Coming around the Cape of Good Hope and entering Table Bay the liner Lusitania grounded on the rocks and was stuck fast. She was carrying about 800 people at the time, but fortunately for all on board the seas were calm and rescue was not far away. The lifeboats were launched and HMS Forte and a tug named Scotsman came on the scene quickly. Sadly four people were drowned when their lifeboat capsized, but the remainder of these onboard were saved.

Lusitania remained on the rocks until April 22 when heavy seas caused her to slip off and sink, the wreck is now a dive site. This happened Apr. 18, 1911 and was not the Lusitania of the Cunard Line, but rather a smaller twin screw ship built in 1906 and owned by Empresa Nacional de Navegacao of Lisbon, Portugal. Like the Cunarder she was one of the finest and largest liners of her line, also like the Cunarder, she ended up on the bottom of the sea.

© 2008 Michael W. Pocock
MaritimeQuest.com

Lusitania of 1906.