“At that moment I saw a periscope of a submarine between the Tonina and the City of Exeter, about a quarter of a mile directly ahead of us. She dived as soon as she saw us.
“I signaled to the engine room for every available inch of speed. Then we saw the submarine come up astern of us. I now ordered full speed ahead and we left the submarine behind. The periscope remained in sight about twenty minutes.
“No sooner had we lost sight of the submarine astern, than another appeared on the starboard bow. This one was directly ahead and on the surface, not submerged.
THE SINKING OF THE LUSITANIA
The dastardly destruction of this great passenger ship off the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland, on May 7, 1915, and the murder of over 1,200 non-combatants, was German’s greatest exploit in crime.
“I starboarded hard away from him, he swinging as we did. About eight minutes later he submerged. I continued at top speed for four hours and saw no more of the submarines. It was the ship’s speed that saved her, that’s all.
“The Narragansett, as soon as she heard the S O S call, went to the assistance of the Lusitania. One of the submarines discharged a torpedo at her and missed her by not more than eight feet. The Narragansett then warned us not to attempt to go to the rescue, and I got her wireless call while I was dodging the two submarines. You can see that three ships would have gone to the assistance of the Lusitania had they not been attacked by the two submarines.”
The German Government defended the brutal destruction of non-combatants by the false assertions that the Lusitania was an armed vessel and that it was carrying a great store of munitions. Both of these accusations were proved to be mere fabrications. The Lusitania was absolutely unarmed and the nearest approach to munitions was a consignment of 1,250 empty shell cases and 4,200 cases of cartridges for small arms.
Intense indignation swept over the neutral world, the tide rising highest in America. It well may be said that the destruction of the Lusitania was one of the greatest factors in driving the United States into the war against Germany.