---

          As with just about any collision aboard a large vessel, the apparent severity of the situation depends greatly on where you are on the ship when impact occurs. Accounts of the explosions vary from "...a distant thump..." to "...a horrifying concert of wrenching metal, breaking glass, snapping wood and raging flames..." One thing for certain, all aboard knew the situation was serious when only a few seconds after the explosions the ship heaved over to starboard. The second explosion had blasted away huge sections of Lucy's hull and the ship's forward momentum was only accelerating the flooding. The engine room telegraph signaled "Full Astern". As the forward turbines were disengaged, Assistant Third Engineer George Little brought the reverse turbines online before the propellers and their shafts had stopped spinning. The turbines ground uselessly against eachother, the excess pressure drove the reverse turbines the wrong way, building pressure up against the incoming steam. Steam lines burst open, valves erupted and the pressure dropped from 190 lbs per square inch to less than 50. When Captain Turner realized what had happened, he order a turn to port in the hopes of reaching the shallow waters near the shore. But one of the burst steam lines was that which powered the steering gear. The rudder locked, her propellers still carrying forward motion and the bottom literally ripped out of her, Lusitania plowed relentlessly into the sea.

          Aboard the U-20 Lieutenant Schweiger marveled at the damage his single torpedo had done. He noted the second explosion, attributing it to coal, gunpowder perhaps, or munitions. The latter would have more than justified his actions. As he watched people scrambling about the deck in an effort to take to the lifeboats, he surmised the large liner was going down. Schwieger lowered his periscope and headed out to sea.

          As the deck tilted more and more beneath their feet, passengers aboard Lusitania struggled towards any available lifeboat. Despite several cursory drills during the crossing, no one had been given a boat assignment. Not that anyone would have cared given the situation. The ship was sinking. The list was so severe now that most of the portside boats were useless. Attempts at launching them resulted in the boats skittering down the side of the ship, breaking apart as they went and dumping their occupants into the water. On the bridge, Captain Turner seemed to have gone into shock. In his mind he still felt he could save his ship, and therefore did little more than hold tightly to the rail, watching the shoreline as if to wish it closer. A suggestion by Staff Captain John Anderson to flood the portside tanks in hope of righting the ship went unanswered. As panic engulfed the occupants of the sinking liner, the bow was now submerged and water began to wash over the bridge.

          As the end drew near, Lusitania's bow slammed into the bottom, sending a quivering shudder through the ship. Captain Turner, holding the signal halyards, had climbed up onto the side of the port side of the navigation bridge. He was determined to be the last one off his ship. As the stern rose high out of the air, the ship settled on her starboard side. Her funnels began to collapse and bulkheads collapsed. Boilers began to explode, scuttling the mighty liner. She sank into the Irish sea a mere 18 minutes after the torpedo impact; at 2:28PM. As the water churned with debris and steam escaping the wreck, swarms of people thrashed about in the freezing water. Instead of the suction people feared most when a ship went down, an enormous upsurge of soot, steam, crates, deck chairs, pieces of furniture and even bodies belched out of the now-submerged vessel and churned the surface for a full minute after the ship went down. It wasn't long before the sea was glassy again, with debris and bodies spread out over a large area. Everywhere people struggled to pull themselves up on crates, overturned lifeboats, or anything else that would support their weight. Some clung to the dead, others hung by a finger or two to lifeboats already full of wailing survivors. As the screams of those in the water wained, off in the distance, a ragtag fleet of naval and civilian vessels was on the way from Queenstown.

BACK: The Final Voyage Part II

NEXT: The Aftermath