Summary: The Sinking Of The Lusitania

Austin Horner
10/26/2015
History 102
Dr. Layth

The Sinking of the Lusitania On July 28th, 1914 World War I had officially begun between the Serbs, Austria-Hungry, then on August 1st, 1914 Russia and Germany got involved and joined two different sides. During the war, February 4th, 1915 Germany declared the oceans around Britain to be a “war zone” that means that any boat that should be in that area shall be shot down by a U-boat or a submarine. On May 1st 1915, under the control of Captain Turner, the Lusitania set sail for Liverpool, but unfortunately the Lusitania was sunk by a U-boat before it could arrive. In the book Dead Wake by Erik Larson, he describes the horror that happened during the sinking of the Lusitania. The sinking of the
Lusitania and how many lives were lost made a huge impact on the United States, one might say that the loss of lives in the Lusitania disaster and what people had seen had a huge impact on the reason why the United States decided to join the war against Germany.
The Lusitania set sail for Liverpool on May 1st, under the control of Captain Turner. The sailing for the Lusitania went well until May 7th, 1915. On May 7th a U-boat named U-20 under the command of Schwieger had spotted the Lusitania. The U-20 shot a torpedo at the boat and it made a direct impact. “As the torpedo passed from the view below the edge of the deck…we all had a kind of hope that maybe it wouldn’t explode… In the next instant, 350 pounds of explosives detonated against the plates of the hull, at a point under the bridge about 10 feet below the water line.” Captain Turner told everyone not to panic because the Lusitania was to great of a ship to sink at least that’s what he thought at the time. During the sinking the things that people saw terrified them as they could do nothing to save them. Schwieger described his view of the sinking of the Lusitania, “The ship was sinking with unbelievable rapidity. There was a terrific panic on her deck. Overcrowded lifeboats…Desperate people ran helplessly up and down the decks. Men and
women jumped into the water and tried to swim to empty, overturned lifeboats. It was the most terrible sight I have ever seen.” Even Schwieger the person responsible for sinking the ship felt pain in seeing all those people suffer. The survivors recall the sinking, some of them gave their stories. “One woman, Margaret Gwyer, a young newlywed from Saskatoon, Canada, was sucked into one of the ships 24- wide funnels. Moments later an eruption of steam from below shot her back out, alive but covered in black soot.” In that incident two other people had the same thing happen to them and their names were Harold Taylor and William Pierpoint. One person stayed alive by hanging a hold of a dead man’s life jacket. “ Grace French, having umped without a life jacket, sank deep into the sea…I grabbed hold of a lifejacket which had a dead young man in it. We floated together for a while until a big wave washed him away.” There has many stories told, what people had seen that day the ones that survived was just horrifying. The Lusitania left the New York port with 1.959 passengers on it and after the sinking of the ship, only 764 remained, meaning that 1,198 passengers were counted as dead, 128 of them were Americans. It was bad for the passengers that changed ships at the last minute. A few passengers were going on the ship, Cameronia, but decided to transfer to the Lusitania and many lost their lives because of that reason. Captain Turner would ultimately be blamed for having the Lusitania shot by a torpedo and sunk for many reasons. In the United States, in Washington D.C, President Woodrow Wilson wouldn’t talk about the disaster in public. Wilson was ready to declare war but he felt that the nation wasn’t ready for it yet. “Wilson believed that if he went then to Congress to ask for a declaration of war, he would likely get it. But he did not think the nation was truly ready for that kind of commitment.” On May 10th 1915, Wilson finally addressed the Lusitania disaster, in his speech he told said, “There is such a thing as a man being too proud to fight.” Senator. Henry Cabot Lodge, called it, “probably the most unfortunate phrase that Wilson had ever coined.” The next day, Wilson sent a protest to Germany addressing the tragedies of not just the Lusitania but also the sinking of the Falaba. In the protest, Wilson also addressed that “when used against merchant vessels were by their nature weapons that violated, many sacred principles of justice an humanity.” The protests that Wilson used failed, but the sinking of the Lusitania was still an issue. Even after the sinking of the Lusitania, Wilson believed that United States should remain neutral. “As late as December 1916, Wilson believed he could still keep America neutral…” On April 6, 1917, the United States joined the allied powers and declared war on Germany. The sinking of the Lusitania was a devastating moment for the nations, many lives lost, but those that survived, “there were marriages, lifelong friendships forged and at least two suicides”, and the sinking made Wilson on the tipping point of declaring war on Germany and eventually he did and the sinking of the Lusitania was one of the reasons.