Exploring the Lusitania: Probing the Mysteries of the Sinking That Changed History, Vol. 1 ANNOTATION
On May 7, 1915, the fastest, most luxurious cruise ship in the Cunard line, the Lusitania, was sunk by a German U-boat, spurring U.S. involvement in World War I. Now, bestselling author/researcher Robert Ballard probes the decades-old controversy surrounding this pivotal maritime tragedy. Illustrated with over 300 photos, many in color, charts, paintings, and a four-page gatefold.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
In August of 1993, Dr. Robert Ballard, the discoverer of the Titanic and the Bismarck, led an expedition to the wreck of the Lusitania, off the coast of Ireland. Using a small submarine and remotely controlled camera vehicles, Ballard and his team studied the wreck like a team of underwater detectives trying to solve a murder mystery. Their high-quality underwater images of the shattered wreck can now shed light on the cause of the sinking that sent her to the bottom in minutes. Ballard's conclusions are authoritative and provide a fascinating, definitive account of what happened on that fateful May afternoon eighty years ago.
FROM THE CRITICS
BookList - Brad Hooper
Second only to the "Titanic"'s 1912 collision with an iceberg in terms of famous sinkings of ocean liners, the "Lusitania", also a British luxury ship, was torpedoed in May_ 1915 by a German submarine and in 18 minutes went under the waves off the coast of Ireland. Because 123 of the dead were American, the destruction of the "Lusitania" was a step in drawing the U.S. into World War I, already raging in Europe. In 1993 a team working with underwater explorer Robert Ballard, discoverer of the "Titanic"'s remains, used a small submarine to find the wreckage of the "Lusitania". Ballard profiles the luxurious life of the "Lusitania" while in trans-Atlantic service and reconstructs its scandalous wartime "assassination" in this oversize book. And in addition to profuse illustrations of the liner during its life and creepy ones of its carcass lying on the ocean floor, Ballard and his coauthor address the controversy that has surrounded the "Lusitania"'s sinking from that day to this: Why did it explode so violently when the torpedo hit and then sink so quickly? Ballard's investigation indicates that an "extraordinary combination of circumstances" destined that the "Lusitania" would not survive its attack.
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