Germans in New York, who had knowledge that German submarines were lying in wait off the Irish coast to “get” the Lusitania, sent intimations to friends before the sailing of the ship.
The New York Sun was told of the plot and warned Captain Turner by wireless after the ship sailed. The German secret service in New York also sent warnings to Americans booked on the Lusitania. One of the persons to receive such a message signed “morte” was Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt. Many other passengers got the same warning that the ship was to be torpedoed; but they all laughed at it. They knew she had outrun submarines on a previous voyage and tricked them on another voyage. Besides, before the horrors of this war, optimistic Americans firmly believed the world was a civilized place. It was only after the destruction of the Lusitania that many neutral Americans could credit the atrocity stories of Belgium.
FATEFUL MAY 1, 1915
So when the Lusitania backed from her pier in the North River on the morning of May 1, 1915, there was more than the average levity that makes the sailing of an ocean liner so absorbing. On the pier were anxious friends somewhat perturbed by the mysterious whisperings of impending danger. Mingling among them also were men who knew what that danger was, and who had just delivered final instructions to German hirelings on board. On the deck of the great vessel, as she swung her nose down-stream toward Sandy Hook, was not only the man who had promised to see that the false message in code reached Captain Turner, but there also were those two friends, good and true, of von Rintelen’s—men who, in the event that the Lusitania should run into the appointed place at night, would flash lights from port holes to give a clear aim to the commanders of the stealthy submarines.
On board the vessel swinging out past Sandy Hook into the ocean lane were a notable group of passengers, many of them representative Americans of inestimable value to this country. Besides Mr. Vanderbilt, there was Charles Frohman, a talented theatrical producer, who had furnished by his artistic shows genuine amusement to millions; Elbert Hubbard, talented and inspiring writer; Charles Klein, writer of absorbing plays; Justus Miles Forman, novelist, and Lindon W. Bates, Jr., whose family had befriended von Rintelen. Merchants, clergymen, lawyers, society women, a large list of useful men and women in the 1,254 passengers.
These, added to the crew of 800, made more than 2,000 lives under the care of the staunch, blue-eyed captain. Of that number, 1,214 were being rushed over the waves to doom. And as the ship sped eastward, submarines leaving their bases at Cuxhaven and Heligoland clipped their prows under the waves, and made for Old Head of Kinsale on the south coast of Ireland, where they were instructed to pause, upon sealed instructions, and obey them to the letter.
Meantime, Berlin, counting almost to the hour when the Lusitania would near the British Isles, prepared the exact wording for the false instructions to Captain Turner. This was sent to New York by wireless, where it was put into British code. The next step was to have this message substituted for the British Admiralty’s instructions to the Lusitania. The inside details of how this substitution was effected—can only be surmised. This secret is buried with the British Admiralty and with the Bureau in Berlin.
BERLIN’S DELIBERATIONS
For such intricate action Germany had been preparing with infinite patience both before and after the war began. Prior to the outbreak, representatives of Germany had started the building of the wireless plant at Sayville, Long Island, by which aerial communication was established with Berlin. After the war began, the equipment of the station was increased, and instead of 35 kilowatt transmitters, 100 kilowatt transmitters were installed, the machinery for tripling the efficiency of the plant having been shipped from Germany via Holland to this country. Wireless experts, members of the German navy, also slipped away from Germany to direct the work of handling messages between the two countries.
Everything was in readiness at Sayville, consequently, to catch the directions that were flashed through the air. There was an operator specially trained to take the message coded for the deception of Captain Turner, and send it crackling fatefully through the air. Everything was ready and only the request of the operator on the Lusitania for directions south of Ireland was needed. All this was in violation not only of our neutrality laws, but also in disregard of American statutes governing wireless stations.