Diana Preston followed her investigation into the sinking of the British passenger ship Lusitania, which was sunk by a torpedo launched by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland in May 2005, until she met a "huge bronze propeller, as hard as a dinosaur bone, sitting on the dock of Liverpool Pier in June 2008. This relic aroused the interest of Preston, a famous historian and author of the Boxer Uprising. She will spend three years investigating the incident and conduct dozens of interviews in an attempt to better understand that "a ship carrying civilians, women and children may sink without any warning. "She followed the families of passengers, carefully studied the military documents of Britain, Germany and the United States, jumped into the archives of Kunar, an ocean liner company, and listened to interviews with survivors and witnesses by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation decades ago. Preston said: "It is an unusual feeling to hear these voices for many years. Sometimes they will describe losing the control of their parents or children in cold water and being too excited to speak. "She found the evidence and provided new clues for the attack. The attack killed 120 1 person. In her view, there are 962 people on board, which shows the cruelty of the First World War. " The sinking of Lusitania marks an earth-shaking change in the nature of war, "she wrote in the book Lusitania: An Epic Tragedy published this month. After being condemned by the world after the shipwreck, the German authorities gave up their initial boasting, saying that they deliberately sank the ocean liner with torpedoes, saying that the submarine captain who fired two torpedoes didn't know what he was firing at. Although historians have different views on the degree of German guilt, Preston found evidence that the attack was "premeditated". In fact, German submarines have been following this passenger ship for several months. Preston wrote that after the incident, the log of the German submarine was tampered with, "probably when the emperor began to fear the possibility of failure and war crimes charges." "

Preston's research is directly related to this incident, and it is still controversial. Although the attack helped the United States get involved in the war, she found no evidence that Britain allowed the Lusitania to sink in any way as a strategy to recruit American support, which runs counter to conspiracy theories. At the same time, she recorded that British officials basically ignored the warning issued by the German Embassy in Washington in 50 American newspapers that ships flying the British flag were "easily destroyed".

Preston also failed to confirm Germany's claim that the ship was carrying Canadian troops and was therefore a legitimate target. But she did provide evidence that the passenger ship was loaded with arms and weapons. This is very important, because the British authorities played down this fact in the official investigation, probably because they were worried that the public would think that explosive ordnance was the cause of the tragedy. In fact, a technical study commissioned by Preston found that the ship sank so fast in just 18 minutes because the torpedo hit the bridge and caused disastrous structural damage.

But Preston said that despite all kinds of political intrigue and controversy, the lasting significance of this story lies in the extraordinary courage of the passengers on the wrecked passenger ship. In a group of unpublished papers, she tracked a woman's exploration of the fate of her young son (a passenger). Preston said that the hundreds of letters the woman received brought new light to Lusitania's last moments and performances. "How can people instinctively help each other regardless of confusion and danger, regardless of nationality, gender and age? They prove the resilience of the human spirit.

The 785-foot-long Lusitania, whose home port is Liverpool, was put into use in September 1907. On May 6th, 2005, she set out from new york and started her last voyage. Readers should be reminded that the following exclusive excerpts from Preston's book contain vivid descriptions of violence that happened to passengers. The accident happened about 10 miles from the Irish coast. Walther Schwieger, captain of the German U-20 submarine, was 2300 feet away from the ship at that time. At 2 pm local time, he ordered the fire:

Just minutes after the torpedo hit Lusitania 10, William Turner, the captain of Lusitania, knew that he could not save his ship. As the water had overflowed the bow, he ordered john anderson, the chief of staff, to put down the lifeboat. But the inclination of the starboard side makes it almost impossible for ships to launch from the port side, because they "all sway on the ship". Sailors and passengers tried to push the lifeboat onto the track, but their desperate efforts produced disastrous results. Albert Bestic, the third mate, loudly appealed to the men in the crowd around him to help him overturn the No.2 ship full of women and children. Although they work hard, they have no strength to transfer more than two tons of weight. Bestic watched helplessly as the ship hit the superstructure and killed people. Even if these ships were successfully pushed over the rails, they hit the ship's side, and rivets protruding nearly two inches stuck on the ship's side. Every time I stumble, people fall into the water like dolls.

Ogden Hammond, a former American diplomat from hoboken, New Jersey, and his wife Mary were frightened. When a sergeant told Mrs Hammond to get into the lifeboat, they were looking for temporary shelter on the water. She refused to part with her husband. Seeing that they all had rooms, they climbed in. According to Ogden Hammond, "The ship is about half full and there are about 35 people on board. They began to put down the bow, and the people at the bow slipped on the fishing tackle. " Hammond sat in the bow and grabbed the fast rope used to lift the boat, losing "all the skin on my right hand." The bow fell off, but "the fishing tackle at the stern got stuck and everyone fell off the boat", about 60 feet above the water. The lifeboat broke free at once and hit the people struggling underwater. Ogden never saw his wife again.

On the starboard side, the lifeboat was drifting wildly away from the ship. Some more agile passengers jumped seven or eight feet and got on the bus. Crazy passengers hindered the staff responsible for the rope falling. There is no public address system. When the police ordered loudly, the sound of wood scraping on the metal and the cries of frightened passengers could hardly be heard. The capable sailor Leslie Morton hurriedly put down the lifeboat. Another sailor caught the ship that landed backwards when he landed forward. They successfully put the boat into the water. However, as the Lusitania was still rolling at sea, the ship immediately tilted backward and rose side by side with the tilting ship directly under the next descending lifeboat. Morton could only watch helplessly as the ship full of people broke free and fell into the first ship 30 feet high. Morton heard that "the voice grew louder and louder, and hundreds of people began to realize that she was not only falling fast, but also probably too fast for them to escape." This is "a terrible and strange death band."

James Brooks, a passenger from Bridgeport, Connecticut, was also uneasy about what he saw, especially those who fell off the boat "a mile later". When he saw that the water almost rose to the deck, he helped about twenty or thirty women holding the railings to the boat and jumped with them. Pin e, off the chain, forcibly released and tied, he desperately looked around for a hammer to set the boat free. Did you find that he and a crew member "both used their fists", but they couldn't leave any impression. He heard "the sound of broken wood" and saw "the ship will never leave". He and the sailors both jumped up and began to swim.

Looking down from the starboard deck, Boston bookseller Charles Lauritt saw that "the crazy chaos has dispersed." Ship 7, full of women and children, is still on board. He jumped into the water and tried to break away from the waterfall behind him. In front of the waterfall, a flight attendant was "bravely cutting the thick rope with a knife." Laurie really wants that man to have an axe. He tried to help him, "but it was impossible to climb the boat because they were mixed up by paddles, hooks, buckets, rope ladders and sails, and God knows what." Looking up at the huge chimney hanging over their heads, the farther the ship goes, it will only increase the sense of terror. Laurie begged the people on board to jump, "but they were really scared." Laurie gave up and jumped up. Looking back, he saw the lifeboat being dragged into the water. When the water was closed to them, he heard the people on board sobbing.

The boat continued to line up, and some people still trapped on the boat began to panic. Lucy and Harold Taylor are standing by the railing, next to a lifeboat full of women. "I don't go, I don't go! Rosie Taylor is screaming. Her husband broke free from her arms, kissed her and threw her into the boat. When the boat left, she could see him waving to her; She waved when he disembarked with the boat.

Seeing the propeller and rudder of the ship above the water, some passengers tried to slide down the wires and ropes. Many people go with the flow and wear clothes, thinking that the chances of survival will be greater if they wear less.

Charlotte Pai grabbed her child Marjory and ran to the deck. She saw "women shouting, screaming and praying to be saved." She was left out of the list again and again. A man came up to her and said, "Don't cry." "Fine," the worried mother replied. No, it isn't. "He promised to find her a life jacket. I couldn't find it later, so he gave it to her. When he tied the money to her, Charlotte recognized him as the person who paid her $5 for the charity concert the night before: American millionaire Alfred Vanderbilt. Seeing that the boat was leaning so badly now, he suggested that she hold the child in her arms. Then he helped her walk to a boat. The staff helped her climb in and gave the child to her. Charlotte looked up and thought that the Lusitania was about to hit our head. She had a terrible feeling that I had to stand up and push her back. Canadian nurse Alice Linz saw Vanderbilt and his valet Ronald Ye Dan beside him. She heard him say, "Find all the children, children." The man ran to pick up the child at once. When he took them to Vanderbilt, the millionaire "rushed to the boat with two children in his arms at a time." "He looks as if he is waiting for the train. According to Lott Gard, the barber on board, Vanderbilt "tried to put life jackets on women and children. The ship is sinking rapidly. When the sea water arrived, they were washed away. I haven't seen Vanderbilt since. All I see in the water are children.

Theodore Pope, a necromancer from Connecticut, and her colleague Edwin Flanders decided to jump. They reached the port side and headed for the stern. "The stern is now driving uphill." Emily Robinson, a maid from West Audette, joined them, and "her usual smile" froze on her face. Friends found life jackets for them all. They "can see the gray hull now and know it's time to jump." Diodort begged him to go first, and he did. He appeared and she saw a "pleasant encouraging smile". T-Bag walked forward and slipped, but then he found a foothold on a roll of canvas. With noble teachings, she said "Come on, Robinson" to the maid, jumped off the canvas and jumped into the sea.

Ben holden, the waiter, tried to help get into the water, but gave up in despair. He looked at the bridge and saw an ugly captain Turner "watching the ship sink". The boy slipped through a crowd of people pushing and shoving, jumped on the tracks under the harbor bridge and ran to the Atlantic Ocean. "Very, very cold."

The war diary of German submarine captain Walter Schweiger describes the death of Lusitania in this way: 10 at 2 pm, the ship was very chaotic; Ships were cleaned and some were put into the water. Obviously quite panic; Several fully loaded ships were hastily put down, first at the bow or stern, and then immediately sank into the water. Due to the list, there are fewer ships that can be cleaned on the port side.

At 2: 25 pm, because it seemed that the ship could only keep floating for a short time, it dived to 24 meters and headed for the sea.

Schwieger later told a friend, "This is the most terrible sight I have ever seen. I can't offer any help. I could have saved one. I ordered a dive of 20 meters.

Rushed into the collapsed chimney of Lusitania. Margaret Gewehr, the wife of a priest, was deeply sucked into a funnel cave. After a while, she was surprised to find that she was shot with a huge ash, soot and greasy black water column. Most of her clothes have been torn off. A passenger struggling in the water looked back and saw that the Lusitania was about to make its last dive. He forgot his predicament for a moment and was stunned by this shocking and almost unbelievable sight. For drama designer Oliver Bernard, it "has picturesque grandeur, although we know that there are hundreds of helpless souls in her body, just like mice trapped in a gilded trap." The lifeboat is still hanging obliquely on the davit in vain. When a rotating propeller scratched his leg, a man hung from the rope at the stern and heard him scream. Bernard recalled that the stern itself was "crowded with people, who seemed to be preparing for the last sunken ship left on the water;" Others, who failed to win this temporary safe place, fell off the side of the boat. Surrounded by debris and human beings struggling to survive.

Porter holden "heard the roaring thunder inside the ship, as if all the important parts were loose." To James Brooks, it sounds like "a great building collapsed in a fire". When the Lusitania slid into the water, some onlookers thought she was almost back to normal. Then, "the strong screams and screams of fear gradually disappeared and became whispers", and when the ship slowly turned to starboard, "it sank into the water." At 2: 28 pm, just 65,438+08 minutes after the G-20 attack, the Lusitania disappeared under the Atlantic Ocean. Butler Robert Barnes and sailor Thomas Omahony felt a "violent underwater explosion", and holden saw a "steam cloud and turbulence" where the ship sank. The sea is boiling, like "a boiling wilderness, like a volcanic storm on a calm sea." A pile of foam water stirred "swimmers, corpses, recliners, paddles and debris to the surface." Survivors instinctively covered their heads with their hands, and they rushed to the surface like a tidal wave of debris.

As the sea gradually calmed down, they left behind "a circle of people and debris about half a mile wide." Those with enough brains turned their eyes to land and hoped to see the rescue boat sail out of Queenstown, Ireland. There's nothing. They can only hold on to the wreckage, hoping to be rescued by the lifeboat that escaped from the ship. Sometimes they are most afraid of each other. Matt Freeman, the British boxing champion, cut his head while diving, and then struggled with five other men, trying to catch a bucket that obviously could not support everyone. He let go in despair, but managed to catch the keel of an overturned lifeboat. Theodore Pope jumped into the water and found himself "spinning on the wood by the water". When she opened her eyes, she saw that she was washed onto the keel of a lifeboat by the green sea. Something hit her hard on the head. Although she was half unconscious, she finally surfaced. She later recalled: "People around me are struggling, struggling.". Then a "scared crazy" man suddenly jumped up and landed completely on my shoulder. He believes that I will support him. He didn't have a life jacket, and his weight pushed her back. Somehow, before the water turned her off, she found the strength to say "Oh, please don't". Feeling her sinking, the man let go. T-Bag surfaced again, looking for Edwin's friends everywhere. What she saw was an old man beside her, another man with blood on his forehead, and the third man buckled a small tin can into a float. She saw an oar floating nearby, so she pushed one end to the old man and grabbed the other end. After a while, she lost consciousness.

Charlotte Pai lost her little daughter, Marjory, when she fell into the water from a lifeboat. When the pie finally surfaced, all she could see was the body. "Those who were alive screamed and shouted, trying to be saved." She drifted with the tide and was washed onto a capsized boat. A collapsed ship rowed towards them. Pie vaguely heard someone shouting, "Take this lady away, for God's sake, she will leave soon." For a time, the residents were debating whether to help her. Later, covered in oil and soot, she was dragged onto the boat.

Margaret Cox, a Canadian, threw her youngest son Desmond into a lifeboat and was pushed in herself. The boat was put down, but when Cox tried to pick up the boy, people shouted, "We don't know if this is your child." Cox insisted that he was. She sat in the lifeboat and hugged Desmond tightly, trying not to see "those who beg against the current". The ship was crowded with one person after another. As time went on, she felt "a little crazy".

Crowds and debris began to drift away with the current. People were paralyzed by the cold, the water temperature was about 52 degrees Fahrenheit, and their hands lost control of the debris. At present, many lifeboats on board are full, and the injured passengers are afraid that more people will capsize. However, many passengers and crew members try their best to help each other. Charles Loleit and James Brooks climbed into a collapsible lifeboat. They took out their pencil sharpeners and "operated a can opener", trying to lift the canvas edges of the boat and tie them up. Because of the fright, half of the drowning people were hung on the railings attached to the canvas, so it was impossible to be hung. Lao Park Jung Su tried to persuade people to let go and seize the straws. But they think he is trying to "drive them away". Lauritt later wrote that he had never heard "a cry of despair more distressing than his appeal to them to give up the railway". Finally, Laurit and others succeeded in lifting the edge of the canvas and taking more people away, "until the ship sank into the water." When "there are about the same number of people on our boat", Laurie heard a woman say, "It's as natural as asking for another piece of bread and butter:' Oh, will you take me next? "You know I can't swim." "He stared at the wreckage around the ship." A woman's head was holding a piece of debris under her chin and her hair flowed out. She was so crowded that she couldn't stretch out her arm, with a half smile on her face and chewing gum calmly. She replied, "It's totally unnecessary. Just give her an oar and she will stick to it. " He managed to bypass her and pulled her in. They began to row to the shore and headed for the lighthouse where the old man was in Kinsalai (more than ten miles away). About a quarter of a mile later, Laurie was surprised to see a lonely man floating alone. He shouted when he saw them. Although the ship was packed with about 32 people, Laurie felt that "you can't leave and let another soul wander around." He picked up the man.

Many people owe their lives to the crew. Arthur Jones, the first mate, managed to transfer some passengers from the lifeboat to another ship and ordered them to return to pick up more survivors. Captain Turner was saved by a crew member. When the seawater in the ship's cab rose around him, he groped along the mast, jumped up, managed to clean the wireless wires and swam to the surface. He grabbed the paddle first, then the chair. But as time went on, he found himself "constantly resisting the attack of seagulls." Because of the cold and exposure, he became weak, so he "threw a gold woven arm" to attract people's attention. Crew Jack Roper saw him and helped him stay in the water until a rescue boat rescued him. Turner obviously said, "What bad luck. What have I done to deserve this punishment? " Margaret Michaels vaguely realized that people were praying loudly in a strange, unemotional and monotonous way, and also calling for help in the same slow and inhuman way, shouting' boat. Boat. She tried to go swimming, but gave up after only a few strokes, unwilling to give up her surfboard. Robert Clarke, the waiter, survived the wreckage for four hours. Finally, the exhausted young man was picked up by a boat, but almost immediately he was ordered to go out to make room for the women. Cold and scared, he was allowed to stand aside. Bob Rice, the operator, jumped from one lifeboat to another and escaped from the chimney falling from the ship. He stared at this seemingly outrageous land. Where is the ship that should have answered his distress signal? He can't see anything.

Wesley Frost, the American consul, was quietly working in his office upstairs in O 'Reilly Bar, Queenstown. Lewis Thompson, his excited vice consul, ran upstairs and told Frost, "It is rumored that there was a wildfire in the town and the Lusitania people were attacked." The two men quickly went to the window and saw that there were more than twenty tugboats, supply ships and trawlers in the mosquito fleet in the port. Frost immediately called Kunad's office, who "admitted that the ship had probably sunk. "Now Frost completely panicked and called the British Naval Command. The lieutenant who answered the phone said to him in dismay, "This is true. We are afraid that she has left. "Lucy's gone" can be seen everywhere in town.

Fishing boat skin 12 arrived at the scene first. Her seven crew members had just caught 800 mackerel when they saw the Lusitania sink about three miles southeast of them. They met the first lifeboat about 400 yards from the sunken ship. Elizabeth Duckworth, a 52-year-old widow from Tavernville, Connecticut, is determined to save her life and is struggling to paddle in one of the lifeboats. The fishermen helped the exhausted survivors board the ship. When she climbed in, Duckworth was surprised to find another lifeboat "turning around in the water" with only three people on board. A man stood up and shouted that he and his two armored soldiers were the only survivors of the ship. He asked for help rowing back to save "some drowning people". The captain of the fishing boat refused, saying that he could not let these people go. Duckworth was shocked. Nobody can stop her. The bony widow jumped over the gap between Pierre 12 and the lifeboat and grabbed an oar. She and her three males, Pan Ning, saved "about 40 people struggling in the water" and took them back to Pierre 12. The fishermen cheered as they helped her into the boat.

Meanwhile, Lorette and James Brooks are in a lifeboat full of people, struggling to push the boat into Peel 12. Margaret Gerwell was one of the passengers, still covered in soot. When the lifeboat approached the fishing boat, she was ecstatic to see the tall figure of her husband standing by the railing with a "completely blank expression" on his face. At first, he did not know her.

Laurite breathed a sigh of relief by putting the skin of 33 survivors on the skin of 12. He later wrote: "Although the fish scales and the fisherman's soil are slippery, the deck under our feet feels as good as the front hall of our own house." . The fishermen hurried to provide whatever help they could to the trembling victims. They improvised bandages and took blankets from the bunk. Laurie gave her sweater to someone close to * * * and her jacket to a woman who only wears pajamas. The crew made hot tea. The water was used up, so they handed me some hot water. A bottle of whisky on board was rationed to those who needed it most.

Laurite was very happy to see a 1 year-old baby being pulled aboard with his grateful parents. In all, Pierre 12 attacked about 160 survivors. She was so crowded that Brooks had to put his legs aside. The captain of Pierre 12 realized that his ship was in danger of sinking, so he towed two more ships and set off for Queenstown.

Bernaix anxiously looked around the lifeboat and saw that the rescue force finally appeared. She felt at a loss: "then, in several places on the horizon, smoke came out." Finally, the chimney and the bow seemed to suddenly appear. The sea is so calm, we can see the waves at the bow, and the waves behind every ship are calling for help. The sailors revived her by drinking tea and gave her a hot brick. A man handed his wife a box of cakes made for him. Meanwhile, Baylor is trying to deal with a desperate 7-year-old boy, Robert Kay, who not only lost his mother, but also had a fever in the pain of measles. Suddenly, she saw a comatose pope with a hook pulled out of the sea and lying among the dead like a bag of cement. Fortunately, Bell touched her stiff body hesitantly, and then begged the sailors to give her artificial respiration. They cut off her fashionable clothes with a meat cleaver in the kitchen and went to work. To their surprise, she came over. Diodort looked around in confusion and gradually realized that he was lying on the floor, wrapped in a blanket and staring at a small open flame.

Captain Turner was taken to the fishing boat "Blue Bell". The captain of the trawler wrapped him in a blanket and took him to the restaurant. He sat by the fire with his head in his arms, and a woman began to describe the loss of her child in a "low monotonous voice". She rebuked Turner for saying that her child's death was unnecessary and accused "this ship lacks organization and discipline." A sailor whispered to Margaret McVos that Blue Bell also heard the woman's hysterical voice; Margaret thought the opposite: the poor mother was "the only person on board".

The Blue Bell Man arrived in Queenstown around 1 1 in the afternoon. Margaret McVos shuffled ashore in a khaki military coat borrowed from a soldier, wrapped in a blanket and the captain's coat. She wears carpet slippers on her feet. She is too weak to walk up the gangway or climb on her hands and knees. Captain Turner finally got off the boat. An observer obviously said, "Well, this is the fate of war."

Charles Loleit finally arrived in Queenstown at 9: 30pm. Seeing that the injured person was taken care of, he bought himself some of the thickest woolen pajamas he had ever worn, had a drink in the bar of the Imperial Hotel and found himself a bed. Another survivor, though not a drinker, dropped six glasses of whisky and soda, and a soldier handed it to him on a tray when he got off the plane. He is sure that these drinks saved his life. Theodore Pope was carried ashore by two sailors on the Julia. The sailors made a chair with their hands and lifted her up. She was taken to a hotel by car. She wanted to stand there, but she collapsed into a pile at once. A large group of people kept coming into her room. "Turn on the lights, take the children, let's identify ourselves, send a telegram and tell the list of survivors." Every time she scans their faces, she is disappointed. That night, Pope, like other survivors, found that his hair began to fall off because of fright. 1257 among the registered passengers,

There were 785 deaths, including Americans 128, 702 crew members and 4 stowaways13. Of the 29 children on board/KLOC-0, 94 were killed, including 35 of the 39 infants. In the next few days, the American and British media issued an angry roar. "German pirates sank Lusitania" was published in "Daily Sketch". The headline of the Daily Mirror is: "What women and children endured when the murderer sent Lusitania to the wall". New york nationals called the shipwreck "an act in which Huns will blush, Turks will feel ashamed, and savage pirates will apologize."

A day after the shipwreck, the local Irish coroner launched an investigation. Within two days, the coroner and the jury reached a verdict. This is the "deliberate and mass murder" of submarine officers and German emperors in British cities.

Anti-German riots. Enterprises with German names were looted. In Liverpool, 2,000 to 3,000 thugs roam the streets. On May 65438, 2003, Prime Minister Asquith announced the detention of all enemy nationals who have reached the age of military service.

The French and the British declared that sinking was barbaric. An article declared that this atrocity "aroused the fear of the whole world." The Dutch Telegraph declared that "the word crime is too mild to describe such atrocities; This is evil. "

Two years later 19 17, when the United States entered the war in April, Doug Boyce of the United States entered the battlefield with the cry of "Remember Lusitania"! 1937, with the imminent war again, Winston Churchill wrote that he thought that "the sinking of Lusitania was the most important and favorable event of the Allied Forces. Those poor babies who died in the sea dealt a fatal blow to Germany's strength, which was more serious than the effect that could be achieved by sacrificing 100 thousand soldiers.