Horrors and Atrocities of the Great War: Including the Tragic Destruction of the LusitaniaMarshall, Logan
History
Horrors and Atrocities of the Great War: Including the Tragic Destruction of the Lusitania
Marshall, Logan
World War, 1914-1918 -- Atrocities
“We were two and a half hours in the boat before we were picked up by a
Greek steamer.”
Robert C. Wright, of Cleveland, O., gave what may be the last word of
Elbert Hubbard. Mr. Wright said:
“I don’t know who was saved, but I know that Elbert Hubbard must have
been drowned. He was a conspicuous person on account of his long hair.
I saw him and his wife start below, apparently for life-belts, but I
never saw either again. I am certain they were drowned.”
THREATENED SEAMEN WITH REVOLVER
Isaac Lehmann, of New York, a first-cabin passenger, who described
himself as being engaged in the Department of Government Supplies, said
that after having witnessed an accident to one of the boats through the
snapping of the ropes while it was being lowered, he ran into his cabin
and seizing a revolver and a life-belt, returned to the deck and mounted
a collapsible boat and called to some of the crew to assist in launching
it. One sailor, he said, replied that the captain’s orders were that no
boats were to be put out.
“I drew my revolver, which was loaded with ball cartridges,” said Mr.
Lehmann, “and shouted ‘I’ll shoot the first man who refuses to assist in
launching.’ The boat was then lowered. At least sixty persons were in
it. Unfortunately, the Lusitania lurched so badly that the boat
repeatedly struck the side of the sinking ship, and I think at least
twenty of its occupants were killed or injured.
“At that instant we heard an explosion on the right up forward, and
within two minutes the liner disappeared. I was thrown clear of the
wreckage, and went down twice, but the life-belt that I had on brought
me up. I was in the water fully four hours and a half.”
Asked as to the probable speed of the Lusitania when she was struck by
the torpedo, Mr. Lehmann said the boat was probably going at about
sixteen or seventeen knots.
Julian de Ayala, Consul General for Cuba at Liverpool, said that he was
ill in his berth when the Lusitania was torpedoed. He was thrown against
the partition of his berth by the explosion and suffered an injury to
his head and had flesh torn off one of his legs.
The boat Mr. de Ayala got into capsized and he was thrown into the
water, but later he was picked up.
“Captain Turner,” said Mr. de Ayala, “thought he could bring the
crippled vessel into Queenstown, but she rapidly began to sink by the
head.
“Her stern went up so high,” Mr. de Ayala added, “that we could see all
of her propellers, and she went down with a headlong plunge, volumes of
steam hissing from her funnels.”
RESCUED UNCONSCIOUS FROM THE WATER
The experience of two New York girls, Miss Mary Barrett and Miss Kate
MacDonald, rescued at the last minute, may be taken as typical of the
experience of many others. Miss Barrett gives the following account of
her experiences:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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