Ceremony marks 100 years since sinking of Lusitania

Wreaths have been cast into the sea at the spot where the Cunard British cruise liner Lusitania sank 100 years ago.

Among those throwing wreaths was Alan Gibson, who lost his great-uncle when Lusitania was torpedoed by a German U-boat off the coast of southern Ireland on May 7 1915, with the loss of 1,201 lives.

Another who cast a wreath was George Harrison, whose great-grandfather George Little, a crewman on the Lusitania, was among the survivors.

The wreath-casting was part of a ceremony on board modern-day Cunard liner Queen Victoria and came as the ship, on which Mr Harrison serves as a second engineer, paused over the site of the wreck of the Lusitania.

Queen Victoria’s Master, Commodore Christopher Rynd, and Cunard chairman David Dingle also cast wreaths.

Other relatives of those who died or survived threw flowers into the sea and the Queen Victoria’s whistle sounded.

It was due to sound again later when passengers from Queen Victoria will be among those attending a Lusitania memorial service at the port of Cobh led by Irish President Michael D Higgins.