Dead Wake

 Erik Larson wrote the 2015 best selling non-fiction book Dead Wake: The Last Crossing Of The Lusitania. This is a long book with all the details about a luxury steam liner that left New York City on May 1. 1915. On board were Captain Turner and approximately 1,200 other people. They were headed for London. At the time German submarines were attacking British ships (both military and merchant) with torpedoes. This was early in World War One and Woodrow Wilson was President. On the last day of April, the day before the Lusitania left, the German Embassy in the United States printed a warning in the newspapers warning passengers that German U Boats would attack all ships leaving for London. That article was met with disbelief. On May 7, 12 miles off the coast of Ireland, a German submarine torpedoed the Lusitania and it sank within 18 minutes. Only 761 people survived. Larson wrote stories about many of the passengers based on his extensive research including the writings of some survivors. The writing of some victims was recovered as well. The author had access to photos of all the bodies that were found. Captain Turner stayed on the ship until it slipped under the water and he was one of the survivors. After this disastrous event the British Admiralty went after Captain Turner and tried to blame him for the sinking. Even though it was clear a German torpedo did the damage, the Admiralty might have been trying to pin the blame on Turner so that their lack of communication about the danger of the German submarines to the Captain. I thought this book was very readable and interesting. I would like to take a trans-Atlantic or trans-Pacific sail myself someday.