Lusitania was surpassed in size by several other liners
built subsequently, it never lost the reputation acquired at the outset
of its career. Its speed and luxurious accommodations made it a
favorite, and its passenger lists bore the names of many of the most
prominent Atlantic wayfarers. The vessel was pronounced by its builders
to be as nearly unsinkable as any ship could be.

Everything about the Lusitania was of colossal dimensions.

Her rudder weighed sixty-five tons. She carried three anchors of ten
tons each. The main frames and beams, placed end to end, would extend
thirty miles. The Lusitania was 785 feet long, 88 feet beam, and 60 feet
deep. Her gross tonnage was 32,500 and her net tonnage, 9,145.

Charges were made that one or more guardian submarines deliberately
drove off ships nearby which might have saved hundreds of lives lost
when the Lusitania went down. Captain W. F. Wood, of the Leyland Line
steamer Etonian, said his ship was prevented from going to the rescue of
the passengers of the sinking Lusitania by a warning that an attack
might be made upon his own vessel.

The Etonian left Liverpool, May 6th. When Captain Wood was forty-two
miles from Kinsale he received a wireless call from the Lusitania for
immediate assistance.

The call was also picked up by the steamers City of Exeter and
Narragansett. The Narragansett, Captain Wood said, was made a target for
submarine attack, a torpedo missing her by a few feet, and her commander
then warned Captain Wood not to attempt to reach the Lusitania.

"It was two o'clock in the afternoon, May 7th, that we received the
wireless S O S," said Captain Wood. "I was then forty-two miles distant
from the position he gave me. The Narragansett and the City of Exeter
were nearer the Lusitania and she answered the SOS.

"At five o'clock I observed the City of Exeter cross our bows and she
signaled, 'Have you heard anything of the disaster?'

"At that moment I saw a periscope of a submarine between the Tonina and
the City of Exeter, about a quarter of a mile directly ahead of us. She
dived as soon as she saw us.

"I signaled to the engine room for every available inch of speed. Then
we saw the submarine come up astern of us. I now ordered full speed
ahead and we left the submarine behind. The periscope remained in sight
about twenty minutes.

"No sooner had we lost sight of the submarine astern, than another
appeared on the starboard bow. This one was directl