True Stories of the Great War, Volume 1 (of 6): Tales of Adventure--Heroic Deeds--Exploits Told by the Soldiers, Officers, Nurses, Diplomats, Eye Witnesses
History
True Stories of the Great War, Volume 1 (of 6): Tales of Adventure--Heroic Deeds--Exploits Told by the Soldiers, Officers, Nurses, Diplomats, Eye Witnesses
World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
These tragic stories are like voices from the grave--the ocean
giving up its dead. They are told by those who were saved from
the tragedy ship on that fearful day, May 7, 1915 (at 2:08 P.M.
Greenwich time) when the _Lusitania_, fifteen miles off "Old Head of
Winsale" on the Irish coast, was torpedoed by a German submarine.
The _Lusitania_ sailed from New York at noon, May 1, 1915, carrying
1,959 persons--passengers and crew. It had been warned by official
notices from the German embassy that it would be attacked by German
submarines, which only aggravates the crime by making plain its
deliberate intention. The voyage was uneventful until the seventh,
when the ship, running at 17 knots, was nearing its destination. It
was shortly after luncheon, the sea was calm, when two torpedoes
struck the _Lusitania_. The scenes of terror which followed are
described by the survivors--a few of their stories, typical of their
fearful experiences, are told here. The ship sank in less than twenty
minutes, and 1,198 men, women, and children went down into an ocean
grave.
I--STORY OF CAPTAIN W. T. TURNER, COMMANDER OF THE "LUSITANIA"
I was on the bridge of the _Lusitania_ (at 2:08 Friday afternoon, May
7, 1915, off Old Head of Kinsdale on Irish Coast) when I saw a torpedo
speeding toward us, and immediately I tried to change our course,
but was unable to manoeuvre out of its 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. Until
the _Lusitania_ came to a standstill it was absolutely out of the
question to launch the boats--they would have been swamped. It has been
suggested that it was impact with ammunition in the cargo that made
the work of the torpedoes so deadly, but if there had been ammunition
in the cargo the _Lusitania_ would have been blown to pieces. I saw
the torpedoes with my own eyes as did many others. It was cold-blooded
murder.
I was in the water four hours after the _Lusitania_ sank. I am a strong
swimmer, and so was able to keep afloat until I was rescued. When I was
swimming about, suddenly a German submarine rose to the surface amid
the wreckage, then submerged again. Some persons in lifeboats nearby
saw the submarine even better than I did.
(As Captain Turner went about the streets of Queenstown he tried
bravely to cheer the survivors, but he seemed stunned. For the most
part he walked with bowed head, and many of those he met did not
recognize him. When told of the recovery of Charles Frohman's body, and
of the finding of many other Americans among the dead, tears came to
his eyes.)
II--STORY TOLD BY W. B. PHILLIPS, AN AMERICAN PASSENGER
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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