Fastest and Largest Steamer
now in Atlantic Service Sails
SATURDAY, MAY 1, 10 A. M.
Transylvania, Fri., May 7, 5 P. M.
Orduna, Tues., May 18, 10 A. M.
Tuscania, Fri., May 21, 5 P. M.
LUSITANIA, Sat., May 29, 10 A. M.
Transylvania, Fri., June 4, 5 P. M.
Gibraltar--Genoa--Naples--Piraeus
S.S. Carpathia, Thur., May 13, Noon.
ROUND THE WORLD TOURS
Through bookings to all principal Ports of the World.
Company’s Office, 21-24 State St., N. Y.
NOTICE!
TRAVELERS intending to embark on the Atlantic voyage are
reminded that a state of war exists between Germany and
her allies and Great Britain and her allies; that the
zone of war includes the waters adjacent to the British
isles; that, in accordance with formal notice given by
the Imperial German Government, vessels flying the flag
of Great Britain, or of any of her allies, are liable to
destruction in those waters and that travelers sailing in
the war zone on ships of Great Britain or her allies do
so at their own risk.
IMPERIAL GERMAN EMBASSY,
WASHINGTON, D. C., APRIL 22, 1915
]
This warning was not taken seriously. It was pointed out that the
German submarines had sunk only comparatively small and slow steamers,
and generally believed that it would be impossible for them to hit a
fast-moving vessel. Not a single passenger canceled his passage on the
_Lusitania_, though all admitted that the Germans would have a perfect
right to sink her if they could, as she was laden with rifle-cartridges
and shell-cases for the Allies. But every passenger knew that he had a
perfect right to be taken off first, and trusted to the Government that
had given him his passports to maintain it.
The _Lusitania_ left New York on the first of May. At two o’clock
on the afternoon of Friday, May 7, she was about ten miles from the
Irish coast, off the Old Head of Kinsale, and running slowly to avoid
reaching Queenstown at an unfavorable turn of the tide, when Captain
Turner and many others saw a periscope rise out of the water about half
a mile away.
“I saw a torpedo speeding toward us,” declared the captain afterwards,
“and immediately I tried to change our course, but was unable to
manœuver out of the way. There was a terrible impact as the torpedo
struck the starboard side of the vessel, and a second torpedo followed
almost immediately. This one struck squarely over the boilers.
“I tried to turn the _Lusitania_ shoreward, hoping to beach her, but
her engines were crippled and it was impossible.
“There has been some criticism because I did not order the lifeboats
out sooner, but no matter what may be done there are always some to
criticize. Until the _Lusitania_ came to a standstill it was absolutely
impossible to launch the boats--they would have been swamped.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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