Quotes of the Lusitania

After

Anna Ruane watched the flotilla's slow approach to the rescue:

We drifted and drifted. It seemed as if we were in the water for hours. We found out later, however, that it was not more than forty minutes. We did not know if we would ever be seen. I cannot describe to you how happy I felt when I saw the lifeboat coming towards us as though it was flying. They saw the box and came with all possible speed, as they thought it was an up-turned boat. Myself and my poor companion were brought to safety.—Third Class Passenger Anna Ruane

Winston Churchill was among the first to criticize Captain Turner of his actions:

It might appear that I was endeavouring to throw blame on the Captain of the Lusitania in regard to a matter which will be the subject of full investigation.—First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill

In spite of his experience, Robert Leith went to work identifying the deceased:

Wearing a borrowed coat and a mackintosh, it was my business to wander round the mortuaries, identifying the pathetic faces, while a mile or two out to sea, the gulls swooped and circled in noisy requiem over the grave of the wonder ship that had been my boyhood pride and ambition.—Marconi Wireless Operator Robert Leith

After having been informed that Lusitania had sunk, United States President Woodrow Wilson gave his thoughts on the neutral state of America that allowed her to sink:

The example of America must be a special example. The example of America must be the example not merely of peace because it will not fight, but of peace because peace is the healing and elevating influence of the world and strife is not. There is such a thing as a man being too proud to fight. There is such a thing as a nation being so right that it does not need to convince others by force that it is right.—President of the United States Woodrow Wilson

Like so many Kinsale children, George Henderson grew up telling stories about the Lusitania:

As a six-year old boy, it is something which has stuck in my mind for the rest of my life. Although time fades and the grey cells wear out, I can still sit here now and see that great liner just sliding below the waves.—Kinsale Resident George Henderson

US Consul Wesley Frost, working on the rescue efforts, wrote to the Admiralty about finding bodies:

Only after a day or more, I was told, were they brought together to confront one another in a sickening realisation that in each case their nearest and dearest had been taken instead of spared. The search for floating bodies has been wretchedly managed, in my judgement. An Admiralty tug was cruising around the scene till midnight Friday night, rather ineffectively, as she returned with neither news nor bodies. No other vessel was sent until Saturday night, when a Cunard tug went out, but it turned back after a few hours and as I understand it did not reach the scene at all.—US Consul Wesley Frost

Mr. John Hearley, a first class passenger on the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway ferry Sussex, almost became the victim of a fateful torpedo on March 24th, 1916, one year after the disaster:

I was conversing with several Americans about 4:30 p.m. when the blast shook the Sussex from bow to stern. One empty life boat was splintered and a huge fountain of water shot over the side. Many passengers standing at the rail were engulfed in this wave and hurled violently into the sea. It was among them that most of the casualties occurred. Boats were launched but I learned that several persons struggling near the rail were not picked up.—Sussex First Class Passenger John H. Hearley

Turner explained how testifying in the British investigation made him a scapegoat of the disaster:

Naturally I was. What Master wouldn't be? I thought we had an odds-on chance of escaping, you know. I didn't get a fair deal. I mean to say, no escort to meet us, despite the signals about submarines. Gave me false confidence. If the Admiralty didn't think it necessary to worry about a ship worth millions, not to mention hundreds of passengers, I reasoned they must think there's not much danger. No, I didn't get a fair deal. A good two years went by before they started issuing definite orders. What courses ships should take. The distance they should keep off headlands. I was told I should have taken a mid-Channel course. And my ship in the Atlantic? They didn't even explain to me about zigzagging.—Captain William Thomas Turner