SAW THE TORPEDO
“The weather was clear,” Captain Turner answered. “We were going at a speed of eighteen knots. I was on the port side and heard Second Officer Hefford call out, ‘Here’s a torpedo.’
“I ran to the other side and saw clearly the wake of a torpedo. Smoke and steam came up between the last two funnels. There was a slight shock. Immediately after the first explosion there was another report, but that may possibly have been internal.
“I at once gave the order to lower the boats down to the rails, and I directed that women and children should get into them. I also had all the bulkheads closed.
“I also gave orders to stop the ship,” Captain Turner continued, “but we could not stop. We found that the engines were out of commission. It was not safe to lower boats until the speed was off the vessel. As a matter of fact, there was a perceptible headway on her up to the time she went down.
“When she was struck she listed to starboard. I stood on the bridge when she sank, and the Lusitania went down under me. She floated about eighteen minutes after the torpedo struck her. My watch stopped at 2.36. I was picked up from among the wreckage and afterward was brought aboard a trawler.
“No warship was convoying us. I saw no warship, and none was reported to me as having been seen. At the time I was picked up I noticed bodies floating on the surface, but saw no living persons.”
“Eighteen knots was not the normal speed of the Lusitania, was it?” he was asked.
“At ordinary times,” answered Captain Turner, “she could make twenty-five knots, but in war times her speed was reduced to twenty-one knots. My reason for going eighteen knots was that I wanted to arrive at Liverpool without stopping and within two or three hours of high water.”