Dead Wake: The Last Crossing Of The Lusitania

In “The Lonely Place,” Larson describes the history of World War I, which begins about a year before the Lusitania sinks. In the summer of 1914, the mood in Europe is calm and cheerful, and many people believe warfare and massive political conflicts are a thing of the past. However, both Germany and Great Britain spent the past decade secretly building up their naval arsenals. During this time, Britain developed a powerful new type of warship, the dreadnought. Meanwhile, Germany developed secret plans for expansion, plotting to send troops through neutral Belgium before capturing France and battling with Russia. The Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s assassination in Sarajevo triggers a number of conflicts, resulting in a massive war between numerous European countries. Britain, France, and Russia form one side of the war as the Allies, and Germany and Austria-Hungry form the opposing side as the Central Powers.

President Woodrow Wilson declares that America will remain neutral in the war because he is unwilling to drag America out of its geographic isolation and into conflict. Wilson’s wife, Ellen, dies soon after the war breaks out, sending Wilson into depression. Wilson grows increasingly dismayed as the war continues; reports of Germany’s submarine warfare are of particular concern. Because submarines were a new invention, neither Germany nor Britain gave them much thought when they started planning their naval strategies for the war. However, both countries’ naval strategies changed on September 22, 1914, when a single German submarine sunk three, large, British warships, “killing 1,459 British sailors” (34). Realizing the power of submarines, Germany started to place them at the core of their naval strategy, using them to intercept merchant ships that brought food and goods to Britain. Germany also authorized submarines to fire at and destroy these merchant ships “if they had reason to believe it was British or French” (36). This shocks Wilson, who feels that Germany’s willingness to attack merchant ships puts innocent lives at risk.

In March 1915, a German submarine attacks and destroys a British merchant ship, killing an American in the process. Initially, Wilson wants to “issue an immediate denunciation of the attack, in sharp language” (40). However, Wilson’s advisors convince him to avoid responding to the death, arguing that the American had placed himself at risk by knowingly boarding a British ship. 

The Lusitania’s passengers begin arriving in New York a week before its departure on May 1. Despite the war in Europe, the atmosphere in New York is boisterous. Numerous cabarets offer nightly entertainment, and New York’s newspapers focus on “politics and crime” rather than the ongoing conflict in Europe. Larson describes several of the passengers who plan to make the trans-Atlantic journey on the Lusitania. One is Charles Lauriat Jr., a wealthy bookseller who makes a yearly trip to London to buy rare books. When Lauriat boards the Lusitania, he carries scrapbooks created by the author William Makepeace Thackeray—so-called “Thackerayana” (48). Another passenger is the British Margaret Mackworth, who is returning to her unhappy marriage in London after traveling for a month with her father in America. Though Mackworth is typically a shy and reserved woman, she finds that being in America has helped to improve her mood, and she is dreading returning to London. On the day before the Lusitania’s departure, Captain Turner serves as an expert witness in a criminal case brought against the owners of the Titanic. A day after the Titanic began its fateful journey, Turner sailed the same route on the Mauretania. Turner testifies that it was reckless for the Titanic to travel at high speeds in icy waters. 

In this section, Larson focuses on the German submarine Unterseeboot-20, which begins patrolling the waters around Britain on Friday, April 30, commanded by Walther Schweiger. Submarines require vastly different styles of leadership than more traditional warships. Submarines travel by themselves, and they are usually out of the range of communication with other ships. As a result, the commander of a submarine has total authority over all decisions during combat, like whether or not to destroy a merchant ship or to help save its crew.

Schwieger is a young submarine captain, considered particularly skilled and knowledgeable in the relatively new field of submarine warfare. Schwieger also gains a reputation for being a particularly ruthless captain. Once, he fired a torpedo at the “hospital ship Asturias” (59). However, Schwieger’s crew considers him to be an affable captain, and Schwieger frequently attempts to lighten the mood in his cramped submarine.

On April 30, Schwieger receives a set of new orders. Germany has received reports that Britain will stage an invasion of Germany by sending transport ships from ports that are typically used for non-military purposes. Schwieger is ordered to patrol the sea between England and Ireland and attack any transport ships he sees.

On Friday, April 30, Captain Turner begins preparing for the Lusitania’s departure. This includes checking the Lusitania’s lifeboats. While some of the lifeboats are “Class A” boats, far more are “collapsibles,” which have expandable canvas sides that allow them to function (69). The expandable sides of these lifeboats allow ships to store large numbers of them, but their flexible construction also comes with a risk—the boats might not function properly during a crisis. Due to the war, Turner has a hard time finding a proper crew to man the Lusitania during its upcoming journey because the best sailors are already fighting in the British navy. Eventually, he finds a number of capable sailors who abandoned their posts on the Naiad to return to England. These sailors include the brothers Leslie and Cliff Morton. Prior to departure, customs agent Dudley Field Malone inspects the Lusitania’s cargo to ensure that no weaponry is stored on the ship in compliance with “American neutrality laws” (73). Though Malone declares that the Lusitania’s cargo is free of arms, he is only able to inspect a small portion of the cargo. 

In “The Mystery,” Larson describes Room 40—a room in the British military’s Old Building that houses a highly secretive military operation known as “‘the Mystery” or “the Holy of Holies” (77). Knowledge of Room 40 is limited to only a few military admirals. In this room, a small group of individuals work to intercept and decode Germany’s wireless communications. Britain “cut Germany’s undersea cables,” so the German military started using numerous wireless communications for its military operations (77). Unbeknownst to the Germans, however, the British have intercepted three of their military’s codebooks. These codebooks allow the British to decipher German military communications and discover the locations of Germany’s ships and submarines, planned attacks, and other crucial information. First Lord of the Navy Winston Churchill and other admirals are reluctant to act on the intercepted communication too frequently because doing so will alert the Germans that their codes have been broken. The codebreakers pay particular attention to communications from the German U-boats (submarines), which are among the most “talkative” of the German ships (86). On Friday, April 30, the codebreakers observe six submarines leaving their bases and heading towards British waters. 

Passengers gather at Pier 54 to board the Lusitania on Saturday, May 1. A crowd of spectators sits on grandstands to gawk at the boarding passengers, many of whom are famous actors and businessmen. Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt I, the heir to the Vanderbilt fortune, is one such passenger. A number of newspaper reporters attend the Lusitania’s boarding. One of these reporters, Jack Lawrence, ventures aboard the ship to ask passengers about a warning published in newspapers earlier that morning. The warning was an ad posted by the German Embassy that announced that any British ships “are liable to destruction,” which would include the British Lusitania (2). Lawrence questions Vanderbilt and other notable passengers about their thoughts on the warning. Most passengers are unconcerned about the warning, believing that the Lusitania’s size and speed make it invulnerable to attacks from U-boats. They also believe that British royal ships will escort the Lusitania to safety when it nears Britain—a belief spread and encouraged by the Cunard Steamship Company’s staff. 

In this three-page section, Larson describes a British plan for “mystifying and misleading the [German] enemy” hatched in London’s Room 40 (105). Captain William Reginald Hall, director of naval intelligence, has purposefully fed the German’s false information about a planned invasion, hoping to divert Germany’s warships and attention away from the “main battlefield in France” (105). The plan works as numerous German U-boats head towards the sea near Liverpool, which is where the Germans believe that the new invasion will launch. The Lusitania is also heading towards Liverpool, and Room 40 intercepts communications demonstrating that the Germans are closely monitoring the Lusitania’s route. However, Room 40 chooses not to tell Captain Turner about any of these developments; neither does it instruct the Lusitania to change routes. 

In Washington, President Woodrow Wilson becomes infatuated with Edith Galt, a friend of his cousin. The two frequently go on car rides together. During these rides, Wilson seeks consolation from her about the ongoing struggles in the United States and in Europe. Though America remains neutral, Wilson watches in despair as unending and brutal trench warfare overtakes Europe. Two German attacks—one on an American merchant ship and the other on an oil tanker—bring America closer and closer to entering the war. 

Though the Lusitania is scheduled to depart at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 1, the ship’s departure is delayed by two hours. The British have commandeered a smaller ship, the Cameronia, and the ship’s passengers are forced to join the Lusitania, causing the delay. None of the new passengers or Turner seem worried about the German Embassy’s warning. After the delay, the Lusitania embarks on its journey. Film cameras on the piers capture its departure. As the ship heads to sea, it passes a number of German ocean liners, including the Vaterland. (The Vaterland was stranded in New York when the war broke out.) A group of crew members find three German stowaways on board, one of whom has a camera. 

On Saturday, May 1, Schwieger’s U-20 submarine makes its way towards its destination—the sea by Liverpool. An immense fog is present, meaning that the submarine has poor visibility and cannot see possible ships to attack. The U-20 travels around the coast of Scotland and then around the western coast of Ireland. Afterwards, the U-20 plans to go around the bottom of Ireland and enter the Irish sea, which separates Britain and Ireland. Though this route is out of the way, it is “much safer” than going directly to the Irish Sea from Scotland (124). 

After leaving New York, the Lusitania stops to meet three British warships. These warships are stationed outside of American waters to capture any stranded German ships that try to sail to Europe. Each of the warships sends a boat carrying mail for England to the Lusitania. After this rendezvous, the Lusitania sets off at top speed towards Liverpool. However, the Cunard Steamship Company has ordered the Lusitania only to use three of its four boiler rooms to save money. As a result, the Lusitania does not reach its maximum speeds, adding an entire day to its journey. 

This one-page section lists a series of German communications that Room 40 intercepted, each of which details the U-20’s positions from 2:00 a.m. until 8:00 a.m.