusitania (ship, 1906)

This article covers the Portuguese ship. For the British ship, see RMS Lusitania .

Lusitania

Ship data flag  Portugal Ship type Passenger ship home port Lisbon Shipping company Empresa Nacional de Navegação Shipyard Sir Raylton Dixon and Company , Middlesbrough Build number 519 Launch February 12, 1906 Commissioning May 1906 Whereabouts 18 April 1911 at Cape Point fallen

Ship dimensions and crew length 128.2 m ( Lüa ) width 15.6 m Draft Max. 6.1 m measurement 5557 GRT

Machine system machine 2 × triple expansion steam engine ; four scotch boilers Machine performance 752 hp (553 kW) Top speed 14 kn (26 km / h) propeller 2

The Lusitania was a passenger ship put into service in 1906 by the Portuguese shipping company Empresa Nacional de Navegação, which carried passengers and cargo from Portugal to Africa . On April 18, 1911, the ship sank off Cape Point (South Africa) after it hit rocks. Eight people died.

The ship

The Lusitania on the rocks of Bellows Rock, April 1911

The 5,557 GRT, steel- built steamship Lusitania was built in 1906 at the Sir Raylton Dixon and Company shipyard in Middlesbrough, UK, for the Portuguese shipping company Empresa Nacional de Navegação, founded in 1881 and based in Lisbon . The ships of this shipping company operated a regular liner service from Portugal to Africa. The Lusitania was launched on February 12, 1906, entered service in May of the same year and had a chimney, two masts and two propellers . She was powered by two triple expansion steam engines that allowed a speed of 14 knots .

On April 8, 1911, the Lusitania ran with 150 crew members and 203 European passengers (25 first class, 57 second class, 121 third class) in Lourenço Marques in Mozambique for another crossing to Lisbon. There were also 475 African workers on board who were supposed to disembark in São Tomé . On the evening of April 18, after circumnavigating the Cape of Good Hope , the Lusitania tried to enter Table Bay when visibility was poor.

However, around midnight she ran onto the rocks of Bellows Rock near Cape Point . The waters and weather conditions were favorable enough to bring all passengers and crew safely off board, but eight people drowned when one of the lifeboats capsized. The HMS Forte and the tug Scotsman helped with the evacuation. The ship remained unable to maneuver on the rocks until it slipped down on April 22 and sank in 37 meters of water.

literature

• Milton H. Watson Disasters at Sea. Every Ocean-going Passenger Ship Catastrophe Since 1900 . Patrick Stephens (Wellingborough, Northamptonshire), 1987

Web links

• Summary key data of the ship in the Teesbuiltships database
• Entry in the wreck database
• Information about the shipping company Empresa Nacional de Navegação in TheShipsList
• Brief outline of the sinking of the Lusitania
• The Lusitania as a diving destination

Coordinates: 34 ° 23 ′ 20 ″  S , 18 ° 29 ′ 31 ″  E