Click2Disasters - The Lusitania - Chapter 3

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <tr> <td> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b>THE <i>LUSITANIA</i></p> <p><font size="4">CHAPTER 3 - THE <i>LUSITANIA</i></p> </div>  <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">When the <a href="http://www.hinet.net.au/~darkjedi/lus1.jpg" target="_blank"><b><i>Lusitania</b></i></a> was built in 1907, owners of the Cunard Steamship Company hoped they had purchased a fast liner. In competition for wealthy passengers who desired both speed and comfort as they crossed the Atlantic, Cunard’s ships had not held the Blue Ribbon speed record for many years. <i>Lusitania</i> and her slightly larger sister ship, <a href="http://www.uiowa.edu/~english/profpage/blandon/tlucht/bt-mauretania.html" target="_blank"><b><i>Mauretania</i></b></a> would change that.</p> <p>A turbine steamship, <i>Lusitania</i> was 755 feet long. She was 88 feet wide and drew a bit more than 60 feet. With 25 <a href="http://www.merseyworld.com/local_history/lusitania2.html" target="_blank"><b>boilers</b></a> generating steam to drive her 68,000 horsepower engines, the ship was <a href="http://www.geocities.com/titanicandco/lusitania/lusitaniasails.jpg" target="_blank"><b>fast</b></a>. She could make 24½ to 25 knots.</p> <p><a href="http://www.hinet.net.au/~darkjedi/empcompa.htm" target="_blank"><b>Like</b></a> the <i>Titanic</i>, launched 4 years after <i>Lusitania</i> was built, she was certified to carry emigrants. Her capacity was 3,000 souls on board, including crew.</p> <p>When she was first built, <i>Lusitania</i> was equipped with limited lifeboats as the <i>Titanic</i> was when she struck the iceberg on April 14, 1912. Regulations from the British Board of Trade had not kept pace with the new super liners. After <i>Titanic</i> sank, however, more lifeboats were added to ships. When <i>Lusitania</i> sailed <a href="http://www.comptons.com/encyclopedia/PICTURES/1001d1c.jpg" target="_blank"><b>from</b></a> New York City on May 1, 1915 she had <a href="http://www.lusitania.net/images/annexintro.jpg" target="_blank"><b>48 lifeboats</b></a> aboard. </p> <p>On her second transatlantic crossing (from <a href="http://www.cobhheritage.com/" target="_blank"><b>Queenstown</b></a>, Ireland - now called Cobh), the crew set a new speed record. With <a href="http://pc-78-120.udac.se:8001/WWW/Nautica/Seamanship/Stevens(1869)_S132.html" target="_blank"><b>trimmers</b></a> shoveling the coal, stokers and firemen minding the huge boilers and engineers working around the clock to coax the best performance out of the ship, she arrived in New York harbor within 4 days, 19 hours and 52 minutes. </p> <p>She was everything Cunard’s owners hoped she would be.</p> </div> <p align="center"><font size="2"><a href="the_lusitania_ch2.htm">GO TO LAST CHAPTER</a>     <a href="the_lusitania_ch1.htm">BACK TO FIRST CHAPTER  </a>   <a href="the_lusitania_ch4.htm">GO TO NEXT CHAPTER</a></p><br> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table> </body>