Loading summary
Transcript9 lines
- [00:07]
Carter Roy
Pearl harbor, the USS Maine, the Gulf of Tonkin, 9 11. All devastating tragedies where our enemies outwitted one of the strongest military defenses in the world and all flashpoints that justified an American declaration of war. Each declaration was so quick, almost convenient, people wondered if these attacks were planned. False flag operations, inside jobs. Maybe our enemies didn't outwit us. Maybe they had undercover help. Because contrary to what it may look like, your average American doesn't constantly thirst for war. Take World War I. The US declared neutrality until a German U boat torpedoed the lusitania, killing over 1,000 people and over 100American civilians, including babies and children. But was the Lusitania sinking purely German aggression? Or was it engineered to force the US to join the Allies and fight a global war? Welcome to Conspiracy Theories, the Spotify Podcast. I'm Carter Roy. New episodes come out every Wednesday. We would love to hear from you. So if you're listening on the Spotify app, swipe up and give us your thoughts. Or check us out on instagram @the conspiracypod this episode contains discussions of war weapons, drowning, disaster, and manslaughter conflict. Consider this when deciding how and when you'll listen. Stay with us. This episode is brought to you by OnStar. Looking for something gripping to listen to? Tell Me what Happened is a podcast about ordinary people who are suddenly met with the unexpected. Like a van flipping, a hiker disappearing in the desert, or a man and his dog plunging through ice. Then something amazing happens. Strangers step in, making split second choices that save lives. And the best part? You hear the story straight from the people who lived it. Listen to season six of Tell Me what Happened out now. This episode is brought to you by ZipRecruiter. Among the many, many conspiracy theories out there, the JFK assassination is the most enthralling to me because of all the avenues it goes down. But if you're hiring, you're lucky. Instead of going down, research rabbit holes. You can uncover exactly what you're looking for with ZipRecruiter, and even better, you can try it free@ziprecruiter.com theory. Its powerful matching technology works fast to find qualified candidates, and a new feature was just added that helps identify candidates who have an interest in your role. They can even send a personal response for why they're interested, which is an excellent way to learn more about them. Cut through the standard and get to the standouts with ZipRecruiter. Four out of five employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate within the first day and now you can try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com theory that's ZipRecruiter.com theory meet your match on
- [03:35]
Home Depot Advertiser
ZipRecruiter spring starts at the Home Depot and we are bringing the heat to your backyard this season. Fire up the flavor with our wide variety of grills for under $300. Let's like the next grill 4 burner gas grill that's perfect for hosting your spring cookout. Then set the scene and turn your outdoor space into the go to spot with patio sets for every budget. Bring it this season with grills that deliver flavor and patios that set the vibe from the Home Depot. Start your spring with low prices guaranteed at the Home Depot. Exclusions apply. See homedepot.com Pricematch for details.
- [04:07]
Carter Roy
The Lusitania was a marvel. The luxury liner took its name from ancient Rome and offered passengers the excesses of the Caesars. They could borrow a book from the shipboard library, read it under potted palm trees and gilded ceilings, enjoy multi course fine dining and cap off the day with a glass of the Cunard Cruise Line's branded Scotch. At least if they booked first class. But even economy tickets on the Lusitania felt bougie. Second class was as nice as other ships first and the people in the third class bunk beds breathed easy, knowing their transatlantic journey would be over in just five days, a record at the time. If you aren't watching the video, picture the Titanic. Except I mean, not Kate and Leo. Of course. The Lusitania was a little shorter, but they had similar paint jobs, four funnels, and sailed between New York and England. They were direct competitors and both were dubbed unsinkable. I'm serious, everyone on board The Lusitania in 1915 thought it couldn't possibly sink, even though the Titanic sank just three years before. To be fair, the Cunard Line had never had a single accidental death, unlike the White Star line with the Titanic. And after the Titanic, the new legislation required ocean liners to be outfitted with enough lifeboats to carry every passenger, so the Lusitania was safer. The ship even kept a detective on board to watch for sabotage attempts. So with lifeboats, life vests and their own personal cop, it really felt like the Lusitania had everything taken care of. Even when sailing international waters during the biggest war in memory, passengers felt safe. And this is the most important fact about the Lusitania. It was a passenger liner. Yes, it transported some goods, but its primary function was transporting people. Lusitania passengers put Their trust in Captain William Turner. No, not Orlando Bloom's character in the Pirates of the Caribbean. This Will Turner was an experienced and decorated seafarer in his 50s. Ironically, the day before the Lusitania's last trip, he served as an expert witness in a civil suit for Titanic survivors. His testimony helped prove that the White Star line screwed up. No one in the courtroom expected that barely a week later, Captain Turner would be on his own sinking ship. The Trouble began on May 1st, 1915 when the Lusitania set sail on its 202nd voyage after 2 and a half hours of delays. Once at sea, the Lusitania didn't even get up to its record setting high speed. War induced labor shortages meant the ship was was understaffed. A missing 83 people in the boiler rooms alone. They could only run three of the four boilers. Typically the ship hit close to 30 miles per hour, but on this voyage it went more like 20. This slower speed added an entire day to the voyage. Six days instead of five. Bummer for everyone in the third class bunk beds. It also made the ship an easier target, especially as they headed away from the safe, neutral United States and directly into a war zone. For those who might need it, here's a quick World War I refresher. In 1915, Britain, France and Russia teamed up as the Allied powers fighting Germany and the Austro Hungarian Empire AKA the Central Powers. With France and Russia mounting a land campaign, Britain took on a naval campaign strangling the ocean shipping lanes to Germany's northern coast. This essentially put Germany under siege. Without food and supplies, they'd have to surrender soon. But Germany fought back by deploying the Unterseeboot or U boat. These submarines were the newest warfare tech, able to sneakily attack the dominant British destroyer ships. By this point in the war, U boats had sunk several British ships. So the general public knew the threat was real. Still, they thought the German U boats would only sink British ships. So the Cunard Line came up with a crafty fly American flags on their ocean liners. Even though they were a British company with majority British passengers. The Lusitania's final voyage had 139Americans out of 1959 total passengers. So it wasn't technically a lie. But most people would agree the Lusitania was quite literally flying a false flag. Fun fact. This is an old seafaring tactic and it's actually where the term false flag originated. Anyway, because the USA was neutral in May 1915, everyone believed that the German U boats wouldn't attack a ship flying American Flags. Especially after President Wilson had announced strict accountability for any German attacks on American people or property. Even then, Captain Will Turner exercised caution. And on May 7, 1915, he faced a hard decision. By this point, the ship had crossed the Atlantic and reached the Celtic Sea, just south of Ireland, heading northwest to Liverpool. It needed to cross the Mersey sandbar. A massive ship like the Lusitania could only sail over it at high tide. So normally, ships stopped and waited if they reached the sandbar at low tide. But during war, a stop risked a submarine attack. Captain Turner knew that if he slowed to just the right speed, he could reach the sandbar at high tide exactly and sail straight through. No stops. To calculate the perfect speed, he needed the ship's exact navigation coordinates, which he and his crew could only pinpoint with land in sight. So they steered the Lusitania closer to the coastal Irish cliffs, a region where submarines tended to hide. But typically, ships like the Lusitania could outrun U boats. Their top underwater speed was about 9 knots compared to the Lusitania's 21 knots. So passing slowly through an area that might have a U boat was deemed safer than completely stopping. And it might have been, had the weather been on their side. In a worst case scenario, the sun came out. Ireland is infamously foggy and rainy, but on this day, the sky cleared. If you've ever been to Ireland on a sunny day, it's transcendental. The hills turn a vibrant green like nowhere else, and the sun sparkles over the turquoise water. On the Lusitania, passengers gathered on the outdoor decks to play shuffleboard and jump rope. On the Irish coast, people picnicked watching the ship pass by. Even though the lusitania was about 11 miles away, the visibility was so good, Irish locals could easily see it without binoculars. And so could the submarine. Periscope underwater. In U Boat 20, Captain Walter Schwieger couldn't believe his luck. He'd already sunk three ships in the past two weeks, and here was a fourth. Plus, he still had torpedoes left, and the Lusitania was the only boat in the area. Captain Schwieger had no qualms about the American flags or possibly harming civilians on board. He was dedicated to clearing international waters for German shipping, so much needed food and supplies could reach his homeland. By shooting the Lusitania, he could save his friends and family from starving. It eventually made him a decorated military hero. Notably, Schwieger didn't have direct orders to attack the lusitania. U boat 20 was operating outside of German radio and telegraph range. So while he had general orders to sink the Allies ships, he made the call on all specifics. Schwieger commanded his crew to sail toward the Lusitania and prepare to fire. Then another terrible coincidence. The Lusitania turned to stay parallel to the coastline so Captain Turner could avoid the risks of stopping at the Mersey sandbar. Ironically, this brought them closer to u boat 20, making it even easier for the U boat to aim. Around 2:10pm the submarine shot a G6 torpedo at the Lusitania. It traveled for about 35 seconds, catching the attention of passengers on the outside decks as it ripped through the water. Several recognized the torpedo for what it was. Some passengers were former military. Still, everyone maintained their belief the Lusitania was too fast to be hit by a torpedo and too big to sink. In their defense, about 60% of German torpedoes failed. Officers aimed by sight alone and were prone to error. Schwieger actually miscalculated his target, assuming the Lusitania was traveling at its advertised high cruising speed. So the torpedo didn't hit where he intended it to. It hit somewhere worse. £350 of force pummeled the Lusitania's starboard side under the bridge where the crew navigated. According to author Eric Larson, the impact tore a hole quote the size of a small house. Water flooded into the ship near a boiler room. And because the attack hit the front of the ship, its forward motion pushed even more water inside. Had it hit the back like Schwieger intended, the blow wouldn't have been so devastating. Still, Captain Turner and his crew didn't panic. The Lusitania's design broke it into individualized watertight compartments. If one flooded, electric doors could seal that section of the boat off, keeping the rest afloat. It seemed like they'd still make it to Liverpool until, according to the official report, the second torpedo hit. Survivors all reported a second explosion a few minutes after the first. This explosion took out the ship's steam engine, cutting the power to the lights, the propellers and the watertight doors. Even more water flooded in, not just through the torpedo holes, but but through portholes passengers had opened to enjoy the warm weather. By 2:15, the crew sent out distress signals. Captain Turner ordered the crew to stop the ship so they could safely lower the lifeboats. But that was impossible. With a power out inertia thrust the ship forward on the decks. Absolute chaos ensued. While most of the crew trained to lower the lifeboats had died in the initial explosion, panicking passengers forcibly lowered the lifeboats anyway. But the ship's forward inertia rocked the lifeboats around, slamming them into passengers on deck. Several were crushed to death by wooden lifeboats. In the end, only 6 out of the 48 lifeboats made it off the ship. The lusitania sank in 18 minutes. Captain Turner went down with his ship but survived thanks to his life vest and a deck chair. Not everyone who escaped the ship was so lucky. 55 degree water quickly induced hypothermia. Wet, heavy clothes dragged victims down. Many passengers put on their life jackets. Wrong. Flipped over and were trapped upside down, drowning on the surface. Just awful. Rescue boats picked up as many floating survivors as they could. And then the bodies. The fatality count was unclear at first. The ship's records were imperfect with incorrect names. The Lusitania carried an unusually high amount of children and babies weren't listed at all since they sailed for free. The bodies washed up on the shore had been damaged in the explosion or decayed in the ocean. In the end, out of the 1,959 people on board, 1,198 died, including 123Americans and 27 infants. The 764 survivors got a 25% lifetime discount on future Cunard Line cruises. Slap in the face, if you ask me. At the end of the day, it wasn't one error that jeopardized Lusitania, but a series of small decisions that put the ship in the wrong place at the wrong time. The slow speed, the nice weather, the change in route, the presence of one ship and one U boat with nothing else at sea, all contributing coincidences and all officially led to the German U boat firing two torpedoes at an innocent passenger liner, sinking it shockingly fast. But so many things went exactly right for the Germans, people started to wonder, was it all coincidence? Maybe not. About a decade later, classified files revealed that a secret military group spied on every boat, ship and submarine in the Celtic Sea during the war. And they might have planned the entire incident. Protein is now at Starbucks and it's never tasted so good. You can add protein cold foam to your favorite drink or try one of our new protein lattes or matcha. Try it today at Starbucks. K Pop Demon Hunters, Haja Boy's Breakfast Meal and Huntrex Meal have just dropped at McDonald's. They're calling this a battle for the fans. What do you say to that, Rumi? It's not a battle. So glad the Saja boys could take breakfast and give our meal the rest of the day. It is an honor to share. No, it's our Honor. It is our larger honor.
- [20:15]
Mike Brown
No, really, stop.
- [20:17]
Carter Roy
You can really feel the respect in this battle. Pick a meal to pick a side and participate in McDonald's while supplies last. When the Lusitania sank in 1915, the UK government said it was a commercial passenger ship torpedoed twice by a German U boat. It was hard to challenge that story since the Lusitania can't be fully investigated. Even though it sank in only about 300ft of water just 11 miles off the Irish coast, it landed on the side that was hit and collapsed on top of itself. Evidence of the torpedo hits. What exactly exploded and where is buried on the ocean floor, inaccessible. But the eyewitness accounts earned international headlines. Reading about the sinking, Americans clamored for war. Public opinion changed instantly. And when the US finally joined the war, President Woodrow Wilson cited the Lusitania as one of the reasons. But after World War I ended in 1918, the discovery of a secret organization cast questions on the whole story. It started in the 1920s when American lawyer Amos Peasley accepted a seemingly impossible case sue the unknown persons who bombed a New Jersey railroad during World War I. Peaslee took to the case like a dog with a bone, talking his way into a British admiral's personal office and gaining full access to his file cabinets for full of war documents. The files revealed the existence of a secret British naval operation called Room 40, which cracked Germany's secret military code and read all of their encrypted telegraph and radio communications. Through the course of Peasley's lawsuit, the existence of room 40 leaked to the public and so did their classified operations, like tracking German u boats. In 1915, according to investigative journalist Colin Simpson, room 40 kept a giant map of European waterways on a wall. Every day they moved around pins to update the locations of all known ships and U boats. Now they couldn't pinpoint a ship's exact location at any given time, but but they had a general idea of where each submarine was patrolling and could plan accordingly to avoid or attack them. If all messages were decoded correctly and all went to plan, no British ship would be caught by surprise. Now you might be thinking, well wait a minute Carter, why didn't they just tell the Lusitania that U boat 20 was near the south coast of Ireland? That's the conspiracy theory that they chose not to. Since World War I, people have said that the Lusitania sinking was a false flag operation, an inside job. Some false flag theories allege that a government attacked themselves. But more commonly they suggest a government knew an attack was coming and Let it happen because it furthered their political goals. Usually the goal is to go to war. But in the case of the Lusitania attack, it didn't just tip the US into war. It completely overturned the naval status quo. The global outrage at the Lusitania's sinking forced Kaiser Wilhelm to pause Germany's U boat operations. This secured the safety of Britain's international shipping lanes. Almost overnight, they regained the supply chain the Germans had been cutting off. Yes, they lost the Lusitania, but they gained much more. And if that doesn't feel planned, well, just wait until I tell you. Who is in charge of room 40? Winston Churchill. Before he was Prime Minister, Churchill was First Lord of the Admiralty, the top naval official in the uk. And unlike other top brass, he deeply involved himself in the nitty gritty. Especially with room 40. Churchill personally monitored U boat locations. His staff sent him daily reports, and Churchill was on record saying he wanted to make the US Join the war. The week before the Lusitania sank, he literally put it in writing. It is most important to attract neutral shipping to our shores in the hopes especially of embroiling the United States with Germany. By neutral shipping, he meant boats from countries that weren't yet embroiled in the war. Churchill knew the Germans were trigger happy and actually hoped they'd accidentally hit an American ship after mistaking it for a French or British vessel. This would force America to retaliate and declare war. I mean, so basically he admitted to setting the stage for the Lusitania disaster. If nothing else, Churchill and Room 40's main challenge was to do this without the Germans catching on. If they realized the British had cracked their code, they'd stop using it and the British would lose this major advantage. Even years later. The British Navy never admitted exactly what they knew regarding U Boat 20's location. But we can confirm two things they did know. One, President Wilson would hold Germany accountable for American casualties in Europe. And two, the Germans considered the Lusitania fair game. Why? Oh, because it wasn't just a passenger liner. It was a military ship in disguise. Yes, this is confirmed fact. The ship had a secret identity. Okay, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What, what, what? Wild, right? Yeah. Okay, let's take a second here. Because it turns out the story of the Lusitania is lies on top of lies. For years, the Americans and British said the Lusitania was an innocent passenger ship. Nothing to see here, folks. When the ship actually had military capabilities and was sent into a war zone where they knew German U boats could attack it. And that's not even the only secret aboard the Lusitania, but. Well, let's get back to the secret identity part. Flashback to the early 1900s. Steamships were the private jets of the era. And like airlines today, boat lines were always one upping each other, which got expensive. So the Cunard Line struck a deal with the British Navy. The Navy would finance two top of the line ships and the Cunard line would would secretly outfit them for war. Yep. Fact. In 1904, the Lusitania and its sister ship the Mauritania were built with gun mounts, reinforced defenses and high speed engines, all hidden underneath the luxury accommodations. The deal remained a military secret. No one outside the British Navy and the Cunard Line knew that their luxury cruisers were secretly warships. In 1915, the British Navy cashed in their chips, requisitioning the Mauritania to transport troops. Publicly, the Lusitania wasn't performing military operations, but the Germans believed that it secretly was. So from the very beginning, the British Navy had put a target on the Lusitania. Meanwhile, passengers had no idea about the Lusitania's secret identity, though they may have had an inkling they were in danger. A few weeks before the Lusitania attack, an ad in the New York Times warned that any American sailing on a British ship did so at their own risk. It was signed and Imperial German Embassy but actually placed by Germans living in New York City. They'd heard rumblings about possible attacks on ships carrying Americans. The German immigrants feared being ostracized if their new home went to war with their old one, and hoped that if they could dissuade Americans from traveling to Europe, the country would remain neutral. Only one couple took the warning seriously enough to cancel their tickets. And other passengers got personal warnings. Broadway producer Charles Frohman and railroad heir Alfred Vanderbilt both received mysterious telegrams telling them not to board the Lusitania. Froman ignored the message and Vanderbilt wrote his off as a joke. Both died at sea. Across the pond, both the King of England and the American Ambassador to the UK discussed the hypothetical scenario of a German U boat attacking a ship carrying Americans. The ambassador wrote to his son, I almost expect such a thing. It's suspicious. Were these conversations all really hypothetical or was it because the ship's attack was being planned? As the conspiracy theory goes, it was all about plausible deniability. And allegedly, here's how room 40 made that happen. First, they cleared all other ships from the area. The week of the Lusitania's crossing, several commercial ships sailing to England received a memo Telling them to go north around Ireland, not south. The Lusitania mysteriously never got that memo. They also never got the naval escort they'd been promised since the outbreak of the war. Standard protocol for the Cunard Line ships was to meet up with a Navy ship as they approached the war zone. This way, if there was an attack, the military ship could fire back. The Juno was scheduled for the job, but never showed. When he realized this, the chairman of the Cunard Line contacted the British Navy, pleading for help. None was sent. Still, all of this could be blamed on accident and oversight, not willful endangerment. But there's another layer to this theory. A choice that can't be called an accident. Let's step away from room 40 for just a sec. In the summer of 1917, as the US was fighting in World War I, US Senator Robert LaFollette claimed the Lusitania's sinking wasn't what it looked like. He said the ship's secret second manifest would prove it. And as a sitting senator, he demanded that Congress have the chance to review the documents. In response, the Senate scheduled a vote to expel him from Congress. Hmm. Wonder why. La Follette threatened to bring in a customs officer who'd seen the manifest and would back him up. And suddenly, well, wouldn't you know it, the expulsion vote was dropped. La Follette kept his seat, though the alleged second manifest never became Senate business. La Follette was denied a chance to prove his suspicion, but claimed he'd be vindicated by history. So what did he think the manifest would reveal? Contraband weapons and ammunition. And he wasn't the only person who believed that. In the weeks following the sinking, a survivor named Joseph Marichal threatened to sue the Cunard Line for damages. In his claims, Mary Schall said he heard ammunition exploding on board. Just like La Follette believed, as a former soldier, Mary Schal knew the sound of exploding rifle cartridges well. Mary Schal didn't ask for much money, just enough to pay medical bills and help his family reunite. But when the UK Government got wind of Marychell's story about hearing rifle ammunition going off on board, they slandered him in the English papers, calling him a liar. He never received the compensation he requested. For decades, both the US and the UK denied the existence of ammo on board or a secret manifest. But decades later, a secret manifest was declassified. And get this, the original copy was locked in the US treasury the entire time. So not only did it exist, it was in the government's hands, locked in the treasury by President Woodrow Wilson himself. He labeled it, for the president's eyes only, top secret. Why would he do that unless there was something to hide? There's a cover up here, and it might all tie together. Maybe Wilson hid the manifest because he was involved in room 40's plan to sink the Lusitania. Yeah, maybe this was an international conspiracy and the President deceived Americans because he wanted to go to war.
- [35:44]
TaxAct Advertiser
TaxAct understands you haven't memorized the tax code. That's why TaxAct has live experts to help. TaxAct can even do it for you if you prefer. It's the easiest way to know you're doing it, right. Well, other than going back to college and obtaining a bachelor's degree in accounting with a minor in finance, then interning somewhere and becoming fluent in all tax forms. But that might be hard to accomplish before tax day. So maybe just stick with TaxAct Tax Act. Let's get them over with.
- [36:15]
Carter Roy
For years, the US And UK Insisted that the Lusitania was an innocent passenger ship unjustly attacked by two German torpedoes. But it later came out that they covered up the truth of the ship's military capabilities and what it was carrying. As the conspiracy theory goes, a top secret British naval group, room 40 might have intentionally set the ship up to sink to pull the US into the war. And rather than being the victim of Room 40's manipulation, President Woodrow Wilson may have been their collaborator. During World War I. Wilson had a copy of the Lusitania's second secret manifest in his desk. This manifest wasn't even filed until after the Lusitania set sail. Its 24 pages listed cargo, including explosives, artillery shells, fuses, and 170 tons of Remington rifle ammo. Some of those rifle cartridges were recovered by a diver in 2008, so we know it's accurate. Beneath civilian beds, the Lusitania was hiding ammunition for war. And President Wilson kept it all top secret because he'd been asked explicitly not to allow this. You see, the Lusitania wasn't the first ship to leave America with secret ammunition on board. The practice of hiding weapons on passenger ships carrying families was commonly called bullets and babies. And it was unpopular. Politicians called for the practice to end. Worse, German spies in New York harbor found out Germany sent President Wilson a warning. If you guys keep doing this, we'll have to shoot those ships with a Lusitania. Wilson essentially called the Germans bluff. Maybe because he wanted America to declare war on Germany. Or maybe he thought everything would be fine because the Lusitania would have all the protection everyone expected it to have. A UK naval escort, timely danger warnings, the safest known route, everything that didn't happen. After all, Wilson's historical reputation is as an isolationist. Either way, US government officials neglected to warn the Lusitania's passengers that they might be sailing straight to their deaths. Now you're probably wondering, why would the British Navy sacrifice a ship filled with ammunition they needed? Why blow up your own weapons? Because the loss of one ship's cargo outweighed the potential benefit of getting the US military on their side. And here's the thing. Even if none of this was planned, there was some kind of COVID up around the Lusitania, maybe before it even sank. First, the passengers weren't made aware they'd be at sea a day longer than usual. And by the time that became obvious. Day six and they're still on the boat. They were no longer allowed to send telegrams. Allegedly this was to avoid detection by German U boat receivers. But it prevented passengers from from sharing happenings aboard the Lusitania with the outside world. Happenings like the complete lack of lifeboat drills. This could have resulted from the staff shortage. But several passengers lodged complaints during the voyage and nothing was done. People didn't know what to do if disaster struck. They didn't even know how to put on their life vests. And remember, this is not long after the Titanic. This would be an issue on people's minds. Then, as the Lusitania's distress signals went out, one nearby British naval cruiser, the Juno, sailed out to rescue passengers, only to be suddenly recalled. Smaller, slower ships came to the rescue instead, inevitably leading to more deaths. Oddly, the Juneau was the same ship originally assigned to be the Lusitania's military escort, the one that never came. Apparently, it was deemed more important to keep the Juno safe from Yubo20 than to save drowning civilians. Or perhaps the turnaround was to ensure that Americans died and limit witnesses. And it gets sketchier. Most of the recovered bodies were buried in mass graves, many before their loved ones could see or identify them. Identifying Lusitania victims came down more to who couldn't be found alive than who was found dead. Maybe the mass graves were an easier way to deal with such a disaster. Remember, over a thousand people died. But then there's the wreckage. In the 1970s, investigative journalist Colin Simpson wrote that divers who'd seen the wreckage were were sworn not to discuss it to protect state secrets. Then, in 1982, millionaire Greg Bemis purchased sole ownership of the Lusitania. Bemis spent years self funding dives and investigations and concluded there was a cover up. In the 1990s, Bemis authorized a dive led by Robert Ben Ballard, who famously located the Titanic wreckage. Ballard's team found unexploded hedgehog mines from the 1940s and 50s, evidence that someone had tried to blow up the wreckage of the Lusitania long after it sank. And the hedgehog mines, they matched those used by the British Navy? Yeah, that's right. The expert underwater archaeologist who found the Titanic also found evidence the British Navy tried to destroy the Lusitania wreck. Wild. If there was nothing suspicious on the Lusitania, then why were they blowing up the crime scene? Well, these hedgehog mines came with two new stories. First, the British government claimed that Nazi submarines hid around the wreckage during World War II and had to be attacked. Then they said the wreckage was used in the 1950s for target practice. Oh, yeah, we need to test some bombs. Let's blow up the shipwreck People have questions about. Oh, that won't be suspicious at all. That brings us to one more theorized cover up attempt. Almost immediately after the disaster, the British government and the Cunard Line pointed fingers at Captain Will Turner. They blamed him for the fiasco. He was shamed for failing to protect his ship, for ignoring orders to take a zigzag route, orders no one could prove he'd received. Within an hour of completing the inquest, the lawyers received their own. Don't let Captain Turner testify. This came down from the British Navy. Someone there didn't want Turner to share what he'd witnessed on the Lusitania. Unfortunately for Turner, he'd already given his account to the lawyers and was found not guilty of endangering the ship. The inquiry found Germany solely at fault. And 10 years later, in 1925, Germany paid over a million dollars in damages for sinking the Lusitania. And that's in 1920s money. This lined up with the official story from day one that Germany was entirely to blame. So why would they try to scapegoat Captain Turner? Because the German torpedoes weren't fully at fault. Like I said, lies on top of lies. The official British story was that the Lusitania was torpedoed twice. But the Germans said they only fired once. And Captain Turner agreed. So of course they wanted to keep him quiet and discredit him. He challenged their official narrative. Captain Turner believed the second explosion happened after cold seawater flowing in through the single torpedo hole hit the pressurized central steam line. The thermal shock blew it up. But the British stuck to the second Torpedo story. Even though they knew Captain Turner and the Germans were right? Yeah. From the day the lusitania sank, room 40 knew it was only hit with one torpedo. They found out when they decoded Germany's communications about the attack. But Britain's top brass couldn't say that they knew without revealing how they knew. So they invented a second torpedo, called the Germans liars and tried to discredit Captain Turner. That's how far they'd go to keep a secret that would win the war. Because that was the end game. Win the war against Germany. For room 40 and perhaps for President Wilson, if this secret scheme happened, it worked. And if it worked, they might have repeated it. Because in 1940, as the US contemplated once again joining the British to fight Germany in a world war, President Franklin Roosevelt made a request. According to journalist Colin Simpson, Roosevelt pulled the notes from President Wilson that were locked in the US Treasury. The ones labeled for the President's eyes only. Including the Lusitania's secret manifest. It's possible the classified document influenced his actions leading up to Pearl Harbor. Another attack the government allegedly knew about, but allowed to happen. Maybe he took the manifest as Wilson suggestion that false flags are needed. Maybe other Presidents did too. JFK with Operation Northwoods. Johnson with the Gulf of tonkin. Bush with 9 11. Perhaps the Lusitania wasn't a one off operation, but a hundred year pattern of conspiracies to push the US into war. Or maybe. Maybe Wilson saved it as proof of the hard decisions governments have to make. When questions flew about the second torpedo's existence, all the British government could do was shrug their shoulders. If they revealed the truth to the public, they'd lose their wartime advantage. Their hands were tied. And maybe their hands were tied the entire time. Yes, they knew the Lusitania was in danger. But acting on that information could reveal just how much they knew. Saving the Lusitania would destroy their biggest tactical advantage. It came down to an impossible question. Save the Lusitania, but prolong the war or sink the Lusitania and save more lives by ending it sooner. So maybe it wasn't a nefarious act to manipulate a nation, but an impossible choice in an unprecedented war. It's terrifying. We want to think our government and military can protect us, but sometimes they can't. And that's why false flag theories come up so frequently around acts of terrorism. It's easier to accept that a few bad people abuse their power in government than that the government can't always look out for everyone. Thank you for listening to conspiracy theories. We are here with a new episode every Wednesday. Be sure to check us out on instagram @the conspiracypod and if you're watching on the Spotify app, swipe up and give us your thoughts for more information on the Lusitania. Amongst the many sources we used, we found the Lusitania. Lusitania by Colin Simpson Dead the Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Eric Larson and Room 40, British Naval Intelligence, 1914-18 by Patrick Beasley. Extremely helpful to our research. Until next time. Remember, the truth isn't always the best story and the official story isn't always the truth. This episode was written and researched by Maggie Admire, Fact Checked by Sophie Kemp and engineered video, edited and sound designed by Alex Button. I'm your host, Carter Roy.
- [51:17]
TikTok Advertiser
Wallet Feeling extra light after the holidays? Yeah, same. But recovery starts right now with TikTok slash and free. Here's how it works. Pick the products you want in TikTok, shop, share the link and watch the price drop all the way to zero. No tricks, no catch, just free stuff with free shipping. Download TikTok, search,/free and start slashing today.
- [51:44]
Mike Brown
Oh, Canada. A vast, idyllic land filled with beavers, loons, lumberjacks and polite, friendly folks. We have those things for sure. But there's a darker side to the Great White north, full of mystery crime, the paranormal and dark history. Join me, Mike Brown and co host Matthew Stockton every Monday for the Dark Poutine podcast as we tell dark stories from north of the 49th parallel with the odd away game covering more international cases. You can listen to Dark Poutine for free wherever you find your favorite podcast.