Enrique Granados and his wife drown in ferry.
100 years ago today Enrique Granados (1867–1916) died in on his way back from the United States following the performance of Goyescas at the Metropolitan Opera on 28 January 1916. The passenger ferry in which he was travelling to England, the Sussex, was torpedoed and damaged by a German U-boat. Granados and his wife were drowned.
Next year will be the 150th anniversary of his birth.
A Tragic Early Death
In 1916 he went to New York for the premiere of his opera Goyescas at the Met. His return was delayed because President Woodrow Wilson asked him to do a recital at the White House.
He had to change his return sailing to one via England.
They took a cross-channel ferry, the SS Sussex from Folkestone to Dieppe. This was torpedoed by a German submarine (it was during World War 1).
Granados managed to get into a life raft but dived into the sea to save his wife. Both drowned and their bodies were never recovered.
He had to change his return sailing to one via England.
They took a cross-channel ferry, the SS Sussex from Folkestone to Dieppe. This was torpedoed by a German submarine (it was during World War 1).
Granados managed to get into a life raft but dived into the sea to save his wife. Both drowned and their bodies were never recovered.
During the First World War
Sussex at Boulogne after being torpedoed in March 1916. The entire forepart of the ship was destroyed in the attack.
Note: some accounts have it hit today and some accounts have it hit tomorrow.
Note: some accounts have it hit today and some accounts have it hit tomorrow.
During the First World War, shipping from Newhaven was diverted to operate from Folkestone in order to free Newhaven for supplying British troops on the Western Front.
On 23rd March 1916, Sussex was on a voyage from Folkestone to Dieppe when she was torpedoed by SM UB-29.
The ship was severely damaged, with the entire bow forward of the bridge blown off.Some of the lifeboats were launched, but at least two of them capsized and many passengers were drowned.
Of the 53 crew and 325 passengers,at least 50 were killed,although a figure of between 80 and 100 is also suggested. Sussex remained afloat and was eventually towed stern-first into Boulogne harbour.
The dead included the celebrated Spanish composer Enrique Granados, his wife Amparo,a Persian prince, Bahram Mirza Sardar Mass'oud, and British tennis player Manliff Goodbody. Several Americans were injured. Although no US citizens were killed, the incident enraged public opinion in the United States, and caused a heated diplomatic exchange between the US and German governments.In May 1916, Germany issued a declaration, the so-called Sussex pledge, which effectively represented the suspension of the "intensified" U-boat campaign.
In order to prevent American anger from dragging them into the war, the Germans curtailed their U-Boat activities. However by 1916, the lack of breakthrough on the Western Front and the intensifying combat at Verdun meant the Germans once again instituted a policy of unrestricted U-Boat warfare against armed merchant ships. At the time, passenger ships were not permitted as targets, in an attempt to once again avoid the wrath of the United States.
Under further pressure from America, the Germans gave the ‘Sussex Pledge’ which guaranteed that passenger ships would not be sunk, merchant ships would not be sunk without confirmation of weaponry onboard, and that provision would be made for the rescue of the crew of any torpedoed ship.
Whilst this pledge once again kept America out of the war, it was revoked by Germany again in 1917 in the belief that they could score a decisive victory in the North Atlantic. They failed in this goal and served only to antagonise America to the point where the United States entered the war in April 1917.
