This one was directly ahead and on the
surface, not submerged.
"I starboarded hard away from him, he swinging as we did. About eight
minutes later he submerged. I continued at top speed for four hours and
saw no more of the submarines. It was the ship's speed that saved her,
that's all.
"The Narragansett, as soon as she heard the S O S call, went to the
assistance of the Lusitania. One of the submarines discharged a torpedo
at her and missed her by not more than eight feet. The Narragansett then
warned us not to attempt to go to the rescue, and I got her wireless
call while I was dodging the two submarines. You can see that three
ships would have gone to the assistance of the Lusitania had they not
been attacked by the two submarines."
The German Government defended the brutal destruction of non-combatants
by the false assertions that the Lusitania was an armed vessel and that
it was carrying a great store of munitions. Both of these accusations
were proved to be mere fabrications. The Lusitania was absolutely
unarmed and the nearest approach to munitions was a consignment of 1,250
empty shell cases and 4,200 cases of cartridges for small arms.
Intense indignation swept over the neutral world, the tide rising
highest in America. It well may be said that the destruction of the
Lusitania was one of the greatest factors in driving America into the
war with Germany.
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