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The Soon Coming Judgment Of God Upon America and How To Escape It 229
Moines Register. The State Department later released the ad and the day the Lusitania departed,
the New York Tribune ran the ad in the morning edition. A crowd of reporters showed up at the
terminal to get boarding passengers reactions to the ad. Once on the ship, passengers spread the
news of the ad. The news caused some trepidation but no one is known to have gotten off the
ship.
890
The Lusitania was Armed and Loaded with Munitions
As stated earlier, the Lusitania was not strictly a passenger ship but was listed with the
British Navy as an auxiliary cruiser and as such it was outfitted with guns. The guns had been
dismounted but could be remounted in approximately 20 minutes. There is no conclusive proof
that guns were on the Lusitania during its last voyage but circumstantial evidence indicates they
were. Two British naval publications listed the Lusitania as an armed ship. Jane’s Fighting Ships
listed the Lusitania as an auxiliary cruiser and The Naval Annual listed the Lusitania as an armed
merchant vessel. Both of these publications were carried aboard every German U-boat.
The Lusitania had been modified so that it had an increased capacity to carry cargo. On
its last voyage the Lusitania was caring a small-unknown number of troops and approximately
600 tons (1.2 million pounds) of explosives. This was composed of: 6 million rounds of
ammunition; 1,248 cases of shrapnel shells; and an unknown quantity of munitions. The
evidence shows that the manifest of the Lusitania was falsified and was carrying additional
unknown contraband. There is very strong evidence that the Lusitania was carrying up to 600
tons of gun cotton. Gun cotton is made of pyroxyline which explodes when it gets wet.
Explosions of gun cotton are believed to have previously sunk two British ships. These were the
Audacious and Courbet.
891
Under US law, it was illegal for a ship to be carrying passengers while transporting
ammunition or explosives.
892
The US Supreme Court had further declared that an armed
merchant ship “is an open and declared belligerent (vessel of war), claiming all the rights and
subject to all the dangers of belligerent character.”
893
In other words armed merchant ships were
fair game to attack without warning by apposing navies.
President Wilson Ignores Warnings
President Wilson had been advised that the Lusitania was both armed and carrying a
cargo of munitions but he did nothing to prevent the American public from sailing on her.
Neither did he provide any warning to the American public. This is in spite of the fact that 49
merchant ships had been sunk by Germany in the first four months of 1915. The Lusitania left
New York on its last voyage on May 1, 1915. Additionally, there had been a total of 16 merchant
ships that had been torpedoed without warning. This was the result of Churchill’s orders for the
crews of merchant ships to fight. Incredibly, there had been no loss of life among the 3,072
passengers and crew of these 16 ships.
894
The shipping manifests were a matter of public record. George Viereck met with William
Jennings Bryan, US Secretary of the State on April 26, 1915. He wanted to know why the State
Department had stopped his ad from being published. Viereck showed Bryan copies of the
Lusitania’s past manifest and pointed out that on every wartime voyage but one she had carried
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