On the Newsstands 100 Years Ago Today

On this day in 1915, a German u-boat sank the British luxury liner Lusitania, en route from New York to London. The British Navy had equipped the Cunard liner with guns and used it to import munitions under the cover of being a passenger ship.

Germany had placed advertisements in New York newspapers warning against ocean travel into the war zone that was Europe, but folks generally scoffed at the idea that someone would deliberately torpedo a ship conveying the rich and famous in such high fashion.

In the precious little time they had, passengers frantically worked to get themselves off the ship. In a futile attempt to save infants, life jackets were tied to wicker “Moses baskets.” The rising water carried these baskets and their infant occupants into the water, but none survived the turbulence. Many of the lifeboats, not properly prepped, took on water and sank.
A mere 18 minutes after being struck by the torpedo, the Lusitania was gone. Of the 1,949 passengers and crew, over 1,200 drowned, including 124 Americans and 94 children