When Cunard’s HMSQueen Victoria departs Southampton on May 3, 2015 for a seven-day round-trip cruise, it will mark the 100th anniversary of the torpedo attack that sank the Lusitania. The ship will carry a specially curated exhibition of memorabilia and recovered objects from the ill-fated Lusitania, assembled by author and historian Eric Sauder, a noted expert on the ship and the May 7, 1915 sinking.
At the time of the attack, when the liner was bound from New York to Liverpool, the Lusitania served as Cunard’s flagship. Sauder has led multiple expeditions to the wreck site, and the onboard display will include recovered items such as cutlery and china, alongside contemporary newspaper articles, postcards, brochures and posters that document the tragedy and its aftermath. Fares for the commemorative cruise (Voyage V510) start at $1,399.