The following is the cargo manifest (or cargo list) as published in the New York Times on Saturday, 8 May 1915. A sortable version is available in the Downloads section of this site.
Now also available is the Lusitania‘s supplementary cargo manifest from crossing 202, courtesy Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Archive/Lusitania Online.
| Item |
Destination |
Amount |
Monetary worth (in 1915 US dollars) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sheet brass, lbs. | Liverpool | 260,000 | 49,565 |
| Copper, lbs. | Liverpool | 111,762 | 20,955 |
| Copper wire, lbs. | Liverpool | 58,465 | 11,000 |
| Cheese, lbs. | Liverpool | 217,137 | 33,334 |
| Beef, lbs. | Liverpool | 342,165 | 30,995 |
| Butter, lbs. | Liverpool | 43,614 | 8,730 |
| Lard, lbs. | Liverpool | 40,003 | 4,000 |
| Bacon, lbs. | Liverpool | 185,040 | 18,502 |
| Casings, packages | Liverpool | 10 | 150 |
| Cd. meat, cases | Liverpool | 485 | 1,373 |
| Cd. vegetables, cases | Liverpool | 248 | 744 |
| Cutlery, packages | Liverpool | 63 | 10,492 |
| Shoes, packages | Liverpool | 10 | 726 |
| Tongues, packages | Liverpool | 10 | 224 |
| Oysters, bbls. | Liverpool | 205 | 1,025 |
| Lubricating oil, bbls. | Liverpool | 25 | 1,129 |
| Hardware, packages | Liverpool | 31 | 742 |
| Leather, packages | Liverpool | 30 | 16,870 |
| Furs, packages | Liverpool | 349 | 119,220 |
| Notions, packages | Liverpool | 2 | 974 |
| Confectionery, packages | Liverpool | 665 | 2,823 |
| Silverware, packages | Liverpool | 8 | 700 |
| Precious stones, packages | Liverpool | 32 | 13,350 |
| Jewelry, packages | Liverpool | 2 | 251 |
| Belting, packages | Liverpool | 2 | 1,243 |
| Auto vehicles & parts, packages | Liverpool | 5 | 616 |
| Electrical material, packages | Liverpool | 8 | 2,464 |
| Machinery, packages | Liverpool | 2 | 1,386 |
| Steel and mfrs., packages | Liverpool | 8 | 354 |
| Copper mfrs., packages | Liverpool | 138 | 21,000 |
| Aluminum mfrs., packages | Liverpool | 144 | 6,000 |
| Brass mfrs., packages | Liverpool | 95 | 6,306 |
| Iron mfrs., packages | Liverpool | 33 | 3,381 |
| Old rubber, packages | Liverpool | 7 | 341 |
| Military goods, packages | Liverpool | 189 | 66,221 |
| Dry goods, packages | Liverpool | 238 | 19,036 |
| I.R. goods, package | Liverpool | 1 | 131 |
| Wire goods, packages | Liverpool | 16 | 771 |
| Reclaimed rubber, packages | Liverpool | 10 | 347 |
| Staves, packages | Liverpool | 2,351 | 200 |
| Brushes, packages | Liverpool | 4 | 342 |
| Ammunition, cases | Liverpool | 1,271 | 47,624 |
| Salt, packages | Liverpool | 100 | 125 |
| Bronze powder, cases | Liverpool | 30 | 1,000 |
| Dental goods, packages | Bristol | 7 | 2,319 |
| Steel and mfrs., packages | Bristol | 4 | 331 |
| Engines and material, packages | Dublin | 2 | 140 |
| Notions, package | Glasgow | 1 | 479 |
| Liquid glue, packages | Kobe | 2 | 124 |
| Books, packages | London | 9 | 845 |
| Drugs, packages | London | 8 | 458 |
| Wool yarn, package | London | 1 | 105 |
| Shoes, case | London | 1 | 274 |
| Bronze powder, cases | London | 16 | 887 |
| Motor cycles and parts, packages | London | 8 | 1,650 |
| Paintings, package | London | 1 | 2,312 |
| Cars, package | London | 1 | 750 |
| Printed matter, packages | London | 14 | 147 |
| Leather, cases | London | 89 | 31,517 |
| Cartridges and ammunition, cases | London | 4,200 | 152,400 |
| Films, case | London | 1 | 100 |
| Machine patterns, packages | London | 3 | 1,500 |
| Machinery, packages | London | 6 | 1,149 |
| Electrical machinery, package | London | 1 | 1,616 |
| Electrical material, packages | London | 4 | 3,200 |
| Auto vehicles & parts, packages | London | 4 | 340 |
| Optical goods, package | London | 1 | 1,313 |
| Dental goods, packages | London | 10 | 3,962 |
| Sewing machines and parts, packages | Manchester | 20 | 360 |
| Total value (in 1915 US dollars) | 735,579 |
The role of the cargo (or lack thereof) in the sinking of the Lusitania is elaborated on in the Controversies sections of Contraband and the Second Explosion.
related links regarding Lusitania at Great War Forum
http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?app=core&module=search&do=search&fromMainBar=1
Link to 1919 account of July 27, 1915 letter from Austro Hungarian embassy in regard to Ritter Von Rettegh claim of guncotton on Lusitania .pp.2885-2887
http://books.google.com/books?id=OAY9AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA2886&dq=Gun+Cotton+on+RMS+Lusitania&hl=en&sa=X&ei=vIjuTrjhEOri0QG_0NjNCQ&ved=0CD4Q6AEwAjgK#v=onepage&q=Gun%20Cotton%20on%20RMS%20Lusitania&f=false
1921 account of Ritter Von Rettegh
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026749/1921-09-25/ed-1/seq-26/#date1=1915&index=0&rows=20&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&words=Rettegh+Ritter+von&proxdistance=5&date2=1922&ortext=&proxtext=Ritter+Von+Rettegh+&phrasetext=&andtext=&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1
Picture of VON Rettegh
https://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/9420524649/
good imfo i was asked to do a report on the lusitania and this had most of the facts i only need wiki for one fact 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
Lusitiana contraband cargo at http://www.lusitania.net/deadlycargo.htm
Also om Contraband cargo http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/01/lusitania-secrets-of-war-revealed-sinking
How can one tell the desitination of the Lusitania’s cargo for her final voyage when only a few addresses in the UK are given in the manifest? In particular I’m interested in cargo for the Experimental Testing site at Shoeburyness. This site in Shoeburyness is given for brass & copper tubes and castings, but nothing for cheese or butter.
1915 Propaganda film on the sinking…!
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/lusitania-cartoon-the-sinking-of-the-lusitania
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/stills/lusitania-cartoon-the-sinking-of-the-lusitania
the Shrapnell shells possibly for the Shoeburyness testing site prehaps?
http://www.rmslusitania.info/controversies/contraband/
Wow that is alot of cargo and money
Anyone got an idea where I could find the stowage plan? If it still exists. This would of been done to show where evening was and it allowed the ships trim to be calculated and appropriate ballasting
Hi Chris. The stowage plan WAS in the Sydney Jones Library in Liverpool. There is a copy of sorts contained in the original Longmans edition of Colin Simpson’s book LUSITANIA. When we were researching for our book THE LUSITANIA STORY, Kevin Walsh-Johnson and myself asked for it at the Sydney Jones Library and we were shown it, but when we asked for it to be photocopied, we were told it was not allowed. We made a rough sketch of it before the archivist took it away again and that can be found on our website http://www.lusitania.net
On a subsequent enquiry to the Sydney Jones Library when we again asked for it, we were told it has now been lost during a move. You may take from that what you will! Hope that helps!
Mitch Peeke.
Thanks Mitch, that helps a lot.
I know a lecture at john moored and he knows a library person, so with a little gentle prodding it might be found again. Any chance of a larger copy of your sketch? The one on your great website is a bit small for me and my laptop isn’t allowing me to zoom in.
I know the Library staff at the university and have been through the now available on-line catalogues. I first had contact with the library many years ago and not long after the archive had been movied from Cunard to the university. There was never any record of the cargo on the Lusitania either for the May 1915 voyage or any other as far as I was able to verify. The ‘so-called’ cargo manifests that appeared from the Rooseveldt collection may have been originally provided by the German espionage group in New York and active during the 1914-1916 period. Simpson’s plans for the cargo stowage are sheer fantasy. Many of the areas he lists as containing ‘contraband’ etc were, in fact occupied by passenger and crew accommodation. It would also have been impossible to load some of the cargo listed due to the access restrictions on board. The large amount of foodstuffs such as cheese, butter and oysters were, of course for passenger consumption during the voyage. One of the so called Manifests has my grandfather’s name as Captain and for a date when he had not been the ships’ master. This would have been illegal and is possibly a faked document.
Oh wow so much stuff thanks for the information
This made me cry
the torpedo hit the boiler thats what exploed u20 fired one torpedo hit the boiler thats ur 2nd blast lucky it didnt hit the cargo hold it would been much worse then it is
Thank you so much for this information. It has been super helpful in writing my report about the Lusitania. I’m running into a problem with the total value for the cargo list. At the bottom of the table on this website the total is 735,579. I need to make a graph of this so I typed it into excel and I’ve double checked the numbers but the total I get is 735,040. I’ve gotten that total through the excel sum formula and adding by hand, so I’m wondering if the number here is incorrect or if there’s an item missing? Or is that really how much money was lost and it’s just a bit off because there was confusion with changes made to some of the original cargo manifests? If you could just look into that and explain the different numbers that would be really helpful. Thanks!
articles on War material cargo
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/01/lusitania-salvage-warning-munitions-1982