Street Roots • May 29-June 4, 2015
Commentary
Page 7
Beneath the waves
Author E rik Larson
presents a spectacular
narrative o f the
Lusitania, sunk 100
years ago
BY JOE M A R T IN
— —
C O N TR IB U T IN G W RITER
n the early stages of the first world war,
the efficacy of submarines as powerful
tools of war was lost on many, but not
all. Shortly before the war’s outbreak.
Arthur Conan Doyle — the. creator of
Sherlock Holmes —
penned a fictional tale
titled “Danger!” in
which he imagined a
small country bringing
the British Empire to
its knees. The tiny
nation had submarines
which disabled and
sank ships bringing
munitions and food to
England. Doyle’s story
Dead Wake: The was unsettling but not
Last Crossing of taken very seriously.
the Lusitania
Soon, armed
submarines dealing
by Erik Larson
destruction and death
would become a
frightful reality.
In “Dead Wake,” Erik Larson limns a
spectacular narrative of the Lusitania, the
colossal ship sunk on May 7, 1915, by
German submarine U-20 off the Irish coast.
More than half of the nearly 2,000
passengers on board did not survive. With
an eye to this month’s centennial
anniversary, Larson was drawn to research
the disaster. In an interview, he comments
that he was moved to provide a new
account: “I felt I could do it in a way that no
one else had.” The Lusitania “was so big,
and so fast, it just seemed invulnerable.
Plus, the prevailing belief at the time was
that no German submarine commander
would ever sink a passenger liner. It was
unthinkable!”
Such was the opinion of then-FirstLord
of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill. The
very notion that a submarine would engage
in a surprise attack on an unarmed ship was
“abhorrent to the immemorial law and
practice of the sea,” Churchill wrote. He
admitted that attacks on naval targets were
I
New York ori its m a id e n vQ v a ^e in l9 0 X
another matter, but it was a marginal
concern. Larson states that “neither
(Churchill) nor his German counterparts
expected the submarine to play much of a
role in deep-ocean battle.”
British Admiral Jacky Fisher had no such
delusions. He predicted before the war that
Germany would indeed sink unarmed
merchant ships. The crews of ships so
destroyed would be left to fend for
themselves. An offending submarine would
have no means to render assistance to
victims. This new martial strategy was sure
to become pervasive.
“The essence of war is violence,” Fisher
argued, “and moderation in war is
imbecility.” But he was ignored.
During America’s Civil War, a very '
primitive submarine succeeded in sinking a
ship, but at a cost. Confederate submarine
H.L. Hunley destroyed the Union frigate
USS Houssatonic. In the encounter, th e
Hunley sank along with all eight crew
members. Years later, the persistent work of
John Philip Holland, an Irishman and
immigrant to the U.S., led to the prototype
of the truly modern submarine. His initial
T ie Oerisia» Bmbassy la
Washing ton had placed aa
advertisement la New Jerk
papers warning that a ll
passengers aboard any B ritish
or allied vessel traveled
"a t their own ris k /* The
m ajority of those booked for
the cruise were undeterred«
efforts were supported by Irish
revolutionaries, who saw that a proficient
underwater machine could disrupt British
power and aid the cause of Irish
independence. It was not until the Great
War that the deadly consequences of
submarine warfare became widely and
painfully evident.
The day the Lusitania set sail from New
York bound for Liverpool, the U.S. was
neutral Regarding hostilities overwhelming
Europe. That morning, the German
Embassy in Washington had placed an
advertisement in NeW York papers warning
that all passengers aboard any British or
Allied vessel traveled “at their own risk.”
The majority of those booked for the cruise
were undeterred. Of the 1,959 people on
board, 189 were American citizens.
Larson’s story is replete with fascinating
vignettes of various crew members and
passengers. Capt. William Turner was a
tough, taciturn sailor who eschewed
socializing with upper-crust passengers. He
left that task to Staff Capt. James Anderson,
who, according to Turner, was more
“clubbable.” Boston bookman Charles
Lauriat carried a rare copy of Charles
Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” and 118
drawings by author William Makepeace
Thackeray, precioüs items that would be lost
in the Irish Sea. Architect Theodate Pope,
an early feminist and spiritualist, was on the
ship. Many others bring the pages of (his
gripping story to life.
The German U-boats demonstrated
ferocity, yet they “were fragile vessels,
complex and primitive at the same time.”
Larson does a superb job detailing the
procedures and maneuvers required to
maintain and protect a submarine and its
cfew. The world inside U-boats was
cramped, claustrophobic and “prone to
accident. They were packed with
complicated mechanical systems for
steering, diving, ascending, and regulating
pressure. Amid all this were wedged «
torpedoes, grenades, and artillery shells....
In this environment, simple errors could,
and did, lead to catastrophe.”
Unbeknownst to Germany, Churchill and
his circle commandeered a top-secret
operation allowing them to decode enemy
communiqués. This has led to speculation
that information pertaining to the location
of U-20 proximate to the Lusitania was
deliberately withheld from Capt. Turner.
The late respected naval historian Patrick
Beesly would state reluctantly that the inner
reaches of the British Admiralty allowed the
disaster to happen “in order to involve the
United States in the war.”
There were only 764 survivors. Personally
horrified by what had happened, President
Woodrow Wilson was nonetheless careful in
his public response. He could get Congress
to declare war immediately, but he believed
the nation was not ready. To his secretary
he said, “Were I to advise radical action
now, we should have nothing, I am afraid,
but regrets and heartbreaks.” It would be
almost two more years before America
would enter Europe’s bloody fray.
Larson’s book is a dramatic tale told by a
writer at the top of his form.