In her time, the ocean liner Lusitania was the finest ship to ply the Atlantic passenger route between New York and England. Her opulence and speed were well-known, and passage on the ship was considered near the height of luxury.
In eight years, Lusitania made 201 trips across the pond, sometimes setting new speed records for the transatlantic crossing. But her final voyage – number 202 – ended in tragedy, confusion and mysteries that linger to this day.
On the afternoon of May 7, 1915, a German U-boat fired a torpedo that struck Lusitania’s starboard side. Just eighteen minutes later, she was at the bottom of the ocean off the coast of Ireland, and nearly 1,200 people were dead. The sinking angered a Great Britain already nearly a year into war with Germany, and did little to change the United States' neutral stance in what most Americans felt was a purely European conflict.
The circumstances surrounding the Lusitania tragedy are the subject of Erik Larson’s most recent book,Dead Wake. He appeared at Knoxville's Bijou Theatre on Tuesday, March 22, to discuss the book. This is an extended edit of Larson's conversation with WUOT All Things Considered host Brandon Hollingsworth.