WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.620 Welcome to this custom tailored deep dive. We 00:00:03.620 --> 00:00:05.780 are just so glad you are joining us today. Yeah, 00:00:05.799 --> 00:00:08.019 thanks for tuning in. It's great to be here. 00:00:08.259 --> 00:00:10.820 Now, whenever you hear the name RMS Lusitania, 00:00:11.039 --> 00:00:14.080 there is usually one single sentence that follows. 00:00:14.279 --> 00:00:16.399 Right. It was the ship that sank and started 00:00:16.399 --> 00:00:19.710 World War I. Exactly. And sure, I mean, as a 00:00:19.710 --> 00:00:21.690 historical footnote, that is what most of us 00:00:21.690 --> 00:00:25.190 learned in school. But today we have a massive 00:00:25.190 --> 00:00:27.890 comprehensive stack of sources. We really do. 00:00:28.010 --> 00:00:31.149 We've got detailed historical articles, engineering 00:00:31.149 --> 00:00:33.969 specs, and accounts of a century of underwater 00:00:33.969 --> 00:00:36.810 salvage. And our mission today is to go so much 00:00:36.810 --> 00:00:39.070 deeper than that basic footnote. Way deeper. 00:00:39.280 --> 00:00:41.640 The story of the Lusitania is so much more than 00:00:41.640 --> 00:00:44.219 just its final 18 minutes. Right. We want to 00:00:44.219 --> 00:00:46.479 uncover the incredible engineering leaps that 00:00:46.479 --> 00:00:49.340 made this ship a marvel. The fatal design flaws 00:00:49.340 --> 00:00:52.640 hidden beneath its luxury, the intense geopolitical 00:00:52.640 --> 00:00:55.799 drama and frankly, the bizarre deep sea salvage 00:00:55.799 --> 00:00:58.579 attempts that followed. It's wild. When you really 00:00:58.579 --> 00:01:01.280 dig into the sources, it becomes a story about 00:01:01.280 --> 00:01:05.079 human ambition. the dawn of a massive new technological 00:01:05.079 --> 00:01:08.299 age, and the very messy complexities of international 00:01:08.299 --> 00:01:11.299 law during wartime. This story is an absolute 00:01:11.299 --> 00:01:14.079 aha moment waiting to happen for anyone who loves 00:01:14.079 --> 00:01:16.819 peeling back the layers of history. And to help 00:01:16.819 --> 00:01:18.939 us navigate through all of these historical details, 00:01:19.060 --> 00:01:21.560 I have our resident expert here with me. I am 00:01:21.560 --> 00:01:23.540 ready to get into it. Okay, let's unpack this 00:01:23.540 --> 00:01:26.159 by setting the scene in the early 1900s. Let's 00:01:26.159 --> 00:01:29.319 do it. Imagine you are looking at the transatlantic 00:01:29.319 --> 00:01:32.200 shipping industry. At this time, German shipping 00:01:32.200 --> 00:01:34.939 lines like Norddeutscher Lloyd are absolutely 00:01:34.939 --> 00:01:37.159 dominating the trade. Right. They are capturing 00:01:37.159 --> 00:01:39.519 all the lucrative immigrant traffic leaving Europe 00:01:39.519 --> 00:01:41.879 for North America. And they are winning the Blue 00:01:41.879 --> 00:01:44.700 Ribbon, which was the highly coveted prize for 00:01:44.700 --> 00:01:48.140 the fastest Atlantic crossing. And then enter 00:01:48.140 --> 00:01:51.480 JPMorgan. Ah, yes. The American billionaire is 00:01:51.480 --> 00:01:53.980 aggressively buying up shipping lines, creating 00:01:53.980 --> 00:01:56.560 this massive conglomerate called International 00:01:56.560 --> 00:01:59.140 Mercantile Marine. He even manages to buy a controlling 00:01:59.140 --> 00:02:01.109 interest in the British White Star Line. Which 00:02:01.109 --> 00:02:05.010 is crazy. Suddenly the British maritime dominance 00:02:05.010 --> 00:02:08.530 is under serious threat. And that threat to British 00:02:08.530 --> 00:02:11.689 national prestige is where the geopolitical tension 00:02:11.689 --> 00:02:14.490 really begins. The British government was looking 00:02:14.490 --> 00:02:16.930 at the impending collapse of their liner fleet. 00:02:17.129 --> 00:02:19.389 Yeah. This wasn't just about pride. You know, 00:02:19.789 --> 00:02:22.189 it was an urgent matter of national security. 00:02:22.460 --> 00:02:25.500 because these civilian ships acted as a reserve 00:02:25.500 --> 00:02:28.400 fleet for war purposes. So when the Cunard Line's 00:02:28.400 --> 00:02:30.120 chairman approached the British government for 00:02:30.120 --> 00:02:33.159 help, the government responded with an unprecedented 00:02:33.159 --> 00:02:37.500 deal. They gave Cunard a 2 .6 million pound loan. 00:02:37.719 --> 00:02:40.819 That is a massive amount of money. Huge. And 00:02:40.819 --> 00:02:44.930 at a very favorable 2 .75 % interest rate plus 00:02:44.930 --> 00:02:46.889 annual subsidies just to keep them afloat. But 00:02:46.889 --> 00:02:48.750 why would the British government just hand over 00:02:48.750 --> 00:02:50.810 a massive loan like that to a private company? 00:02:50.930 --> 00:02:52.750 What was the cash? The crucial condition was 00:02:52.750 --> 00:02:55.870 that these new ships, the Lusitania and her sister 00:02:55.870 --> 00:02:59.009 ship, the Mauritania, had to be built to strict 00:02:59.009 --> 00:03:01.469 admiralty specifications. The whole point of 00:03:01.469 --> 00:03:03.870 the government footing the bill was that in a 00:03:03.870 --> 00:03:07.569 time of war, these luxury liners could be instantly 00:03:07.569 --> 00:03:10.669 converted into armed merchant cruisers. Wow, 00:03:10.969 --> 00:03:13.189 so they were basically warships in disguise. 00:03:13.590 --> 00:03:15.669 They even went so far as to install gun mounts 00:03:15.669 --> 00:03:18.370 on the decks during construction, though no guns 00:03:18.370 --> 00:03:21.009 were ever actually fitted at that time. Officially, 00:03:21.159 --> 00:03:24.039 They were listed as Royal Naval Reserve merchant 00:03:24.039 --> 00:03:26.280 vessels. To meet those strict Admiralty specs 00:03:26.280 --> 00:03:28.319 and win back the speed record, they must have 00:03:28.319 --> 00:03:31.219 had to make some massive engineering leaps. They 00:03:31.219 --> 00:03:33.780 absolutely did. The designers went with steam 00:03:33.780 --> 00:03:36.259 turbine engines, which were largely untested 00:03:36.259 --> 00:03:38.979 on this massive scale. Right. Prior to the Lusitania, 00:03:39.379 --> 00:03:41.539 the biggest turbines ever built were for battleships, 00:03:41.860 --> 00:03:43.939 and those only generated a fraction of the necessary 00:03:43.939 --> 00:03:47.530 power. To hit the required speeds of 25 knots, 00:03:47.849 --> 00:03:50.189 the Lusitania needed engines capable of producing 00:03:50.189 --> 00:03:53.530 68 ,000 horsepower. That is just, I'm geeking 00:03:53.530 --> 00:03:57.189 out over that. 68 ,000 horsepower. It was a mechanical 00:03:57.189 --> 00:04:00.110 beast. The ship was fitted with four massive 00:04:00.110 --> 00:04:02.990 propellers, with the inboard ones rotating inward 00:04:02.990 --> 00:04:05.750 and the outboard ones rotating outward to maximize 00:04:05.750 --> 00:04:09.909 efficiency. To power all of this, the ship relied 00:04:09.909 --> 00:04:15.099 on 25 boilers and 192 individual furnaces. And 00:04:15.099 --> 00:04:18.279 it worked. By 1907, the Lusitania grabbed the 00:04:18.279 --> 00:04:20.879 blue ribbon and back for Britain. But what I 00:04:20.879 --> 00:04:23.379 love most in these sources is the sheer contrast 00:04:23.379 --> 00:04:26.800 between this raw mechanical power and the absolute 00:04:26.800 --> 00:04:29.180 luxury on board. Oh, the interiors were stunning. 00:04:29.300 --> 00:04:31.920 The interior was designed by a Scottish architect 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:34.459 named James Miller, and the first class dining 00:04:34.459 --> 00:04:38.279 saloon was incredible. It was designed in a neoclassical 00:04:38.279 --> 00:04:41.920 Louis XVI style, set over two decks with a 29 00:04:41.920 --> 00:04:44.639 foot circular dome decorated with a elaborate 00:04:44.639 --> 00:04:46.899 frescoes. Beautiful. But here's the detail that 00:04:46.899 --> 00:04:49.980 cracks me up. Amidst all this opulent mahogany 00:04:49.980 --> 00:04:52.519 and gold, the one concession to the fact that 00:04:52.519 --> 00:04:54.339 they were bobbing around in the middle of the 00:04:54.339 --> 00:04:57.139 unpredictable North Atlantic Ocean was that all 00:04:57.139 --> 00:04:59.519 the luxurious furniture was bolted to the floor. 00:04:59.939 --> 00:05:01.560 You couldn't even pull your chair out to sit 00:05:01.560 --> 00:05:03.420 down. No, you just had to awkwardly slide into 00:05:03.420 --> 00:05:06.360 it. It was a floating palace, but they couldn't 00:05:06.360 --> 00:05:08.560 entirely ignore the realities of the sea. But 00:05:08.560 --> 00:05:10.959 the luxury wasn't just reserved for the rich. 00:05:11.399 --> 00:05:13.959 Here is a surprising detail for you listening. 00:05:14.660 --> 00:05:17.959 The Lusitania absolutely revolutionized third 00:05:17.959 --> 00:05:20.660 -class travel. It really did. Up until then, 00:05:20.680 --> 00:05:22.439 if you were an immigrant, you were packed into 00:05:22.439 --> 00:05:24.939 massive open dormitories deep in the ship. It 00:05:24.939 --> 00:05:27.920 was crowded, noisy, and uncomfortable. Exactly. 00:05:28.120 --> 00:05:30.680 But on the Lusitania, third -class passengers 00:05:30.680 --> 00:05:33.920 got a honeycomb of two, four, six, and eight 00:05:33.920 --> 00:05:37.060 berth cabins. They had a piano, polished pine 00:05:37.060 --> 00:05:39.800 dining rooms, and real comfort. It was a game 00:05:39.800 --> 00:05:41.980 changer. Think of it like booking a super cheap 00:05:41.980 --> 00:05:44.600 economy ticket today, but instead of being crammed 00:05:44.600 --> 00:05:46.720 into a middle seat, you actually get your own 00:05:46.720 --> 00:05:49.720 private sleeping pod. It made the ship incredibly 00:05:49.720 --> 00:05:52.740 popular. That revolutionary comfort and speed 00:05:52.740 --> 00:05:56.100 undeniably changed sea travel. But beneath all 00:05:56.100 --> 00:05:57.980 of that beautiful plaster work and those private 00:05:57.980 --> 00:06:00.620 cabins, there were underlying structural choices 00:06:00.620 --> 00:06:03.240 that would eventually prove catastrophic. That 00:06:03.240 --> 00:06:05.939 rogue wave incident from 1910 really stands out 00:06:05.939 --> 00:06:08.319 in the sources as a testament to how invincible 00:06:08.319 --> 00:06:10.560 the ship felt. Oh, absolutely. The Lusitania 00:06:10.560 --> 00:06:13.420 was two days into a voyage from Liverpool to 00:06:13.420 --> 00:06:17.259 New York when it was hit by a 75 foot rogue wave. 00:06:17.600 --> 00:06:20.699 We're talking about a seven -story building of 00:06:20.699 --> 00:06:24.439 solid water. The ship's bow was designed to break 00:06:24.439 --> 00:06:26.980 through waves rather than ride over them, so 00:06:26.980 --> 00:06:29.939 this massive wall of water rolled right over 00:06:29.939 --> 00:06:32.420 the bow and smashed directly into the bridge. 00:06:33.019 --> 00:06:35.800 It shattered the thick bridge windows, physically 00:06:35.800 --> 00:06:38.680 shifted the entire bridge structure aft, and 00:06:38.680 --> 00:06:41.360 left a permanent depression in the deck. It just 00:06:41.360 --> 00:06:43.560 kept sailing. It arrived in New York only a few 00:06:43.560 --> 00:06:45.560 hours late. It must have felt like nothing could 00:06:45.560 --> 00:06:48.259 sink her. What's fascinating here is when we 00:06:48.259 --> 00:06:51.600 compare the Lusitania to its famous rival, the 00:06:51.600 --> 00:06:53.939 White Star Line's Olympic class, which of course 00:06:53.939 --> 00:06:55.899 included the Titanic. Right, the Titanic. The 00:06:55.899 --> 00:06:57.839 Olympic class ships were built a few years later. 00:06:58.040 --> 00:07:00.339 They were slightly larger and wider, and they 00:07:00.339 --> 00:07:02.939 used a different engine setup that reduced the 00:07:02.939 --> 00:07:05.639 heavy vibrations that constantly plagued the 00:07:05.639 --> 00:07:08.040 Lusitania. But the most critical difference between 00:07:08.040 --> 00:07:10.620 the two rivals was hiding right below the water 00:07:10.620 --> 00:07:13.300 line. It all came down to how the hulls were 00:07:13.300 --> 00:07:16.339 compartmentalized. Right, the bulkheads. How 00:07:16.339 --> 00:07:19.220 did the two designs differ? The Titanic was divided 00:07:19.220 --> 00:07:22.220 by transverse watertight bulkheads. Those are 00:07:22.220 --> 00:07:23.980 walls that run across the width of the ship, 00:07:24.180 --> 00:07:26.300 from the port side to the starboard side. OK. 00:07:26.759 --> 00:07:29.399 The Lusitania also had transverse bulkheads, 00:07:29.939 --> 00:07:32.740 but critically, it featured longitudinal bulkheads. 00:07:32.920 --> 00:07:36.300 Which means they run front to back. Yes. Lengthwise 00:07:36.300 --> 00:07:38.839 along the sides of the ship, parallel to the 00:07:38.839 --> 00:07:41.660 outer hull, right next to the mass of coal bunkers. 00:07:42.500 --> 00:07:44.740 This matters immensely for you as a listener 00:07:44.740 --> 00:07:47.259 trying to picture the mechanics of a sinking 00:07:47.259 --> 00:07:49.959 ship. Because of how the water fills the ship. 00:07:50.279 --> 00:07:52.720 Exactly. If a ship with transverse bulkheads 00:07:52.720 --> 00:07:55.399 takes on water, the water fills the compartments 00:07:55.399 --> 00:07:58.040 evenly from side to side. The ship will settle 00:07:58.040 --> 00:08:00.259 straight down into the water, perhaps jilting 00:08:00.259 --> 00:08:02.720 forward or backward, but it remains relatively 00:08:02.720 --> 00:08:05.360 level side to side. But if a ship with longitudinal 00:08:05.360 --> 00:08:08.120 bulkheads gets pierced on one side, then only 00:08:08.120 --> 00:08:10.379 the compartments on that specific side flood. 00:08:10.839 --> 00:08:13.439 The longitudinal walls trap the water, preventing 00:08:13.439 --> 00:08:15.540 it from flowing across the width of the ship 00:08:15.540 --> 00:08:18.000 to balance the weight. So all that water is just 00:08:18.000 --> 00:08:20.790 stuck on one side. The sheer massive weight of 00:08:20.790 --> 00:08:24.329 thousands of tons of water on just one side causes 00:08:24.329 --> 00:08:27.769 the ship to list or tilt severely. This unequal 00:08:27.769 --> 00:08:30.189 flooding completely destroys the ship's stability. 00:08:31.050 --> 00:08:33.850 And then there is the lifeboat situation. Like 00:08:33.850 --> 00:08:36.690 most ships of the era, the Licitania initially 00:08:36.690 --> 00:08:38.769 didn't carry enough lifeboats for everyone on 00:08:38.769 --> 00:08:40.450 board, which was perfectly legal at the time. 00:08:40.629 --> 00:08:42.750 Perfectly legal, yes. After the Titanic sank 00:08:42.750 --> 00:08:46.269 in 1912, Cunard scrambled to update their safety 00:08:46.269 --> 00:08:53.710 measures. They added... The small cranes used 00:08:53.710 --> 00:08:55.610 to swing the boats out over the water and lower 00:08:55.610 --> 00:08:58.870 them down. Exactly. But to accommodate everyone, 00:08:59.070 --> 00:09:01.669 they also supplemented those with 26 collapsible 00:09:01.669 --> 00:09:03.690 lifeboats stowed underneath the regular ones 00:09:03.690 --> 00:09:06.330 and directly on the deck. Which introduces another 00:09:06.330 --> 00:09:09.889 fatal flaw into the design. Collapsible lifeboats 00:09:09.889 --> 00:09:12.730 aren't ready to go. They have canvas sides and 00:09:12.730 --> 00:09:15.549 hollow wooden bottoms. They require precious 00:09:15.549 --> 00:09:18.529 time and deck space to manually assemble. Right. 00:09:18.809 --> 00:09:21.230 Time is a luxury you only have if your ship sinks 00:09:21.230 --> 00:09:24.629 slowly and remains relatively level. And as those 00:09:24.629 --> 00:09:27.740 longitudinal bulkheads guaranteed, Neither of 00:09:27.740 --> 00:09:29.840 those conditions would be true for the Lusitania. 00:09:30.379 --> 00:09:32.220 Here's where it gets really interesting because 00:09:32.220 --> 00:09:34.620 we are moving into the outbreak of World War 00:09:34.620 --> 00:09:38.370 I. Yes. When the war starts in 1914, all those 00:09:38.370 --> 00:09:41.090 Admiralty specs we talked about, the secret gun 00:09:41.090 --> 00:09:44.330 mounts, the government loans, suddenly become 00:09:44.330 --> 00:09:47.149 incredibly relevant. The geopolitical situation 00:09:47.149 --> 00:09:49.830 escalated rapidly into a naval tit -for -tat. 00:09:50.129 --> 00:09:53.409 The Royal Navy blockaded the German Empire, and 00:09:53.409 --> 00:09:56.710 the UK declared the entire North Sea a military 00:09:56.710 --> 00:09:59.529 area, mining the approaches. In retaliation, 00:09:59.789 --> 00:10:01.990 Germany declared the seas around the United Kingdom 00:10:01.990 --> 00:10:04.940 a war zone, stating that all Allied ships would 00:10:04.940 --> 00:10:11.500 be liable to be sunk without warning. It was 00:10:11.500 --> 00:10:13.620 a complete breakdown of the traditional cruiser 00:10:13.620 --> 00:10:15.899 rules of naval warfare. Right. Historically, 00:10:16.080 --> 00:10:18.340 those rules required a submarine surface, warn 00:10:18.340 --> 00:10:20.240 a civilian ship, and safeguard the passengers 00:10:20.240 --> 00:10:22.620 before sinking it. But both sides were throwing 00:10:22.620 --> 00:10:25.019 the old rulebook out the window. And this leads 00:10:25.019 --> 00:10:27.399 to one of the most chilling details in the entire 00:10:27.399 --> 00:10:30.919 source material. On May 1st, 1915, the German 00:10:30.919 --> 00:10:33.559 embassy in the U .S. places warning advertisements 00:10:33.559 --> 00:10:37.590 in 50 American newspapers. 50 of them. And they 00:10:37.590 --> 00:10:40.149 deliberately run these warnings right next to 00:10:40.149 --> 00:10:42.370 the sailing advertisements for the Lusitania. 00:10:42.789 --> 00:10:45.970 On the exact day, she departs Pier 54 in New 00:10:45.970 --> 00:10:48.889 York for the final time. Just imagine that. Imagine 00:10:48.889 --> 00:10:51.990 opening your morning paper, seeing an ad to buy 00:10:51.990 --> 00:10:54.629 a ticket for a luxury cruise, and right next 00:10:54.629 --> 00:10:57.190 to it, an official warning from a foreign government 00:10:57.190 --> 00:10:59.350 stating that if you get on that ship, you are 00:10:59.350 --> 00:11:02.129 entering a war zone and might be sunk. It is 00:11:02.129 --> 00:11:04.789 a stark historical artifact. And adding to the 00:11:04.789 --> 00:11:06.809 tragedy where the cost -cutting measures Cunard 00:11:06.809 --> 00:11:09.149 had quietly implemented. Because passenger demand 00:11:09.149 --> 00:11:11.549 had naturally fallen due to the war. Right, so 00:11:11.549 --> 00:11:13.350 the company shut down boiler room number four 00:11:13.350 --> 00:11:16.450 to conserve coal and save on crew costs. This 00:11:16.450 --> 00:11:19.309 reduced the Lusitania's top speed from 25 knots 00:11:19.309 --> 00:11:22.389 down to 21 knots. Taking away her biggest advantage. 00:11:22.639 --> 00:11:24.820 Furthermore, they had initially painted the ship 00:11:24.820 --> 00:11:27.820 gray to disguise her, but decided to return her 00:11:27.820 --> 00:11:30.960 to her highly visible civilian colors, repainting 00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:33.259 the funnels in their normal Cunard livery, which 00:11:33.259 --> 00:11:36.139 was red with black tops, and painting the superstructure 00:11:36.139 --> 00:11:39.080 bright white. By cutting her speed to save money, 00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:41.600 they removed one of her greatest natural defenses 00:11:41.600 --> 00:11:45.480 against submarines. So we arrive at May 7, 1915. 00:11:45.799 --> 00:11:48.340 The ship is nearing the end of her 22nd crossing. 00:11:49.000 --> 00:11:51.000 It is early afternoon, the weather has cleared, 00:11:51.139 --> 00:11:53.559 and she is about 11 miles off the old head of 00:11:53.559 --> 00:11:55.620 Kinsale on the southern coast of Ireland. Almost 00:11:55.620 --> 00:11:58.720 home. The passengers can literally see the green 00:11:58.720 --> 00:12:01.080 hills of the shore, but the ship crosses the 00:12:01.080 --> 00:12:05.039 path of a German U -boat, U -20. At 2 10 p .m., 00:12:05.039 --> 00:12:07.980 the submarine fires a single torpedo. It strikes 00:12:07.980 --> 00:12:10.610 the Lusitania on the starboard bow. And this 00:12:10.610 --> 00:12:13.289 is where a terrifying mystery occurs. Moments 00:12:13.289 --> 00:12:16.309 after that single torpedo struck, a massive second 00:12:16.309 --> 00:12:18.429 internal explosion erupted from within the hull. 00:12:18.710 --> 00:12:20.929 It was so powerful it blew a geyser of water, 00:12:20.990 --> 00:12:23.799 coal, and debris high above the boat deck. And 00:12:23.799 --> 00:12:26.000 immediately, that fatal bulkhead design we talked 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:27.879 about earlier dictates everything that happens 00:12:27.879 --> 00:12:31.759 next. Exactly as designed, but with tragic consequences. 00:12:32.480 --> 00:12:34.840 Because of those longitudinal bulkheads, the 00:12:34.840 --> 00:12:37.480 ocean water rapidly flooded the starboard side 00:12:37.480 --> 00:12:40.700 coal bunkers, but couldn't flow evenly across 00:12:40.700 --> 00:12:43.639 the width of the ship. Just as we feared. The 00:12:43.639 --> 00:12:47.360 Lusitania immediately took on a severe 15 degree 00:12:47.360 --> 00:12:50.259 list to starboard, which only worsened by the 00:12:50.259 --> 00:12:52.220 minute. That list must have made the lifeboats 00:12:52.220 --> 00:12:54.580 almost impossible to use. It rendered half of 00:12:54.580 --> 00:12:57.360 them entirely useless. The lifeboats on the port 00:12:57.360 --> 00:12:59.539 side, the high side of the tilting ship, were 00:12:59.539 --> 00:13:02.720 swinging inward over the deck. Gravity was pulling 00:13:02.720 --> 00:13:04.580 them away from the ocean. Wow, so they couldn't 00:13:04.580 --> 00:13:06.580 even lower them? When the crew tried to lower 00:13:06.580 --> 00:13:08.120 them, they crashed into the side of the ship 00:13:08.120 --> 00:13:10.580 or swung wildly over the panicked passengers. 00:13:10.840 --> 00:13:13.399 And on the other side? Meanwhile, on the starboard 00:13:13.399 --> 00:13:16.039 side, The boats were swinging out so far away 00:13:16.039 --> 00:13:18.399 from the hull that it was incredibly dangerous 00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:21.039 for passengers to try to jump into them. And 00:13:21.039 --> 00:13:23.620 because of the severe tilt and the chaos, the 00:13:23.620 --> 00:13:25.700 crew couldn't even safely access or assemble 00:13:25.700 --> 00:13:28.100 those 26 collapsible lifeboats we mentioned. 00:13:28.299 --> 00:13:31.159 The speed of the disaster is just horrifying 00:13:31.159 --> 00:13:33.700 when you dig into the accounts. If you think 00:13:33.700 --> 00:13:36.000 about a ship like the Britannic, which was an 00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:38.299 Olympic class ship that struck a mine and sank 00:13:38.299 --> 00:13:40.799 a year later. That took nearly an hour to go 00:13:40.799 --> 00:13:42.899 down. Which gave them enough time to lower their 00:13:42.899 --> 00:13:46.080 lifeboat safely. The Lusitania went down and 00:13:46.080 --> 00:13:49.980 just 18 minutes. 18 minutes from the torpedo 00:13:49.980 --> 00:13:52.639 strike to the ship disappearing completely beneath 00:13:52.639 --> 00:13:54.820 the waves. It's hard to fathom. Out of the 1 00:13:54.820 --> 00:14:00.419 ,960 passengers and crew on board, 1 ,197 perished. 00:14:00.940 --> 00:14:03.799 Only six out of 48 lifeboats were successfully 00:14:03.799 --> 00:14:06.559 launched. The sheer panic of those 18 minutes 00:14:06.559 --> 00:14:09.720 is almost unimaginable. The rapidity of the sinking 00:14:09.720 --> 00:14:12.159 left passengers and crew with virtually no time 00:14:12.159 --> 00:14:15.490 to react. The bow plunged downward so quickly 00:14:15.490 --> 00:14:18.029 that the massive propellers lifted entirely out 00:14:18.029 --> 00:14:19.690 of the water while the ship was still moving 00:14:19.690 --> 00:14:22.509 forward. So what does this all mean? The global 00:14:22.509 --> 00:14:26.269 outcry was massive. The dead included 128 American 00:14:26.269 --> 00:14:29.490 writers, businessmen, prominent citizens. It 00:14:29.490 --> 00:14:32.629 created an absolute geopolitical firestorm. And 00:14:32.629 --> 00:14:35.889 we must look at how both sides justified their 00:14:35.889 --> 00:14:38.610 positions as it deeply affected international 00:14:38.610 --> 00:14:41.950 relations. According to the historical sources, 00:14:42.570 --> 00:14:45.070 Germany claimed the sinking was entirely justified. 00:14:45.509 --> 00:14:47.490 Right. Let's look at the arguments objectively. 00:14:47.990 --> 00:14:50.370 They argued that the Lusitania was officially 00:14:50.370 --> 00:14:53.450 classed as an auxiliary cruiser, that she was 00:14:53.450 --> 00:14:56.070 actively carrying contraband of war, and that 00:14:56.070 --> 00:14:57.990 they had explicitly warned the American public 00:14:57.990 --> 00:15:00.169 before the ship sailed. Because of the newspaper 00:15:00.169 --> 00:15:03.090 ads? Yes. They argued that traditional cruiser 00:15:03.090 --> 00:15:05.309 rules were obsolete because British merchant 00:15:05.309 --> 00:15:08.049 ships had been secretly instructed by the Admiralty 00:15:08.049 --> 00:15:11.090 to evade or even ram U -boats if they surfaced 00:15:11.090 --> 00:15:13.309 to give a warning. On the other side, the United 00:15:13.309 --> 00:15:16.190 States and the UK argued passionately that the 00:15:16.190 --> 00:15:18.629 Lusitania was an unresisting passenger vessel. 00:15:18.809 --> 00:15:20.710 Very different perspective. The US government 00:15:20.710 --> 00:15:23.330 maintained that it was aware the ship was unarmed 00:15:23.330 --> 00:15:26.559 and acting under American law. They argued that 00:15:26.559 --> 00:15:29.259 no matter what rules Germany unilaterally declared, 00:15:29.700 --> 00:15:31.700 nothing could justify the surprise slaughter 00:15:31.700 --> 00:15:34.860 of hundreds of non -combatant civilians. They 00:15:34.860 --> 00:15:36.940 viewed sinking a passenger ship without warning 00:15:36.940 --> 00:15:39.620 as a clear violation of the fundamental principles 00:15:39.620 --> 00:15:42.580 of international law and basic humanity. This 00:15:42.580 --> 00:15:45.240 raises an important question. What was actually 00:15:45.240 --> 00:15:48.620 in the cargo hold? Germany insisted the ship 00:15:48.620 --> 00:15:51.720 was secretly carrying illegal munitions, making 00:15:51.720 --> 00:15:54.559 it a legitimate military target. And according 00:15:54.559 --> 00:15:57.340 to the historical sources, the ship's manifest 00:15:57.340 --> 00:15:59.639 did indeed list massive amounts of munitions. 00:15:59.919 --> 00:16:03.200 Really? Yes. It included an estimated 4 .2 million 00:16:03.200 --> 00:16:06.980 rounds of rifle cartridges and 1 ,250 empty shell 00:16:06.980 --> 00:16:09.980 cases. A few days after the ship sailed, Cunard 00:16:09.980 --> 00:16:12.340 submitted an additional revised manifest to U 00:16:12.340 --> 00:16:14.340 .S. Customs, admitting that those empty shells 00:16:14.340 --> 00:16:18.120 were actually 103 ,000 pounds or roughly 50 tons 00:16:18.120 --> 00:16:21.710 of filled live three inch shrapnel shells. Wait, 00:16:21.909 --> 00:16:25.389 so there were 50 tons of live military artillery 00:16:25.389 --> 00:16:28.570 sitting right beneath these oblivious first class 00:16:28.570 --> 00:16:31.289 passengers who are eating in a Louis XVI dining 00:16:31.289 --> 00:16:34.110 room. Staggering, isn't it? That is a staggering 00:16:34.110 --> 00:16:36.590 amount of military material hiding in the belly 00:16:36.590 --> 00:16:40.350 of a civilian luxury liner. I can see why the 00:16:40.350 --> 00:16:42.389 political fallout in America was so intense. 00:16:42.970 --> 00:16:45.629 President Woodrow Wilson wanted to maintain neutrality. 00:16:46.080 --> 00:16:49.399 He demanded an apology and reparations, but he 00:16:49.399 --> 00:16:51.759 still desperately wanted to keep the US out of 00:16:51.759 --> 00:16:54.120 the war. His secretary of state, William Jennings 00:16:54.120 --> 00:16:56.820 Bryan, actually resigned over this. Bryan believed 00:16:56.820 --> 00:16:59.639 Wilson's demands were compromising American neutrality 00:16:59.639 --> 00:17:02.340 and argued that ships carrying contraband simply 00:17:02.340 --> 00:17:05.500 shouldn't carry passengers. The sinking absolutely 00:17:05.500 --> 00:17:07.759 shifted American public opinion against Germany. 00:17:08.140 --> 00:17:10.819 Under immense pressure, Germany temporarily suspended 00:17:10.819 --> 00:17:13.579 its policy of targeting passenger ships. However, 00:17:14.059 --> 00:17:17.359 in January 1917, they announced a return to full 00:17:17.359 --> 00:17:20.059 unrestricted submarine warfare. And that decision? 00:17:20.329 --> 00:17:22.170 coupled with the interception of the Zimmerman 00:17:22.170 --> 00:17:24.670 Telegram, finally pushed the U .S. Congress to 00:17:24.670 --> 00:17:28.390 declare war on Germany in April 1917. It is wild 00:17:28.390 --> 00:17:30.670 to trace the line from a single torpedo strike 00:17:30.670 --> 00:17:33.109 off the coast of Ireland directly to the entrance 00:17:33.109 --> 00:17:35.390 of the United States into the First World War. 00:17:35.930 --> 00:17:38.970 But the story of the Lusitania doesn't end in 00:17:38.970 --> 00:17:42.289 1915. We have to talk about the wreck itself 00:17:42.289 --> 00:17:45.690 and the absolutely bizarre sentry of salvage 00:17:45.690 --> 00:17:48.130 and obsession that followed. The wreck sits today 00:17:48.130 --> 00:17:51.769 about 305 feet deep. It lies on its starboard 00:17:51.769 --> 00:17:54.289 side, but it is in terrible condition. It is 00:17:54.289 --> 00:17:56.990 deteriorating much faster than the Titanic despite 00:17:56.990 --> 00:17:59.609 being in significantly shallower water. Why is 00:17:59.609 --> 00:18:02.000 that? This is partly due to the violent forces 00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:04.640 of winter tides, but largely because it was actually 00:18:04.640 --> 00:18:07.119 blasted by Royal Navy depth charges during World 00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:09.779 War II, and over the decades, it has become covered 00:18:09.779 --> 00:18:12.420 in heavy destructive fishing nets. OK, we have 00:18:12.420 --> 00:18:15.079 to talk about this salvage attempt from the 1930s. 00:18:15.279 --> 00:18:17.779 A submarine inventor named Simon Lake negotiated 00:18:17.779 --> 00:18:20.559 a contract to salvage the ship. His plan reads 00:18:20.559 --> 00:18:22.480 like something out of a Jules Verne novel. It 00:18:22.480 --> 00:18:25.200 really does. Lake built a 200 foot long steel 00:18:25.200 --> 00:18:27.890 tube, which was five feet in diameter. Inside 00:18:27.890 --> 00:18:29.910 this massive tube, he installed a staircase, 00:18:30.309 --> 00:18:32.490 and at the very bottom, he built an observation 00:18:32.490 --> 00:18:35.829 and dive chamber. A staircase. Yes. The idea 00:18:35.829 --> 00:18:39.450 was to float this massive steel straw out over 00:18:39.450 --> 00:18:42.630 the ocean, sink it upright, so the bottom rested 00:18:42.630 --> 00:18:44.730 right on the submerged deck of the Lusitania, 00:18:45.289 --> 00:18:47.789 and divers could literally just walk down the 00:18:47.789 --> 00:18:50.970 stairs to the wreck. Walk down a 200 -foot staircase 00:18:50.970 --> 00:18:53.369 to the bottom of the ocean. That is both brilliant 00:18:53.369 --> 00:18:57.089 and absolutely terrifying. Did it work? He built 00:18:57.089 --> 00:18:59.650 it, and he actually tested it successfully in 00:18:59.650 --> 00:19:01.930 shallower waters, but he ran out of money and 00:19:01.930 --> 00:19:03.970 the salvage contract expired before he could 00:19:03.970 --> 00:19:06.450 ever deploy it on the Lusitania itself. Which 00:19:06.450 --> 00:19:09.490 leaves the wreck resting until 1967 when an American 00:19:09.490 --> 00:19:11.769 venture capitalist named Greg Bemis enters the 00:19:11.769 --> 00:19:15.000 picture. Bemis bought the entire wreck for just 00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:17.980 one thousand pounds. Quite a bargain. And from 00:19:17.980 --> 00:19:21.019 there, he spent decades in complex legal battles 00:19:21.019 --> 00:19:24.079 against the UK, the U .S., and Ireland over ownership 00:19:24.079 --> 00:19:26.839 and the rights to recover artifacts. The Irish 00:19:26.839 --> 00:19:29.039 government eventually threw a major wrench in 00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:31.160 his plans when they declared the wreck a national 00:19:31.160 --> 00:19:33.640 heritage site, which severely restricted his 00:19:33.640 --> 00:19:36.480 access to his own property. Bemis was incredibly 00:19:36.480 --> 00:19:39.019 determined. He spent millions of dollars, essentially 00:19:39.019 --> 00:19:41.420 the rest of his life, trying to prove a massive 00:19:41.420 --> 00:19:45.230 conspiracy. theory. He firmly believed that the 00:19:45.230 --> 00:19:47.630 British either orchestrated the sinking intentionally 00:19:47.630 --> 00:19:50.549 to draw the U .S. into the war or that the ship 00:19:50.549 --> 00:19:53.910 was carrying secret illegal high explosives that 00:19:53.910 --> 00:19:55.990 caused that mysterious second explosion we talked 00:19:55.990 --> 00:19:59.190 about. He was desperate for proof. In 1993, Bemis 00:19:59.190 --> 00:20:01.250 actually granted permission to Robert Ballard, 00:20:01.410 --> 00:20:04.049 the famous explorer who found the Titanic, to 00:20:04.049 --> 00:20:06.569 explore the Lusitania. Ballard used remotely 00:20:06.569 --> 00:20:08.890 operated vehicles to examine the wreck in detail. 00:20:09.079 --> 00:20:11.799 While he couldn't access the exact area of the 00:20:11.799 --> 00:20:14.000 torpedo strike because the ship is lying heavily 00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:16.559 on its starboard side, he was able to examine 00:20:16.559 --> 00:20:18.819 the exposed cargo hold. And what did he find? 00:20:19.140 --> 00:20:21.440 He found it clearly undamaged by any internal 00:20:21.440 --> 00:20:24.359 explosion. Ballard concluded that the mysterious 00:20:24.359 --> 00:20:27.079 second explosion was not secret illegal munitions 00:20:27.079 --> 00:20:30.640 going off, but was most likely a massive catastrophic 00:20:30.640 --> 00:20:33.740 coal dust explosion inside the nearly empty bunkers 00:20:33.740 --> 00:20:36.519 ignited by the torpedo strike. Bemis completely 00:20:36.519 --> 00:20:38.799 rejected Ballard's findings. He just couldn't 00:20:38.799 --> 00:20:40.980 accept it. He kept fighting the legal battles, 00:20:41.180 --> 00:20:43.640 kept funding exploratory dives, and eventually 00:20:43.640 --> 00:20:46.759 died in 2020 at the age of 91 without ever finding 00:20:46.759 --> 00:20:48.900 the definitive proof for his conspiracy theory. 00:20:49.779 --> 00:20:52.640 It's a tragic echo of the disaster itself, this 00:20:52.640 --> 00:20:55.960 consuming obsession that lasted an entire lifetime. 00:20:56.299 --> 00:20:58.559 If we connect this to the bigger picture, the 00:20:58.559 --> 00:21:00.940 story of the Lusitania encompasses the heights 00:21:00.940 --> 00:21:04.690 of Edwardian hubris. the brutal unsparing realities 00:21:04.690 --> 00:21:07.829 of modern industrial warfare, and a deep -seated 00:21:07.829 --> 00:21:10.630 human desire to uncover hidden truths beneath 00:21:10.630 --> 00:21:13.569 the ocean. What a journey we have been on today. 00:21:13.990 --> 00:21:16.349 We started with J .P. Morgan buying up the Atlantic 00:21:16.349 --> 00:21:18.970 shipping lanes, marveled at bolted -down dining 00:21:18.970 --> 00:21:21.009 room chairs and private third -class sleeping 00:21:21.009 --> 00:21:24.970 pods, survived a 75 -foot rogue wave, and analyzed 00:21:24.970 --> 00:21:27.529 the fatal flaw of longitudinal bulkheads. We 00:21:27.529 --> 00:21:29.720 covered a lot of ground. We explored the chilling 00:21:29.720 --> 00:21:32.720 May 1st newspaper warnings, the horrific 18 -minute 00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:35.259 sinking where lifeboats became deadly pendulums, 00:21:35.660 --> 00:21:38.460 the secret cargo of 4 .2 million rifle rounds, 00:21:38.819 --> 00:21:41.920 and finally, a 200 -foot steel staircase built 00:21:41.920 --> 00:21:44.019 to reach the bottom of the sea. And before we 00:21:44.019 --> 00:21:46.420 close, I want to leave you with one final fascinating 00:21:46.420 --> 00:21:49.440 detail from the sources to mull over. Oh, I'm 00:21:49.440 --> 00:21:51.920 ready. We mentioned the Lusitania's incredible 00:21:51.920 --> 00:21:55.099 speed and technology. Back in 1909, during the 00:21:55.099 --> 00:21:57.960 Hudson Fulton celebration in New York City, millions 00:21:57.960 --> 00:21:59.539 of people gathered to watch the shifts in the 00:21:59.539 --> 00:22:02.480 harbor. As part of the event, the Wright brothers 00:22:02.480 --> 00:22:04.640 brought their brand new airplane and flew it 00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:07.740 right over the Lusitania. Wow. There are still 00:22:07.740 --> 00:22:10.220 remarkable photographs of this exact moment. 00:22:10.980 --> 00:22:13.700 At that moment, the Lusitania was widely considered 00:22:13.700 --> 00:22:16.279 the absolute pinnacle of human travel and engineering. 00:22:16.920 --> 00:22:20.039 Yet the irony is staggering. That fragile canvas 00:22:20.039 --> 00:22:22.279 and wood flying machine buzzing over her massive 00:22:22.279 --> 00:22:24.940 funnels represented the exact technology that, 00:22:25.279 --> 00:22:27.420 in just a single generation, would completely 00:22:27.420 --> 00:22:30.079 replace massive ocean queens like the Lusitania 00:22:30.079 --> 00:22:32.779 as the mainstay of transatlantic travel. That 00:22:32.779 --> 00:22:35.599 is incredible to think about the future literally 00:22:35.599 --> 00:22:38.319 flying right over the present. Thank you so much 00:22:38.319 --> 00:22:41.599 for joining us on this deep dive into the Lusitania. 00:22:42.039 --> 00:22:44.259 We hope you walk away with a few more aha moments 00:22:44.259 --> 00:22:46.559 and a much richer understanding of this incredible 00:22:46.559 --> 00:22:49.559 chapter in history. Keep questioning, keep exploring, 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:50.859 and we will catch you next time.