It shot past the Narragansett, missing the stem by hardly thirty feet, and disappeared. The periscope of the submarine went out of sight at the same time, but the captain of the Narragansett decided not to take any chance, changed the course of his vessel so that the stern pointed directly toward the spot where the periscope was last sighted, and, after steering straight ahead for some distance, followed a somewhat zigzag course until he was out of the immediate submarine territories.
Captain Harwood abandoned all thought of the Lusitania’s call for help, because he thought it was a decoy message sent out to trap the Narragansett into the submarine’s path.
“My opinion,” said Second Officer Letts, “is that submarines were scattered around that territory to prevent any vessel that received the S. O. S. call of the Lusitania from going to her assistance.”
When attacked by the submarine the Narragansett had out her log, according to Second Officer Letts, and the torpedo passed under the line to which it was attached. The torpedo was fired from the submarine when the undersea boat was within two hundred yards of the tanker.
The Narragansett when turned back had not sighted the wreck of the Lusitania, and her officers, who were led to believe the S. O. S. was a decoy, did not learn of the sinking of the Cunarder until the following morning at two o’clock.
The Narragansett, under charter to the Standard Oil Company, is one of the largest tank steamships afloat. She is 540 feet long, has a sixty-foot beam, and 12,500 tons displacement.
CHAPTER VI
BRITISH JURY FINDS KAISER A MURDERER
[“THE CRIME OF WHOLESALE MURDER”]—[CAPTAIN TURNER’S TESTIMONY] — [SAW THE TORPEDO] — [DOUBLE LOOKOUTS ON LINER] — [NO WARNING GIVEN] — [OTHER TESTIMONY] — [CORONER HORGAN’S STATEMENT].