14. The Admiralty fabricated evidence presented during the Board of Trade investigation
The attempt to make Captain Turner the scapegoat during the Board of Trade investigation included the Admiralty introducing falsified evidence, in which the position of the ship at the time of the attack was altered. The Admiralty placed Lusitania five miles closer to shore than it had been. It reported the ship had been traveling much more slowly that it had been. It insisted there had been two torpedoes that struck the ship. It claimed the only munitions aboard had been cases of rifle ammunition stowed more than 150 feet from the area of the explosion. It altered the messages which had been sent to ships at sea preceding the disaster.
The Board of Trade investigation completely exonerated Captain Turner, as well as Cunard, placing the entire blame on the German Navy. It did not issue a finding on the number of torpedoes fired at the liner. Its full report was immediately classified by the government, and over a century after the sinking was still not released to the public.