1 00:00:19,058 --> 00:00:20,958 Twelve miles off the coast of Ireland, 2 00:00:21,503 --> 00:00:23,485 the world's finest passenger liner, Lusitania, 3 00:00:24,908 --> 00:00:26,258 has entered the war zone. 4 00:00:28,966 --> 00:00:31,656 On board, nearly 2,000 men, women and children. 5 00:00:34,934 --> 00:00:36,184 Hidden beneath the waves, 6 00:00:36,344 --> 00:00:41,017 German submarine U-20 fires a single torpedo... 7 00:00:41,557 --> 00:00:44,214 That will change the course of history. 8 00:00:45,972 --> 00:00:48,731 It will be branded one of the world's first war crimes 9 00:00:49,663 --> 00:00:51,940 and pull America into the fight. 10 00:00:52,941 --> 00:00:54,391 Based on first hand-accounts, 11 00:00:54,985 --> 00:00:56,935 this is the true story of twelve people 12 00:00:57,298 --> 00:01:00,543 whose lives now hang in the balance. 13 00:01:04,628 --> 00:01:06,128 From the moment of impact, 14 00:01:06,569 --> 00:01:08,791 Lusitania will survive for just 18 minutes. 15 00:01:12,385 --> 00:01:14,347 18 minutes that will decide the fate of thousands. 16 00:02:05,457 --> 00:02:08,251 9:30 in the morning. 17 00:02:09,459 --> 00:02:11,321 Six days before the Lusitania's sinking. 18 00:02:12,597 --> 00:02:15,322 The finest passenger liner in the world 19 00:02:16,563 --> 00:02:18,268 is preparing to embark on the 3,000-mile voyage 20 00:02:18,288 --> 00:02:20,875 from New York to Liverpool. 21 00:02:25,495 --> 00:02:28,428 There would have been sightseers 22 00:02:29,671 --> 00:02:30,996 coming to see the Lusitania off. 23 00:02:31,016 --> 00:02:32,948 There would have been bands. 24 00:02:34,084 --> 00:02:35,582 There would have been flags flying. 25 00:02:35,602 --> 00:02:37,258 The Lusitania was a celebrity ship. 26 00:02:38,257 --> 00:02:41,087 It was a major event. 27 00:02:42,329 --> 00:02:44,129 There were politicians, there were socialites, 28 00:02:45,190 --> 00:02:48,791 people saying goodbye or people saying hello. 29 00:02:48,811 --> 00:02:50,951 There would have been first-class passengers 30 00:02:51,812 --> 00:02:53,724 arriving by carriage or by car, 31 00:02:53,744 --> 00:02:55,544 their luggage being carried on board for them. 32 00:02:56,468 --> 00:02:58,749 Other less well-off passengers struggling on the quayside, 33 00:02:59,470 --> 00:03:01,263 lugging their suitcases with them. 34 00:03:02,298 --> 00:03:03,779 There was always a sense of occasion, 35 00:03:04,298 --> 00:03:06,417 a sense of a party, if you like, 36 00:03:06,437 --> 00:03:07,677 when the Lusitania was in town. 37 00:03:12,162 --> 00:03:14,268 787 feet long, 38 00:03:15,680 --> 00:03:17,481 Lusitania is one of the world's largest ships. 39 00:03:18,440 --> 00:03:21,096 Her seven decks accommodate over 2,000 passengers, 40 00:03:22,301 --> 00:03:24,440 from 260 luxurious first-class saloons... 41 00:03:27,061 --> 00:03:29,787 To the more modest cabins down in third class. 42 00:03:40,479 --> 00:03:43,273 Among the third-class passengers sailing today 43 00:03:44,550 --> 00:03:46,309 are 47-year-old George Hook and his children. 44 00:03:49,345 --> 00:03:52,068 The Hook family were originally from Kent. 45 00:03:52,792 --> 00:03:55,276 George Hook and his wife 46 00:03:56,448 --> 00:03:57,566 had taken their two children to Canada. 47 00:03:57,586 --> 00:04:00,070 Unfortunately, in 1908, 48 00:04:01,278 --> 00:04:02,603 his wife contracted pneumonia and died, 49 00:04:02,623 --> 00:04:04,175 leaving him a widower. 50 00:04:05,243 --> 00:04:06,443 Now, on the gangplank 51 00:04:07,417 --> 00:04:08,259 of what they simply called "the big ship," 52 00:04:08,279 --> 00:04:10,072 young Elsie and Frank Hook 53 00:04:11,418 --> 00:04:12,742 are returning home to england with their father. 54 00:04:12,762 --> 00:04:17,053 And the whole family is just a little nervous. 55 00:04:17,073 --> 00:04:20,779 Elsie was quite tall for her age. 56 00:04:20,799 --> 00:04:22,608 She was a year too old to be classed as a child, 57 00:04:22,628 --> 00:04:25,385 but George had booked her a child ticket, 58 00:04:26,594 --> 00:04:28,456 and she had to duck as they boarded the ship 59 00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:31,081 to make herself look slightly younger. 60 00:04:35,631 --> 00:04:38,457 The 601 second-class passengers 61 00:04:39,493 --> 00:04:41,356 include nettie and Walter Mitchell 62 00:04:42,184 --> 00:04:44,095 from the north of Ireland. 63 00:04:44,115 --> 00:04:46,908 Childhood sweethearts, 64 00:04:47,806 --> 00:04:49,476 they had immigrated to America 65 00:04:49,496 --> 00:04:51,256 when Walter was offered a job in a flax mill. 66 00:04:52,185 --> 00:04:55,013 When he was offered this job 67 00:04:55,774 --> 00:04:57,272 in Newark, New Jersey, 68 00:04:57,292 --> 00:04:59,031 he just said to nettie, "will you come with me?" 69 00:04:59,051 --> 00:05:00,808 And she said yes. 70 00:05:01,912 --> 00:05:03,432 They got married just after Christmas, 71 00:05:04,154 --> 00:05:05,362 and that was in December 1912. 72 00:05:06,465 --> 00:05:09,619 They really seem to have loved America. 73 00:05:09,639 --> 00:05:12,397 Three years later, 74 00:05:13,880 --> 00:05:14,963 nettie and Walter have decided to return home to Ireland 75 00:05:14,984 --> 00:05:17,192 with their 10-month-old son. 76 00:05:18,710 --> 00:05:21,089 They also called him Walter Dawson Mitchell, too, 77 00:05:21,813 --> 00:05:24,276 so he's baby Walter. 78 00:05:24,296 --> 00:05:26,883 And there's this one here 79 00:05:28,194 --> 00:05:29,623 that shows the baby looking out of his basket, 80 00:05:29,643 --> 00:05:32,451 and on the back it says, 81 00:05:32,471 --> 00:05:34,140 "rowing for the shore 82 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:35,574 at 16 weeks old." 83 00:05:37,887 --> 00:05:40,508 Traveling with the Mitchells 84 00:05:41,302 --> 00:05:43,245 is nettie's brother, John, 85 00:05:43,265 --> 00:05:43,868 who immigrated to Connecticut five years ago. 86 00:05:47,372 --> 00:05:49,992 During the Mitchells' time away from home, 87 00:05:51,200 --> 00:05:52,799 the world has seen a cataclysmic change. 88 00:05:57,165 --> 00:05:59,043 While America remains neutral, 89 00:05:59,063 --> 00:06:00,354 Britain and Germany are at war. 90 00:06:03,339 --> 00:06:05,494 Their armies are locked in stalemate 91 00:06:05,514 --> 00:06:07,493 on the battlefields of the western front. 92 00:06:07,513 --> 00:06:09,432 Casualties have reached more than half a million. 93 00:06:09,927 --> 00:06:13,978 At the end of 1914, 94 00:06:13,998 --> 00:06:15,702 the British impose a total sea blockade, 95 00:06:15,722 --> 00:06:17,442 preventing even food from reaching Germany. 96 00:06:18,757 --> 00:06:20,917 This blockade was surely felt in Germany, 97 00:06:22,345 --> 00:06:24,828 so the German public as well as the German military circles 98 00:06:26,312 --> 00:06:28,551 asked for something in order to retaliate on the British. 99 00:06:29,690 --> 00:06:32,486 The German high command's response 100 00:06:33,175 --> 00:06:35,432 comes in the form 101 00:06:35,452 --> 00:06:35,949 of a new, relatively untested war machine: 102 00:06:35,969 --> 00:06:38,037 The U-boat. 103 00:06:39,279 --> 00:06:41,003 The German government decided 104 00:06:42,452 --> 00:06:43,916 that it would declare a war zone around the British Isles, 105 00:06:43,936 --> 00:06:46,109 and in that war zone 106 00:06:47,212 --> 00:06:47,884 ships could be torpedoed on sight. 107 00:06:51,798 --> 00:06:53,745 As the Lusitania prepares to sail, 108 00:06:53,765 --> 00:06:56,124 the German attack submarine U-20 is headed for the war zone. 109 00:07:01,664 --> 00:07:02,128 To destroy any British vessels in its path. 110 00:07:16,253 --> 00:07:19,116 At 12:28, Lusitania weighs anchor. 111 00:07:24,635 --> 00:07:27,325 Settling into his saloon-class cabin on the promenade deck 112 00:07:28,498 --> 00:07:30,843 is New York theatre producer Charles Frohman. 113 00:07:35,464 --> 00:07:37,307 Charles Frohman was one of the leading 114 00:07:37,327 --> 00:07:38,914 theatrical impresarios of his day. 115 00:07:40,017 --> 00:07:42,448 He was a great friend of j.M. Barrie. 116 00:07:42,468 --> 00:07:45,052 He was the first person 117 00:07:46,121 --> 00:07:47,001 to perceive that a play like "Peter Pan" 118 00:07:47,021 --> 00:07:48,398 could be a huge success. 119 00:07:49,502 --> 00:07:50,828 He bought the rights and staged it. 120 00:07:50,848 --> 00:07:52,887 Frohman is among those who read the notice 121 00:07:53,883 --> 00:07:55,864 placed in the American press by the German embassy: 122 00:07:55,884 --> 00:07:59,691 A warning to all passengers 123 00:07:59,711 --> 00:08:01,519 that British ships entering the war zone 124 00:08:01,539 --> 00:08:03,125 do so at their own risk. 125 00:08:13,508 --> 00:08:16,233 But he just sort of shrugged all this off. 126 00:08:17,682 --> 00:08:19,869 When one friend said, you know, "do you fear the U-boats?" 127 00:08:19,889 --> 00:08:21,329 He said, "I'm not afraid of U-boats. 128 00:08:21,785 --> 00:08:23,352 I'm only afraid of ious." 129 00:08:26,236 --> 00:08:29,250 Thousands of people 130 00:08:29,270 --> 00:08:30,217 would have been there 131 00:08:30,237 --> 00:08:31,526 even on a normal crossing, 132 00:08:31,546 --> 00:08:33,491 but this was not a normal crossing. 133 00:08:33,512 --> 00:08:35,494 People knew they were going into a dangerous situation. 134 00:08:35,514 --> 00:08:38,341 Many more people even than usual 135 00:08:39,549 --> 00:08:40,700 had come to see the Lusitania depart, 136 00:08:40,720 --> 00:08:42,514 lots of press men, lots of photographers 137 00:08:43,756 --> 00:08:45,557 rather macabrely taking photographs of people, 138 00:08:46,172 --> 00:08:48,446 saying, "look, if anything happens to you, 139 00:08:49,724 --> 00:08:51,481 at least we've got your picture, haven't we?" 140 00:09:10,453 --> 00:09:13,176 Leaving pier 54 and America behind, 141 00:09:14,591 --> 00:09:16,350 Lusitania embarks on her voyage... 142 00:09:25,387 --> 00:09:28,076 Carrying the hopes and dreams of 2,000 people 143 00:09:29,733 --> 00:09:32,526 across the Atlantic... 144 00:09:33,286 --> 00:09:35,527 Into the danger zone. 145 00:09:56,463 --> 00:09:59,188 Day two of Lusitania's 202nd crossing of the Atlantic. 146 00:10:02,981 --> 00:10:05,880 No one on board is aware 147 00:10:06,984 --> 00:10:08,482 that this is destined to be her last. 148 00:10:14,709 --> 00:10:16,348 New York theatre producer Charles Frohman 149 00:10:17,572 --> 00:10:19,379 spends most of his time in his first-class cabin, 150 00:10:19,399 --> 00:10:21,469 accompanied by piles of scripts. 151 00:10:23,712 --> 00:10:26,436 Frohman was a real workaholic. 152 00:10:27,643 --> 00:10:29,562 That's probably what had made him such a success, 153 00:10:30,575 --> 00:10:33,438 but he suffered quite badly from rheumatism. 154 00:10:34,678 --> 00:10:36,542 He walked very slowly, leaning on a stick, 155 00:10:37,852 --> 00:10:39,612 a stick which was so closely attached to him, 156 00:10:39,715 --> 00:10:42,177 he called it his wife. 157 00:10:42,197 --> 00:10:42,938 So he wasn't often seen out and about the ship. 158 00:10:47,269 --> 00:10:49,388 Frohman was pleasantly surprised to discover 159 00:10:49,854 --> 00:10:52,295 that a close personal friend is also traveling in first class. 160 00:10:53,442 --> 00:10:56,201 Two decks below, in cabin d15, 161 00:10:57,029 --> 00:10:58,548 star of the silent screen, 162 00:10:59,753 --> 00:11:01,353 25-year-old French actress Rita Jolivet. 163 00:11:03,583 --> 00:11:06,444 She had in fact, in spite of the warning, 164 00:11:07,583 --> 00:11:09,460 only bought her ticket that morning. 165 00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:12,324 She had a brother who was in France 166 00:11:12,343 --> 00:11:14,840 who she believed was about to be posted to the western front, 167 00:11:14,860 --> 00:11:17,634 and she wanted to go over to France to see him 168 00:11:17,653 --> 00:11:18,944 before he got involved in the fighting. 169 00:11:23,896 --> 00:11:27,981 During the crossing, 170 00:11:28,001 --> 00:11:28,983 the flagship passenger liner lives up to her nickname, 171 00:11:29,003 --> 00:11:30,968 "greyhound of the seas." 172 00:11:32,243 --> 00:11:35,397 Driven by four giant Parsons turbine engines 173 00:11:35,417 --> 00:11:38,949 producing 68,000 horsepower, 174 00:11:38,969 --> 00:11:40,689 Lusitania's unrivaled top speed of 25 knots 175 00:11:41,868 --> 00:11:44,178 has already made her the pride of her country. 176 00:11:47,764 --> 00:11:50,489 The Lusitania 177 00:11:51,559 --> 00:11:53,057 represented Britain's maritime might 178 00:11:53,077 --> 00:11:54,957 in recapturing the speed record from the Germans 179 00:11:55,767 --> 00:11:58,575 after the Germans had had it 180 00:11:58,595 --> 00:12:00,265 for ten previous years. 181 00:12:00,285 --> 00:12:01,576 It made her world-famous. 182 00:12:04,561 --> 00:12:06,642 Overseeing this massive floating powerhouse 183 00:12:07,114 --> 00:12:08,977 is the ship's second engineer, 184 00:12:10,184 --> 00:12:11,943 44-year-old father of three, Andrew Cockburn. 185 00:12:13,184 --> 00:12:15,978 Being an engineer on the Lusitania 186 00:12:16,670 --> 00:12:18,096 was the pinnacle. 187 00:12:18,117 --> 00:12:19,925 Everyone wanted his job, 188 00:12:19,945 --> 00:12:21,324 but you had to earn it. 189 00:12:22,807 --> 00:12:24,683 Cockburn was a senior and very experienced engineer. 190 00:12:24,703 --> 00:12:27,617 He'd been with cunard for 22 years, 191 00:12:27,637 --> 00:12:29,116 he was obviously a very skillful man. 192 00:12:30,293 --> 00:12:31,652 His nickname apparently was "wizard of the seas." 193 00:12:31,672 --> 00:12:33,913 He was ridiculously competent. 194 00:12:37,707 --> 00:12:39,225 Even with one boiler shut 195 00:12:39,985 --> 00:12:42,308 due to war economies, 196 00:12:42,328 --> 00:12:44,048 Lusitania maintains an impressive 21 knots. 197 00:12:44,191 --> 00:12:47,088 At this speed, 198 00:12:48,330 --> 00:12:49,794 she will make landfall in just under six days... 199 00:12:49,814 --> 00:12:51,694 A speed considered fast enough to keep her safe. 200 00:12:57,539 --> 00:13:00,196 U-boats were designed to attack slow-moving targets. 201 00:13:02,369 --> 00:13:05,196 So speed is the best defense 202 00:13:06,644 --> 00:13:09,473 against submarine attack. 203 00:13:11,440 --> 00:13:14,336 3,000 miles away, 204 00:13:15,165 --> 00:13:17,199 the German attack submarine U-20 205 00:13:18,268 --> 00:13:19,748 has begun its patrol of the war zone. 206 00:13:25,684 --> 00:13:28,409 At the periscope, eager to make a kill, 207 00:13:29,201 --> 00:13:30,995 captain Walter Schwieger. 208 00:13:32,410 --> 00:13:35,203 Schwieger joined the imperial German Navy 209 00:13:35,825 --> 00:13:39,633 in 1903, 210 00:13:39,653 --> 00:13:41,944 so by the start of the first world war, 211 00:13:41,964 --> 00:13:43,979 he was an experienced and well-respected officer. 212 00:13:48,207 --> 00:13:50,006 Deep in the German military archives 213 00:13:50,793 --> 00:13:52,513 lies a remarkable hundred-year-old document, 214 00:13:52,760 --> 00:13:54,692 written aboard the U-20. 215 00:13:56,968 --> 00:13:59,692 This document contains all operational information, 216 00:14:01,208 --> 00:14:04,038 with times and positions. 217 00:14:06,660 --> 00:14:08,260 It gives even the ideas and the thoughts 218 00:14:11,073 --> 00:14:13,233 of the commanding officer towards an individual action. 219 00:14:13,971 --> 00:14:16,697 Ok, this is what we are looking for. 220 00:14:18,317 --> 00:14:21,007 In German it is called "kriegstagebuch." 221 00:14:22,214 --> 00:14:25,111 This war diary 222 00:14:26,180 --> 00:14:27,059 will outline in extraordinary detail 223 00:14:27,079 --> 00:14:30,094 Schwieger's personal account 224 00:14:30,114 --> 00:14:31,922 of the course of events over the next five days. 225 00:14:31,942 --> 00:14:35,920 He probably had no idea 226 00:14:35,940 --> 00:14:37,820 about the historical significance of his report. 227 00:14:41,839 --> 00:14:44,600 Five days from now, 228 00:14:45,668 --> 00:14:47,268 U-20 will change the outcome of the war. 229 00:14:58,430 --> 00:15:01,259 On Lusitania's bridge, 230 00:15:02,432 --> 00:15:04,653 U-boats are the last thing on the mind 231 00:15:04,673 --> 00:15:07,343 of second officer Percy Hefford. 232 00:15:07,363 --> 00:15:09,604 For him, the chance to serve on a ship as grand as this 233 00:15:10,811 --> 00:15:12,640 is the realization of a long-held dream. 234 00:15:13,779 --> 00:15:16,504 He was hard-working, reliable. 235 00:15:17,606 --> 00:15:19,123 He was sober as well, which is noted, 236 00:15:20,297 --> 00:15:22,346 so I suspect that not everybody else was. 237 00:15:22,366 --> 00:15:23,952 He'd just got married. 238 00:15:25,092 --> 00:15:26,969 He'd been married for three months. 239 00:15:26,989 --> 00:15:28,072 And way back in 1907, he had seen the Lusitania 240 00:15:28,092 --> 00:15:30,796 just after her launch 241 00:15:30,816 --> 00:15:32,624 when she was being fitted out in Glasgow, 242 00:15:32,644 --> 00:15:34,565 and he turned to the friend next to him and said, 243 00:15:35,577 --> 00:15:37,896 "I'd give my soul to serve in a big modern ship like that." 244 00:15:45,096 --> 00:15:49,214 In the third-class dining hall, 245 00:15:49,234 --> 00:15:50,732 the Hook family enjoy a hearty lunch of roast beef 246 00:15:50,752 --> 00:15:52,552 with mashed potatoes, plum pudding, and sauce, 247 00:15:53,476 --> 00:15:55,547 all served on white China plates. 248 00:16:00,203 --> 00:16:01,804 Third-class accommodation on the Lusitania 249 00:16:01,824 --> 00:16:03,942 was better than what you would have found 250 00:16:03,962 --> 00:16:05,286 on a lot of transatlantic liners. 251 00:16:05,306 --> 00:16:07,027 Even things like the bedding in third class 252 00:16:08,274 --> 00:16:10,234 was of a higher standard than you'd see elsewhere. 253 00:16:14,827 --> 00:16:17,275 The next three days of Lusitania's voyage 254 00:16:18,035 --> 00:16:19,670 pass without incident. 255 00:16:28,312 --> 00:16:31,037 Inside the U-20 submarine it's a very different story, 256 00:16:32,485 --> 00:16:35,143 as captain Schwieger begins to carry out his mission. 257 00:16:39,524 --> 00:16:40,504 The first ship he encountered 258 00:16:40,524 --> 00:16:42,123 was a very small sailing ship 259 00:16:42,143 --> 00:16:44,711 which he sank on the 5th of may. 260 00:16:44,731 --> 00:16:47,041 On the next day, early in the morning, 261 00:16:48,455 --> 00:16:50,536 he found another ship, a small British merchant ship, 262 00:16:52,284 --> 00:16:55,147 and he was able to sink it. 263 00:16:56,665 --> 00:16:58,823 The next vessel was a British merchant ship, centurion, 264 00:16:59,665 --> 00:17:02,460 late on the 6th of may. 265 00:17:03,631 --> 00:17:05,151 He sank this ship also with torpedoes. 266 00:17:06,321 --> 00:17:09,289 Three ships sunk. 267 00:17:09,977 --> 00:17:12,268 That was average. 268 00:17:12,288 --> 00:17:13,098 But of course he was, like any other commander, 269 00:17:13,118 --> 00:17:15,047 eager to achieve more. 270 00:17:16,393 --> 00:17:18,959 But Schwieger's patrol is almost at an end. 271 00:17:18,979 --> 00:17:21,179 The U-20 is low on fuel, with just three torpedoes left. 272 00:17:29,050 --> 00:17:32,757 On the evening of may 6th, off the coast of Ireland, 273 00:17:32,777 --> 00:17:35,295 Lusitania enters the war zone, 274 00:17:35,777 --> 00:17:38,157 alone. 275 00:17:39,640 --> 00:17:42,516 There was some concern amongst the passengers 276 00:17:42,537 --> 00:17:45,933 as to why there was no escort. 277 00:17:45,953 --> 00:17:47,391 Any ship that's going to be released 278 00:17:48,607 --> 00:17:49,965 for that kind of duty is going to slow her down 279 00:17:49,986 --> 00:17:51,306 if she has to keep speed with it. 280 00:17:52,610 --> 00:17:54,692 So actually the best thing for her was to just go in alone. 281 00:17:58,610 --> 00:18:00,679 Sailing at full speed, 282 00:18:02,058 --> 00:18:02,833 Lusitania would be in Liverpool within the day. 283 00:18:06,680 --> 00:18:08,351 Unfortunately, the morning brings with it 284 00:18:08,371 --> 00:18:10,061 a thick blanket of fog, 285 00:18:10,959 --> 00:18:12,041 making full speed impossible. 286 00:18:15,716 --> 00:18:18,407 Captain Turner had been obliged to slow his ship, 287 00:18:19,408 --> 00:18:22,373 to sound the foghorn, 288 00:18:23,581 --> 00:18:25,837 and because of the fog, it left Turner uncertain 289 00:18:25,857 --> 00:18:28,064 of his precise position off the Irish coast. 290 00:18:29,548 --> 00:18:31,789 Turner was looking for a land fix on his position 291 00:18:32,652 --> 00:18:35,479 to fix it exactly, 292 00:18:36,309 --> 00:18:37,588 making sure exactly where he is. 293 00:18:39,859 --> 00:18:41,420 What we're looking towards here 294 00:18:43,516 --> 00:18:46,152 is the old head of kinsale, 295 00:18:46,172 --> 00:18:47,498 which passengers on board the Lusitania 296 00:18:47,518 --> 00:18:49,104 on the morning of 7th of may 297 00:18:50,138 --> 00:18:51,499 would have seen as the fog lifted. 298 00:18:51,519 --> 00:18:53,382 They would have been able to see 299 00:18:54,589 --> 00:18:56,121 that green smudge of land on the horizon 300 00:18:56,141 --> 00:18:57,846 that was the old head of kinsale. 301 00:18:57,866 --> 00:18:59,328 They knew they were very close 302 00:18:59,348 --> 00:19:00,846 to the coast of southern Ireland. 303 00:19:00,866 --> 00:19:02,984 That made many of them feel a lot safer. 304 00:19:03,004 --> 00:19:05,694 Nettie always said how happy they were. 305 00:19:07,040 --> 00:19:08,959 That morning they saw Ireland for the first time, 306 00:19:10,005 --> 00:19:12,695 and it must have been so exciting 307 00:19:13,558 --> 00:19:15,747 'cause they were heading home. 308 00:19:15,767 --> 00:19:16,918 They were going to see all the parents 309 00:19:16,938 --> 00:19:18,884 and their brothers and sisters, 310 00:19:18,904 --> 00:19:19,368 and they were going to show off their grandson 311 00:19:19,388 --> 00:19:21,056 for the first time. 312 00:19:23,768 --> 00:19:25,388 One o'clock in the afternoon. 313 00:19:26,734 --> 00:19:28,576 The U-20 surfaces before beginning its journey home. 314 00:19:31,976 --> 00:19:34,286 In the distance, 315 00:19:35,494 --> 00:19:36,509 captain Schwieger thinks he can just make out 316 00:19:36,529 --> 00:19:38,288 the four stacks of a steamship. 317 00:19:41,151 --> 00:19:45,129 And here he states 318 00:19:45,149 --> 00:19:46,580 that the ship is identified as a large passenger liner. 319 00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:49,188 And this electrified the crew instantly. 320 00:19:50,671 --> 00:19:53,189 It's exactly the prize Schwieger has been waiting for. 321 00:19:55,429 --> 00:19:58,327 Around the same time, 322 00:19:59,431 --> 00:20:00,239 captain Turner receives a telegram 323 00:20:00,259 --> 00:20:02,619 from the British admiralty, 324 00:20:02,639 --> 00:20:04,639 warning of a U-boat somewhere in the Irish Channel. 325 00:20:04,845 --> 00:20:07,606 When you consider 326 00:20:08,673 --> 00:20:09,518 there had been heavy fog that morning 327 00:20:09,538 --> 00:20:12,414 and that for some of the day 328 00:20:12,434 --> 00:20:13,621 he hadn't actually been sure where the Lusitania was himself 329 00:20:13,641 --> 00:20:15,721 and had had to alter course to try and get a bearing, 330 00:20:15,883 --> 00:20:17,676 quite how this was going to be effective 331 00:20:18,401 --> 00:20:20,089 I can't really see. 332 00:20:21,126 --> 00:20:22,406 To minimize the danger, 333 00:20:23,506 --> 00:20:25,106 Turner orders the ship to increase speed 334 00:20:25,437 --> 00:20:26,796 and resume course for Liverpool... 335 00:20:27,678 --> 00:20:29,403 A decision that will prove fatal. 336 00:20:30,782 --> 00:20:32,784 The passenger liner was turning its course 337 00:20:34,509 --> 00:20:37,301 to run along the Irish coast, 338 00:20:38,163 --> 00:20:39,680 which brought the passenger ship 339 00:20:40,786 --> 00:20:43,076 into an ideal position for attack. 340 00:20:43,096 --> 00:20:44,683 He simply had to wait in his position 341 00:20:45,407 --> 00:20:47,511 to fire the torpedo. 342 00:20:59,342 --> 00:21:02,205 At two o'clock, 343 00:21:03,721 --> 00:21:05,461 the hooks have a rendezvous on the third-class promenade deck. 344 00:21:05,480 --> 00:21:08,309 They were standing there 345 00:21:09,344 --> 00:21:10,220 waiting for a young man to come by 346 00:21:10,240 --> 00:21:12,187 and give Elsie Hook a rose 347 00:21:12,207 --> 00:21:13,843 that he had promised her earlier that day. 348 00:21:13,862 --> 00:21:15,543 While Elsie was waiting for the young man, 349 00:21:16,656 --> 00:21:18,429 a lady asked her if she would mail a letter for her. 350 00:21:18,449 --> 00:21:21,015 Well, not wanting to miss the man 351 00:21:21,035 --> 00:21:22,429 who was going to give her the rose, 352 00:21:22,449 --> 00:21:24,775 Elsie took the letter 353 00:21:24,795 --> 00:21:25,777 and started running toward the mailbox. 354 00:21:25,797 --> 00:21:28,417 Schwieger observed the target 355 00:21:29,486 --> 00:21:31,362 constantly through the periscope. 356 00:21:31,382 --> 00:21:32,862 He was preparing his boat for attack. 357 00:21:33,349 --> 00:21:35,039 The torpedo was made ready. 358 00:21:36,556 --> 00:21:38,800 The rest of the crew on board was waiting for his orders. 359 00:21:43,938 --> 00:21:46,696 It was such a beautiful afternoon. 360 00:21:47,871 --> 00:21:49,550 Charles Frohman was strolling out on deck, 361 00:21:50,387 --> 00:21:52,748 and he was smoking his cigar. 362 00:21:52,768 --> 00:21:55,112 750 yards away, 363 00:21:56,389 --> 00:21:58,230 Schwieger is about to attempt the impossible. 364 00:21:58,250 --> 00:22:02,025 And it is recorded in here, 365 00:22:02,045 --> 00:22:03,565 "target estimated to run at 22 knots." 366 00:22:04,598 --> 00:22:06,701 No other target before had been hit 367 00:22:07,806 --> 00:22:10,427 that was running at a speed like this. 368 00:22:17,567 --> 00:22:20,325 It needed just one single order to fire the torpedo. 369 00:22:28,051 --> 00:22:31,136 "Torpedo los!" 370 00:22:34,846 --> 00:22:36,310 Traveling at 40 miles an hour, 371 00:22:36,330 --> 00:22:37,759 the torpedo will strike its target 372 00:22:37,779 --> 00:22:39,241 in less than a minute. 373 00:22:50,125 --> 00:22:52,816 Nine minutes past two. 374 00:22:54,126 --> 00:22:57,246 The torpedo fired by the U-20 375 00:22:57,266 --> 00:22:59,232 closes in. 376 00:23:00,508 --> 00:23:02,040 Lusitaniais just seconds from disaster. 377 00:23:09,130 --> 00:23:13,076 On the bridge, 378 00:23:13,096 --> 00:23:14,558 Percy Hefford receives an urgent call from the lookout. 379 00:23:14,578 --> 00:23:17,271 Hefford was the senior officer 380 00:23:18,374 --> 00:23:20,078 on the bridge of Lusitania 381 00:23:20,098 --> 00:23:21,872 when the lookouts reported 382 00:23:21,892 --> 00:23:23,250 there was a torpedo coming. 383 00:23:23,270 --> 00:23:24,837 He repeated what he heard... 384 00:23:24,857 --> 00:23:26,424 There is a torpedo coming. 385 00:23:26,444 --> 00:23:28,169 By the time he rushed to the starboard side, 386 00:23:29,066 --> 00:23:30,619 he didn't have time to see it. 387 00:23:32,137 --> 00:23:34,575 He would have felt the impact before he'd seen anything amiss. 388 00:23:53,658 --> 00:23:55,140 At ten minutes past two, 389 00:23:56,555 --> 00:23:58,536 the torpedo punches a hole just below the waterline, 390 00:23:58,556 --> 00:24:00,832 behind the bridge on the starboard side. 391 00:24:02,453 --> 00:24:05,488 From the upper deck, 392 00:24:06,522 --> 00:24:07,436 Charles Frohman gauges the situation 393 00:24:07,456 --> 00:24:09,124 with typical composure. 394 00:24:11,765 --> 00:24:13,686 Frohman took his cigar out of his mouth, 395 00:24:14,112 --> 00:24:16,311 and he remarked to a friend of his standing next to him, 396 00:24:16,836 --> 00:24:20,438 "this is going to be a close call." 397 00:24:20,458 --> 00:24:22,776 Elsie Hook has almost reached the ship's post box 398 00:24:23,078 --> 00:24:25,287 when she feels the impact. 399 00:24:32,424 --> 00:24:35,185 She had no idea what it was, 400 00:24:36,391 --> 00:24:37,684 so she ran back up the stairs onto deck 401 00:24:37,704 --> 00:24:39,421 and found her father and her brother Frank. 402 00:24:39,944 --> 00:24:41,985 George decided to make for the top decks, 403 00:24:42,530 --> 00:24:43,787 where the lifeboats were, with the children. 404 00:24:43,807 --> 00:24:45,257 And while Elsie was running, 405 00:24:46,326 --> 00:24:48,064 she looked down and saw a wad of money, 406 00:24:48,084 --> 00:24:49,962 so she bent over, picked it up, showed it to her father, 407 00:24:49,981 --> 00:24:51,661 and her father said, "throw it away, girl. 408 00:24:52,050 --> 00:24:53,637 It might cost you your life." 409 00:24:57,052 --> 00:24:59,777 Below, in her cabin, 410 00:25:01,122 --> 00:25:03,041 Rita Jolivet grapples with an agonizing decision. 411 00:25:03,362 --> 00:25:06,294 She was so terrified of drowning 412 00:25:07,813 --> 00:25:09,827 that she actually had with her a small pearl-handled revolver. 413 00:25:09,847 --> 00:25:12,574 She planned to shoot herself if the worst should come. 414 00:25:20,436 --> 00:25:21,831 The captain rushes up to the bridge 415 00:25:21,851 --> 00:25:22,418 and takes charge of any kind of countermeasures 416 00:25:22,438 --> 00:25:24,299 that can be taken. 417 00:25:27,920 --> 00:25:32,076 Just off duty, 418 00:25:32,096 --> 00:25:33,524 engineer Andrew Cockburn had been on the upper deck. 419 00:25:33,544 --> 00:25:36,094 And his immediate response 420 00:25:36,958 --> 00:25:39,351 was a highly professional one... 421 00:25:39,371 --> 00:25:40,972 Let's go down and check that these doors 422 00:25:41,787 --> 00:25:43,477 were in fact closed, according to orders. 423 00:25:44,511 --> 00:25:46,270 As far as he could see, they were. 424 00:25:51,721 --> 00:25:54,099 Less than a minute after the torpedo strikes, 425 00:25:55,444 --> 00:25:57,164 lusitaniais about to receive a second blow. 426 00:25:59,376 --> 00:26:02,204 In his war diary, 427 00:26:03,688 --> 00:26:06,047 captain Schwieger records that, very much to his surprise... 428 00:26:08,620 --> 00:26:10,980 There was a secondary explosion, 429 00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:12,640 much stronger than his torpedo explosion. 430 00:26:13,102 --> 00:26:15,692 He says. "There is a fire, 431 00:26:16,795 --> 00:26:18,275 and smoke is coming out of the ship." 432 00:26:20,141 --> 00:26:22,657 Lusitaniais carrying a secret cargo of war munitions, 433 00:26:24,970 --> 00:26:27,693 but this is not the source of the explosion. 434 00:26:32,246 --> 00:26:34,157 It is almost certainly caused by a ruptured steam pipe. 435 00:26:34,177 --> 00:26:38,193 Schwieger says he could observe 436 00:26:38,213 --> 00:26:39,653 that the ship was blowing off steam, 437 00:26:40,868 --> 00:26:42,668 and eventually he could see the name Lusitania 438 00:26:42,972 --> 00:26:45,386 on the stern in golden letters. 439 00:26:48,940 --> 00:26:51,597 Thousands of gallons of sea water 440 00:26:52,492 --> 00:26:54,335 are now pouring into the ship, 441 00:26:54,355 --> 00:26:56,542 causing it to list to starboard. 442 00:26:56,562 --> 00:26:58,390 As the ship began to sink, 443 00:26:59,874 --> 00:27:01,889 so the second officer would call out the degree of list, 444 00:27:01,909 --> 00:27:04,495 and that degree began to get more and more and more. 445 00:27:06,047 --> 00:27:08,704 Lusitania is only twelve miles from land. 446 00:27:09,945 --> 00:27:12,291 Captain Turner orders the ship hard a starboard 447 00:27:13,531 --> 00:27:15,211 in a desperate attempt to reach the coast. 448 00:27:16,602 --> 00:27:19,292 Unfortunately, there was no steam to make it happen. 449 00:27:20,464 --> 00:27:23,189 As vainly as they tried to turn the ship, 450 00:27:24,018 --> 00:27:25,294 she just carried on going 451 00:27:26,464 --> 00:27:27,275 in the previous direction she was set to, 452 00:27:27,295 --> 00:27:28,777 under her own momentum. 453 00:27:32,397 --> 00:27:36,310 On the promenade deck, 454 00:27:36,330 --> 00:27:37,310 Charles Frohman is still remarkably untroubled 455 00:27:37,330 --> 00:27:39,503 by the unfolding disaster. 456 00:27:40,986 --> 00:27:43,209 One of his friends who was standing by him at the rail 457 00:27:43,229 --> 00:27:46,208 got hold of a lifejacket 458 00:27:46,228 --> 00:27:47,348 and said, "look, Charles, you had better put this on." 459 00:27:47,368 --> 00:27:49,539 But he looked at it, he refused, 460 00:27:50,816 --> 00:27:52,655 he gave it away to a woman who didn't have one. 461 00:27:54,714 --> 00:27:57,231 Rita Jolivet rushes from her cabin 462 00:27:58,095 --> 00:28:00,074 to join Frohman on the deck, 463 00:28:00,095 --> 00:28:02,039 looking distinctly less calm. 464 00:28:02,059 --> 00:28:03,404 Charles Frohman, I think, 465 00:28:04,510 --> 00:28:05,559 must have seen how frightened she was. 466 00:28:05,579 --> 00:28:07,663 She said that he gave her directions 467 00:28:07,683 --> 00:28:09,483 as calmly as if he was directing her on stage, 468 00:28:09,716 --> 00:28:12,042 saying to her, "hold on to the rail. 469 00:28:12,062 --> 00:28:13,782 Save your strength 'til we know what to do." 470 00:28:15,029 --> 00:28:17,788 Rita didn't tell him 471 00:28:19,030 --> 00:28:19,492 that she was carrying the little revolver. 472 00:28:22,961 --> 00:28:26,496 Three minutes since the attack. 473 00:28:26,516 --> 00:28:28,722 With two warheads left, 474 00:28:29,963 --> 00:28:30,910 Schwieger and his crew continue to observe. 475 00:28:34,757 --> 00:28:37,689 Schwieger says, 476 00:28:38,931 --> 00:28:40,649 "on the ship there's obviously great panic. 477 00:28:40,689 --> 00:28:42,621 There are signs of confusion. 478 00:28:43,519 --> 00:28:45,981 The boats were being lowered, 479 00:28:46,001 --> 00:28:48,088 and the occupants are spilt out into the sea. 480 00:28:48,108 --> 00:28:50,185 It has the appearance the ship is likely to turn over 481 00:28:51,278 --> 00:28:53,900 in a very short period of time." 482 00:28:57,004 --> 00:28:59,626 Nettie and Walter Mitchell make it up to the deck 483 00:29:01,073 --> 00:29:03,434 and join the mass of people rushing to get to the lifeboats. 484 00:29:04,040 --> 00:29:08,262 Nettie and Walter didn't have lifejackets, 485 00:29:08,282 --> 00:29:10,682 but they got into a lifeboat which was launched successfully. 486 00:29:11,594 --> 00:29:14,525 In the meantime, John got into a lifeboat 487 00:29:15,698 --> 00:29:19,231 that overturned as it was being launched. 488 00:29:19,251 --> 00:29:21,532 He held on to a rope at the side of the upturned lifeboat, 489 00:29:22,699 --> 00:29:25,852 and people were jumping down on top of him 490 00:29:25,872 --> 00:29:27,268 as he was holding on to the rope. 491 00:29:33,427 --> 00:29:34,987 Deep in the heart of the ship, 492 00:29:37,564 --> 00:29:38,270 engineer Andrew Cockburn battles to get to the engine room, 493 00:29:38,290 --> 00:29:40,325 seven decks below. 494 00:29:41,669 --> 00:29:44,408 His route takes him past a group of ship's butchers, 495 00:29:44,428 --> 00:29:46,187 equally desperate to get up to the lifeboats. 496 00:29:47,085 --> 00:29:49,533 Although lunch had just finished, 497 00:29:50,912 --> 00:29:52,894 they were already preparing meat for the evening meals. 498 00:29:52,914 --> 00:29:55,259 One of them made a run for the stairs. 499 00:29:56,640 --> 00:29:58,378 The others decided they would try something different, 500 00:29:58,398 --> 00:30:00,077 and they thought they could get out faster 501 00:30:01,018 --> 00:30:02,481 if they crowded themselves into a service lift 502 00:30:02,501 --> 00:30:04,180 that usually carried meat up several decks 503 00:30:04,985 --> 00:30:07,276 from the preparation area 504 00:30:07,296 --> 00:30:09,036 to the galleys, where it was cooked. 505 00:30:09,056 --> 00:30:11,036 So they jumped into the lift and tried to make it out that way. 506 00:30:11,056 --> 00:30:14,346 Then, at 2:14... 507 00:30:14,366 --> 00:30:16,644 Disaster. 508 00:30:20,197 --> 00:30:21,921 The power went off. 509 00:30:23,300 --> 00:30:26,832 The lift stopped. 510 00:30:26,852 --> 00:30:28,765 Both the passenger lift, 511 00:30:28,785 --> 00:30:30,074 which contained first-class passengers, 512 00:30:30,094 --> 00:30:31,696 and also the meat lift, 513 00:30:31,716 --> 00:30:33,869 which contained the butchers, 514 00:30:33,889 --> 00:30:35,318 who thought that was a good way out, 515 00:30:35,338 --> 00:30:36,974 and sadly they were all trapped. 516 00:30:36,994 --> 00:30:38,714 Engineer Cockburn was hearing these screams. 517 00:30:41,995 --> 00:30:43,216 The butchers must have come to a pretty dreadful end. 518 00:30:53,031 --> 00:30:55,391 Lusitania has a total of 70 lifeboats and rafts... 519 00:30:55,445 --> 00:30:58,239 More than enough for everyone on board. 520 00:30:58,998 --> 00:31:01,552 But the severe listing 521 00:31:02,723 --> 00:31:04,283 makes launching them almost impossible. 522 00:31:07,378 --> 00:31:11,014 The ship was tilting right down towards the water, 523 00:31:11,034 --> 00:31:13,726 baby carriages careering hither and thither, 524 00:31:14,588 --> 00:31:15,829 people losing their footing, 525 00:31:16,933 --> 00:31:18,499 struggling to hold on to anything 526 00:31:18,519 --> 00:31:20,811 to keep themselves upright. 527 00:31:20,831 --> 00:31:23,245 George Hook realized what was happening. 528 00:31:24,451 --> 00:31:26,156 He could see that with the ship tilting, 529 00:31:26,176 --> 00:31:28,256 heavy lifeboats were swinging in right over the deck, 530 00:31:28,384 --> 00:31:31,123 and people were getting mashed 531 00:31:31,143 --> 00:31:32,295 as they tried to push those lifeboats out 532 00:31:32,315 --> 00:31:33,987 so they could be launched. 533 00:31:34,007 --> 00:31:35,193 He can see lifeboats landing on top of each other, 534 00:31:35,213 --> 00:31:38,159 lifeboats flipping and tipping everybody into the water 535 00:31:38,179 --> 00:31:40,456 and then landing on top of people, 536 00:31:41,628 --> 00:31:43,505 he can see them being dragged underwater. 537 00:31:43,525 --> 00:31:46,092 It's not a good prospect to try and save his family. 538 00:31:46,112 --> 00:31:49,023 So he said to his son and daughter, 539 00:31:49,043 --> 00:31:50,851 "we're not going to get into a lifeboat. 540 00:31:50,871 --> 00:31:52,541 It's too dangerous." 541 00:31:52,561 --> 00:31:53,961 He lined his family up at the rail. 542 00:31:56,220 --> 00:31:59,578 He said to his son and his daughter, 543 00:31:59,598 --> 00:32:01,460 "we're going to jump." 544 00:32:05,702 --> 00:32:08,461 By now the ship is severely listing 545 00:32:09,290 --> 00:32:11,546 at an angle of 25 degrees. 546 00:32:11,566 --> 00:32:13,858 But the captain hasn't given up hope. 547 00:32:13,878 --> 00:32:16,774 Turner became concerned 548 00:32:18,293 --> 00:32:19,272 that the hatches that led up to the bridge from the forecastle 549 00:32:19,292 --> 00:32:23,582 had not shut, 550 00:32:23,602 --> 00:32:26,084 and so he sent Hefford down to make sure that they were closed. 551 00:32:28,018 --> 00:32:30,468 34-year-old newlywed Percy Hefford 552 00:32:31,191 --> 00:32:33,365 is never seen again. 553 00:32:39,954 --> 00:32:42,747 Beneath the chaos, 554 00:32:44,056 --> 00:32:44,694 captain Schwieger contemplates his next move. 555 00:32:50,471 --> 00:32:53,266 There's one remarkable paragraph 556 00:32:54,093 --> 00:32:56,489 in this document in here, 557 00:32:56,509 --> 00:32:58,388 which is usually technical and military details. 558 00:32:58,472 --> 00:33:01,972 He says, "I couldn't find it in my heart 559 00:33:01,992 --> 00:33:04,373 to fire a second torpedo, 560 00:33:05,752 --> 00:33:07,712 in this mass of people trying to save themselves." 561 00:33:17,237 --> 00:33:21,183 His mission accomplished, 562 00:33:21,202 --> 00:33:23,242 captain Schwieger orders the U-20 to return to base. 563 00:33:24,687 --> 00:33:27,516 His job was to sink ships, 564 00:33:28,343 --> 00:33:29,619 and not to rescue people. 565 00:33:36,931 --> 00:33:39,586 On the Lusitania, 566 00:33:40,967 --> 00:33:42,705 Cockburn finally makes it down to the engine room. 567 00:33:42,725 --> 00:33:45,382 But the situation is desperate. 568 00:33:46,278 --> 00:33:48,417 Cockburn finds in fact 569 00:33:49,521 --> 00:33:50,984 that all the machinery's out of action, 570 00:33:51,004 --> 00:33:52,915 water's flooding in. 571 00:33:52,935 --> 00:33:54,915 He has a quick consultation with the chief engineer 572 00:33:54,935 --> 00:33:56,502 and can just make him out in the darkness. 573 00:33:56,522 --> 00:33:59,434 Hearing the water in the engine room, 574 00:33:59,454 --> 00:34:01,090 one of the largest compartments in the ship, 575 00:34:01,110 --> 00:34:02,830 Cockburn said, "there's nothing we can do." 576 00:34:03,248 --> 00:34:06,436 They'd lost all power, 577 00:34:06,456 --> 00:34:08,539 all control. 578 00:34:08,559 --> 00:34:09,334 There was no way to steer the vessel. 579 00:34:09,354 --> 00:34:10,768 There was no hope. 580 00:34:16,457 --> 00:34:19,391 Inside the ship, 581 00:34:20,114 --> 00:34:21,335 as everything's tilting 582 00:34:21,355 --> 00:34:24,303 and the walls become floors 583 00:34:24,323 --> 00:34:25,803 and the staircases become impassable, 584 00:34:26,253 --> 00:34:28,716 it's terrifying, 585 00:34:28,736 --> 00:34:30,537 and your natural instinct would be to get out. 586 00:34:35,772 --> 00:34:37,269 Sixteen minutes since the impact. 587 00:34:37,289 --> 00:34:39,774 The deck where the Hook family clings to the railing 588 00:34:40,496 --> 00:34:41,912 is almost in the water. 589 00:34:42,740 --> 00:34:46,032 Elsie stood at the rail, 590 00:34:46,052 --> 00:34:47,549 looked at the water, and prayed, 591 00:34:47,569 --> 00:34:49,223 "please god, save me, please." 592 00:34:50,293 --> 00:34:51,879 Once she had finished her prayer, 593 00:34:53,053 --> 00:34:54,067 she heard two women behind her crying, 594 00:34:54,088 --> 00:34:55,709 and she turned around and said, 595 00:34:56,915 --> 00:34:58,555 "don't worry, ladies. God will save you." 596 00:35:00,917 --> 00:35:02,882 The water reaches their feet. 597 00:35:03,572 --> 00:35:05,692 It's now or never. 598 00:35:05,712 --> 00:35:08,140 George tells his children to jump. 599 00:35:08,160 --> 00:35:10,919 Frank was ripped away from his father and his sister, 600 00:35:11,573 --> 00:35:14,610 and they lost him. 601 00:35:23,266 --> 00:35:25,992 Charles Frohman saw this green cliff of water 602 00:35:27,716 --> 00:35:30,405 surging up the deck towards them. 603 00:35:33,509 --> 00:35:37,215 In those final moments, 604 00:35:37,235 --> 00:35:38,699 Charles Frohman apparently paraphrased some lines 605 00:35:38,719 --> 00:35:40,458 from his beloved play, "Peter Pan": 606 00:35:40,478 --> 00:35:43,492 "Why fear death? 607 00:35:43,512 --> 00:35:45,671 It is the most beautiful adventure that life gives us." 608 00:35:46,790 --> 00:35:49,514 The friends were thrown into the sea, 609 00:35:50,135 --> 00:35:51,791 ripped apart, 610 00:35:52,514 --> 00:35:54,254 amid all that debris... 611 00:35:54,274 --> 00:35:55,653 Lifeboats, bodies... 612 00:35:57,204 --> 00:36:00,000 Charles Frohman disappeared beneath the water. 613 00:36:04,897 --> 00:36:06,976 Andrew Cockburn is still three decks below. 614 00:36:08,448 --> 00:36:10,657 It's a race for his life. 615 00:36:12,002 --> 00:36:14,347 The lusitaniais nearing its final moments. 616 00:36:19,211 --> 00:36:21,123 You would have felt it sinking out from underneath you. 617 00:36:21,143 --> 00:36:22,950 It's plunging to the bottom at this point. 618 00:36:22,970 --> 00:36:24,502 The ship was doomed, and he knew it. 619 00:36:24,522 --> 00:36:26,639 You needed to get away. 620 00:36:26,659 --> 00:36:27,709 Somehow, he manages to burst into daylight 621 00:36:27,729 --> 00:36:30,712 at c deck, on a promenade, 622 00:36:30,732 --> 00:36:32,627 and scramble up the deck. 623 00:36:35,421 --> 00:36:37,861 Cockburn makes it to the rail with seconds to spare. 624 00:36:46,251 --> 00:36:50,301 At 2:28, 625 00:36:50,321 --> 00:36:52,025 just 18 minutes after she was struck, 626 00:36:52,045 --> 00:36:53,764 the Lusitania disappears beneath the waves. 627 00:36:57,391 --> 00:36:59,323 For many, 628 00:37:00,390 --> 00:37:01,950 2:28 is the last minute of their lives. 629 00:37:04,014 --> 00:37:06,532 For others, 630 00:37:07,740 --> 00:37:08,685 stranded in the freezing waters of the Atlantic, 631 00:37:08,705 --> 00:37:10,015 the horror is only beginning. 632 00:37:27,330 --> 00:37:29,951 Word of the Lusitania's sinking reached land almost immediately, 633 00:37:31,262 --> 00:37:34,965 but two hours later, 634 00:37:34,985 --> 00:37:35,762 the rescue boats have yet to arrive. 635 00:37:38,748 --> 00:37:41,436 Nobody necessarily 636 00:37:42,850 --> 00:37:43,967 wanted to close the Lusitania that quickly 637 00:37:43,987 --> 00:37:45,073 with a U-boat with torpedoes around. 638 00:37:45,093 --> 00:37:46,472 Do you want to sink as well? 639 00:37:47,195 --> 00:37:48,900 Of course you don't. 640 00:37:48,920 --> 00:37:49,764 Getting sunk and more people in the water 641 00:37:49,784 --> 00:37:51,040 is not going to help anyone. 642 00:37:53,542 --> 00:37:55,109 Ireland is just 12 miles away... 643 00:37:55,129 --> 00:37:57,268 Agonizingly close, 644 00:37:57,991 --> 00:37:59,647 but too far to swim. 645 00:38:00,786 --> 00:38:03,647 Hundreds of passengers and crew 646 00:38:04,856 --> 00:38:06,575 are at the mercy of the freezing conditions. 647 00:38:08,545 --> 00:38:09,217 The water was some 50 degrees fahrenheit, 648 00:38:09,237 --> 00:38:10,581 or 10 degrees celsius. 649 00:38:11,823 --> 00:38:13,975 Even those lucky enough to get into lifeboats 650 00:38:13,995 --> 00:38:15,341 were shuddering with cold, 651 00:38:16,582 --> 00:38:17,770 and of course the cold water took its toll, 652 00:38:17,790 --> 00:38:20,321 particularly on the very young. 653 00:38:20,341 --> 00:38:23,032 Only 6 of 44 lifeboats were successfully launched. 654 00:38:25,931 --> 00:38:28,655 In one of them, George and Elsie Hook 655 00:38:29,827 --> 00:38:31,546 desperately scan the water for young Frank. 656 00:38:33,207 --> 00:38:35,966 Frank! 657 00:38:37,552 --> 00:38:39,050 Still without lifejackets in another of the boats, 658 00:38:39,070 --> 00:38:42,326 the Mitchells believe they are safe. 659 00:38:42,346 --> 00:38:44,657 But the lifeboat didn't have a bung in it. 660 00:38:45,763 --> 00:38:47,831 I presume a bung is some sort of plug. 661 00:38:48,555 --> 00:38:50,452 And it sank slowly. 662 00:38:53,659 --> 00:38:56,695 In the water, 663 00:38:57,765 --> 00:38:58,917 survivors cling to upturned lifeboats. 664 00:38:58,937 --> 00:39:01,041 They include ship's engineer Andrew Cockburn, 665 00:39:03,835 --> 00:39:06,559 and despite her terrible fear of drowning, 666 00:39:07,181 --> 00:39:09,458 Rita Jolivet. 667 00:39:10,940 --> 00:39:13,138 Some of the survivors describe what it was like 668 00:39:13,352 --> 00:39:15,393 swimming through the drifting debris and the bodies, 669 00:39:15,838 --> 00:39:18,038 pushing aside the bodies of drowned children and babies, 670 00:39:19,630 --> 00:39:22,460 said like lily pads on a pond. 671 00:39:25,047 --> 00:39:26,406 It traumatized them, those sights, 672 00:39:28,807 --> 00:39:29,925 for the rest of their lives. 673 00:39:46,397 --> 00:39:49,293 Nettie says that the baby died very quickly. 674 00:39:51,467 --> 00:39:54,294 The water was freezing. 675 00:39:55,158 --> 00:39:57,950 She knew the baby had died. 676 00:40:00,709 --> 00:40:03,573 The last thing Walter said was, 677 00:40:04,401 --> 00:40:05,347 "I can't hold on anymore." 678 00:40:08,229 --> 00:40:09,948 And she said "you have to keep holding on... 679 00:40:10,230 --> 00:40:12,298 Holding on to the baby... 680 00:40:13,024 --> 00:40:14,576 Holding on to life." 681 00:40:18,161 --> 00:40:21,555 That was the last thing that she remembered. 682 00:40:33,269 --> 00:40:35,959 The rescue boats did finally arrive, 683 00:40:36,857 --> 00:40:39,065 three hours after the sinking. 684 00:40:40,236 --> 00:40:44,010 By the following morning, 685 00:40:44,030 --> 00:40:45,080 more than 700 people have been saved, 686 00:40:45,100 --> 00:40:47,790 including captain Turner, 687 00:40:48,825 --> 00:40:50,357 who had been swept off the bridge 688 00:40:50,377 --> 00:40:52,185 as the ship went down. 689 00:40:52,205 --> 00:40:54,722 But the dead will wash up on the shores around queenstown 690 00:40:55,377 --> 00:40:57,895 for weeks to come. 691 00:40:59,172 --> 00:41:01,896 So many bodies were brought ashore 692 00:41:03,345 --> 00:41:04,946 that they're described as being stacked up on the quayside 693 00:41:04,966 --> 00:41:07,001 like cord wood. 694 00:41:08,416 --> 00:41:10,535 Sailors carried the bodies of the dead children ashore 695 00:41:10,588 --> 00:41:13,382 in their arms as carefully 696 00:41:14,623 --> 00:41:16,328 as if those children had still been living 697 00:41:16,348 --> 00:41:17,088 and laid them by the sides of the adults on the quayside. 698 00:41:21,281 --> 00:41:23,970 George and Elsie Hook 699 00:41:25,419 --> 00:41:27,539 spend three grueling days trying to find Frank's body. 700 00:41:28,869 --> 00:41:31,801 Elsie and her father 701 00:41:32,834 --> 00:41:35,196 had to go from mortuary to mortuary, 702 00:41:35,216 --> 00:41:36,712 inspecting the lines of bodies lying there under white sheets, 703 00:41:36,732 --> 00:41:39,491 rows and rows of them, 704 00:41:40,560 --> 00:41:41,335 pulling back the sheet each time, 705 00:41:41,355 --> 00:41:43,162 inspecting the face underneath, 706 00:41:43,182 --> 00:41:44,991 wondering whether they'd see Frank there or not. 707 00:41:45,011 --> 00:41:47,872 Then a man came up to George Hook and said, 708 00:41:49,356 --> 00:41:51,876 "I've heard about a boy who's in hospital outside of queenstown. 709 00:41:53,253 --> 00:41:56,013 Have you looked at him to see if he's Frank?" 710 00:41:57,289 --> 00:41:59,049 The boy they find has a broken leg, 711 00:41:59,496 --> 00:42:00,806 caused by a falling lifeboat. 712 00:42:01,462 --> 00:42:04,394 Apart from that, 713 00:42:05,463 --> 00:42:07,062 young Frank Hook is completely unharmed. 714 00:42:10,636 --> 00:42:12,810 And the first words out of Frank's mouth 715 00:42:13,637 --> 00:42:15,618 when he saw his father were, 716 00:42:15,638 --> 00:42:16,377 "gee, dad, it took you long enough to get here." 717 00:42:20,847 --> 00:42:23,536 Nettie's brother John also survived. 718 00:42:24,951 --> 00:42:26,951 He, too, is searching for the bodies of his family. 719 00:42:30,952 --> 00:42:32,632 Among the dead, under a tarpaulin, 720 00:42:34,849 --> 00:42:36,290 he found Walter and nettie's bodies. 721 00:42:38,193 --> 00:42:41,023 And he thought he saw her eyelid moving. 722 00:42:43,023 --> 00:42:45,817 Just a flicker of life. 723 00:42:48,784 --> 00:42:50,464 Having lost her husband and baby, 724 00:42:52,508 --> 00:42:54,695 nettie makes a miraculous recovery. 725 00:43:01,787 --> 00:43:03,511 Three days after the sinking, 726 00:43:04,718 --> 00:43:06,651 with many of the bodies still unidentified, 727 00:43:07,374 --> 00:43:09,100 the mass funerals begin. 728 00:43:11,789 --> 00:43:14,616 The people of queenstown line the streets in silence 729 00:43:15,755 --> 00:43:18,150 as the endless procession of coffins 730 00:43:18,170 --> 00:43:19,410 winds its way through the town. 731 00:43:28,689 --> 00:43:31,001 At the same time, 732 00:43:32,346 --> 00:43:34,188 the U-20 has almost reached its base in Germany. 733 00:43:34,207 --> 00:43:36,933 Captain Schwieger receives a hero's welcome 734 00:43:37,794 --> 00:43:39,845 for his great military triumph. 735 00:43:39,865 --> 00:43:43,225 But it will be short-lived. 736 00:43:43,245 --> 00:43:45,348 Germany was celebrating 737 00:43:46,177 --> 00:43:48,226 this big military success, 738 00:43:48,246 --> 00:43:50,227 but on diplomatic channels 739 00:43:50,247 --> 00:43:52,006 the German government conveyed to the British 740 00:43:52,384 --> 00:43:53,833 as well to the American government 741 00:43:55,283 --> 00:43:57,482 that it was terribly sick about this heavy loss of life. 742 00:43:57,937 --> 00:44:00,730 1,192 people perished in the Lusitania's sinking. 743 00:44:03,835 --> 00:44:06,837 Among them, 128 Americans. 744 00:44:09,077 --> 00:44:11,733 President of the United States Woodrow Wilson 745 00:44:12,976 --> 00:44:14,736 announced his outrage in the strongest terms. 746 00:44:16,357 --> 00:44:19,116 Up until the sinking of the Lusitania, 747 00:44:20,391 --> 00:44:24,027 the United States was, on balance, 748 00:44:24,047 --> 00:44:25,427 more anti-allied than anti-German. 749 00:44:26,911 --> 00:44:29,013 The sinking of the Lusitania changed all that 750 00:44:30,496 --> 00:44:32,856 in that it began to make the Germans look like the villains. 751 00:44:34,428 --> 00:44:38,030 Wilson himself puts it very well. 752 00:44:38,051 --> 00:44:39,513 He says, "the British are thieves. 753 00:44:39,533 --> 00:44:40,844 The Germans are murderers." 754 00:44:41,534 --> 00:44:43,431 Within weeks, 755 00:44:44,533 --> 00:44:45,653 under growing international pressure, 756 00:44:45,673 --> 00:44:47,552 Germany ceased its unrestricted U-boat campaign. 757 00:44:48,639 --> 00:44:51,571 When it resumed in 1917, 758 00:44:52,639 --> 00:44:54,862 America immediately entered the war, 759 00:44:54,882 --> 00:44:56,641 on the side of the British. 760 00:44:57,709 --> 00:44:59,572 19 months later, Germany surrendered. 761 00:45:00,435 --> 00:45:03,552 World war I was over. 762 00:45:10,195 --> 00:45:11,762 The name Lusitania is etched in history 763 00:45:11,782 --> 00:45:13,129 as a tragedy on a global scale. 764 00:45:14,783 --> 00:45:17,473 But it's also a story of people... 765 00:45:18,198 --> 00:45:21,178 The passengers and crew 766 00:45:21,198 --> 00:45:22,879 who embarked on a journey a century ago... 767 00:45:23,543 --> 00:45:27,042 A story of those who died... 768 00:45:27,062 --> 00:45:28,752 And those who lived.