Meantime, the vessel had reached the edge of the war zone decreed by Germany in violation of international law, and Captain Turner sent out his call for instructions. Presently the order came. It was hurried to Captain Turner’s state-room.
Captain Turner, carefully decoding the message by means of a cipher book which he had guarded so jealously, read orders to proceed to a point ten miles south of Old Head of Kinsale, and run into St. George’s Channel, making the bar at Liverpool at midnight. He carefully calculated the distance and his running time, and adjusted his speed accordingly. He felt assured, because he relied on the assumption that the waters over which he was sailing were being thoroughly scoured by English cruisers and swift torpedo boats in search of German submarines.
THE EXPLOSION THAT ROCKED THE WORLD
The British Admiralty also received his wireless message—just as the Sayville operator had snatched it from the air, and despatched an answer. The order from the head of the Admiralty directed the English captain to proceed to a point some seventy or eighty miles south of Old Head of Kinsale and there meet his convoy, which would guard him on the way to port. But Captain Turner never got that message, and the British convoy waited in vain for the Lusitania to appear on the horizon.
The Lusitania headed north-east, going far away from the vessels that would have protected her. Swiftly she slipped through the waves on the afternoon of May 7. Unsuspecting, the ship moved directly toward certain death. The proud, swift liner steered straight between two submarines, lying in wait.
The details of what happened after the torpedo blew out the side of the great ship have been told—told so fully, vividly, so terribly that they need not be repeated here. As Captain Turner heard the explosion of the torpedo he instantly knew that there had been treachery. He knew he had been decoyed away from the warships that were to escort him to his pier.
The manner in which the captain had been lured to the waiting submarines was made clear at the secret session of the Board of Inquiry that investigated the sinking of the ship. Captain Turner told at the Coroner’s inquest how he had been warned, supposedly by the British Admiralty, of submarines off the Irish coast, and that he had received special instructions as to course. Asked if he made application for a convoy, he said:
“No, I left that to them. It is their business, not mine. I simply had to carry out my orders to go, and I would do it again.”
At the official inquiry, the captain produced the orders which he had received, directing him to proceed south-west of Old Head of Kinsale. The British Admiralty produced its message which had directed Captain Turner to go by an utterly different course. It produced also orders which had been issued to the convoy to meet the Lusitania. The orders did not jibe. They showed treachery, and further investigation pointed to Sayville.