"The safest boat on the sea."
The assertion above was made by the owners of the Lusitania in response to growing concerns about German aggression on the high seas. The ultimate irony of the book was also part of that official response:
“No German war vessel can get her or near her.”
The luck of the Lucks
One of the families who were passengers aboard the final voyage of the Lusitania was named Luck. Mrs. Charlotte Luck and her two sons, Kenneth and Elbridge, were among those who never against stepped foot on dry land after boarding the ship.
The Lifeboat Incident
One of the most cruelly ironic moments described in the book is the tale of inexperienced sailors—one passenger assumed they might have been stewards or waiters—trying to save lives by getting a second lifeboat into the water as fast as possible. Unfortunately, in their experience they not only made this attempt before the first lifeboat had cleared away, but they also lost control so that the rapid descent of an empty lifeboat onto a full lifeboat wound up costing lives rather than saving them.
The Telegram
While on board and out at sea, Alfred Vanderbilt received a strange telegram from someone named Mort though he claimed not to actually know anyone named Mort. The telegram offered some grimly ironic advice too late to do much good:
“The Lusitania is doomed. Do not sail on her.”
The Deposition
The very day before the Lusitania set sail for what would become her doomed final voyage, Captain Turner submitted to questioning from eight lawyers in the role of expert witness for a deposition filed by the Federal Court of the United States against White Star Line. The case? An attempt by the shipbuilding company to limit their liability for deaths suffered in an accident at sea almost three years to day before: the sinking of the Titanic, another victim of ironically overconfident assurance it was beyond the reach of any common disastrous occurrences.
