The Lusitania's Last Voyage / Being a narrative of the torpedoing and sinking of the R. M. S. Lusitania by a German submarine off the Irish coast, May 7, 1915

by Jr. Charles Emelius Lauriat

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THE LUSITANIA’S LAST VOYAGE

THE LUSITANIA’S
LAST VOYAGE

Being a Narrative
of the Torpedoing and Sinking
of the R. M. S. Lusitania
by a German Submarine
off the Irish Coast
May 7, 1915
BY
CHARLES E. LAURIAT, Jr.
ONE OF THE SURVIVORS
With Illustrations

BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
The Riverside Press Cambridge
1915
COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY CHARLES E. LAURIAT, JR.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Published October 1915
Copyright in Great Britain, Ireland,
and British Colonies, and in all
countries under the Convention, by
Charles E. Lauriat, Jr.
TO MY FATHER
WHO TAUGHT ME IN BOYHOOD TO SWIM, AND
TO KNOW NO FEAR OF THE SEA
AND
TO MY MOTHER
WHO FOUNDED THE FAITH THAT
HAS BROUGHT ME
THROUGH ALL THINGS
I DEDICATE THIS
BOOK

THE ZONE

Avert Thy gaze, O God, close tight Thine eyes!
Glance down no longer on the ocean foam,
Lest Thou behold such horrors as can turn
Men’s burning hearts to ice, and chill their souls.

Keep Thine heart warm and full of charity
That Thou mayst yet be able to forgive,
And pity feel for those who know not when
To pause in deeds of ruthless sacrifice.

Restrain Thy wrath, and keep Thine hand in check;
Smite not, nor fiercely thrust without the pale
Those who can dare to strew the ocean waste
With fellow creatures, innocent of wrong.

Forget the studied purpose to destroy;
The launching of the missile through the deep;
The shattered hull; the crushed and bleeding forms;
The seething swirl of wreckage, women, men.

Remember that they know not what they do
Who strike in deadly fear and ghastly hate;
Remember that somehow, and at some time,
Each crime exacts its human penalty.

Remember that man’s conscience and man’s mind
Are agents of Thy purpose and Thy plan,
Which work within a deadlier revenge
Than any shrapnel shot or sabre thrust.

Remember that new generations come
Upon whom fall the burden and the curse,
The anguish of old hatreds and past wrongs,
The crushing debt, the struggle and despair.

Restrain, O God, the sweep of this vast hate;
Recall the nations to their sense of shame:
To those in blinding war, to us at peace,
Reveal anew the message of the Christ.
William Lloyd Garrison, Jr.

(Reprinted by permission of the author and of the Boston Transcript)