On the sinking of the 'Lusitania', 1915. Britannia to America: In silence you have looked on felon blows, On butcher's work of which the waste lands reek: Now, in God's name, from Whom your greatness flows, Sister, will you not speak? A German submarine torpedoed the Lusitania off the Irish coast on 7 May 1915. Although unarmed, she was carrying munitions. 1,198 people lost their lives, of whom 128 were US citizens. From Punch, London, May 1915.