History of the World War : $b An authentic narrative of the world's greatest warMarch, Francis A., Jr.
History
History of the World War : $b An authentic narrative of the world's greatest war
March, Francis A., Jr.
World War, 1914-1918
"I headed straight for land, but it was useless. Previous to this the
watertight bulkheads were closed. I suppose the explosion forced them
open. I don't know the exact extent to which the Lusitania was damaged."
"There must have been serious damage done to the water-tight bulkheads?"
"There certainly was, without doubt."
"Were the passengers supplied with lifebelts?"
"Yes."
"Were any special orders given that morning that lifebelts be put on?"
"No."
"Was any warning given before you were torpedoed?"
"None whatever. It was suddenly done and finished."
"If there had been a patrol boat about, might it have been of
assistance?"
"It might, but it is one of those things one never knows."
With regard to the threats against his ship, Captain Turner said he saw
nothing except what appeared in the New York papers the day before the
Lusitania sailed. He had never heard the passengers talking about the
threats, he said.
"Was a warning given to the lower decks after the ship had been struck?"
Captain Turner was asked.
"All the passengers must have heard the explosion," Captain Turner
replied.
Captain Turner, in answer to another question, said he received no
report from the lookout before the torpedo struck the Lusitania.
Ship's Bugler Livermore testified that the watertight compartments were
closed, but that the explosion and the force of the water must have
burst them open. He said that all the officers were at their posts and
that earlier arrivals of the rescue craft would not have saved the
situation.
After physicians had testified that the victims had met death through
prolonged immersion and exhaustion the coroner summed up the case.
He said that the first torpedo fired by the German submarine did serious
damage to the Lusitania, but that, not satisfied with this, the Germans
had discharged another torpedo. The second torpedo, he said, must have
been more deadly, because it went right through the ship, hastening the
work of destruction.
The characteristic courage of the Irish and British people was
manifested at the time of this terrible disaster, the coroner continued,
and there was no panic. He charged that the responsibility "lay on the
German Government and the whole people of Germany, who collaborated in
the terrible crime."
"I propose to ask the jury," he continued, "to return the only verdict
possible for a self-respecting jury, that the men in charge of the
German submarine were guilty of wilful murder."
The jury then retired and after due deliberation prepared this verdict:
We find that the deceased met death from prolonged immersion and
exhaustion in the sea eight miles south-southeast of Old Head of
Kinsale, Friday, May 7, 1915, owing to the sinking of the Lusitania by
torpedoes fired by a German submarine.
We find that the appalling crime was committed contrary to international
law and the conventions of all civilized nations.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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