There is a rogue deadliness in the ocean that can serve as a potent reminder of how little sway mankind actually has over the forces of nature.Erik Larson, Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
To be a captain of a ship in the age of mechanical power was to inhabit a world that few could comprehend.Erik Larson, Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
The day was perfect. The nuances of sea and sky that day would stay with survivors as long as they lived.Erik Larson, Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
There was about this scene an air of spectral strangeness, a sense of elements being out of sync.Erik Larson, Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
As in all tragedies, there was a collision of unrelated events. In this case, it was lethally so.Erik Larson, Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
Lieutenant Schwieger gave the order to dive, thus committing his U-20 to whatever fate lay ahead.Erik Larson, Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
The sinking of Lusitania made less fantastic the idea that civilization itself could be in danger.Erik Larson, Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
The worst part was not the sinking. The worst part was the waiting.Erik Larson, Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
It wasn’t the iceberg’s sharp edges but rather the immense, blunt-surface area that did the damage.Erik Larson, Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
How strange it was, that a ship, in an age of wireless telegraphy, should be so completely out of touch with the world!Erik Larson, Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania