The Lusitania Saga & Myth by David Ramsay

Author:David Ramsay
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: HISTORY / Military / Naval
ISBN: 9781473860230
Publisher: Pen & Sword Books
Published: 2015-08-28T00:00:00+00:00

Aspinall’s submission to Mersey was of critical importance to his defence of Turner and clearly had a powerful influence on him. These 130 words quoted above, expressed in crystal-clear English, in which he had cautioned Mersey and his assessors against judging Turner’s actions with all the advantages of hindsight, stands out as a textbook example of advocacy of the highest order. Aspinall had deservedly gained a subtle advantage for his client, which he was able to maintain for the remainder of the In Camera sessions.

He then turned to another weak point in the Admiralty’s case, emphasizing the vague way in which their directives were so often worded. He repeated Turner’s reply ‘What is a wide berth?’ when Carson had read to him the instruction of 15 April: Ships should give prominent headlands a wide berth, and noted the lack of definition in the signal of 22 March: … Most important that vessels passing up the English or Irish Channels should keep a mid-channel course. He asked pointedly: I have been wondering … what is the Irish Channel. Is it … the water south of Ireland or is it the Channel on the East Coast of Ireland … a glance at the chart shows that here is undoubtedly a Channel there but it is very difficult indeed to say what is the channel and what is the mid-channel when dealing with the South Coast of Ireland. The waters are extremely broad. In fact the nearest landfall is the Spanish province of Asturias, 700 miles to the South.

As he reached the end of his submission, Aspinall broached a fundamental issue, answering a question which Mersey had raised earlier:

Is it legitimate to override the Board of Trade regulations by an Admiralty instruction? … first of all, for the safe navigation of the ship she must be navigated so that she does not get on rocks or on the shore, secondly give effect to the Admiralty instructions so as to avoid the submarine menace. What a careful man ought to do … is, as far as he can, give effect to both but there may be special circumstances where it is impossible to give effect to both.

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