Lusitania leaves port at the start of a trans-Atlantic crossing.

The British passenger liner Lusitania, owned by the Cunard Line, sails from Pier 54 in New York harbor. The 31,550-ton ship was built in 1906 in the midst of a fierce competition between British and German steamship companies. The liner’s 25 steam boilers and four turbines can propel the liner at a impressive top speed of 26.7 knots. At the beginning of the war, the British Admiralty requisitioned the Lusitania for conversion into an armed merchant cruiser, but then decided against it because the ship’s size made it too inviting of a target. While other smaller ships joined the war effort, the Lusitania continued in its role of providing quick, luxurious transportation. But the U-boats’ new campaign against British shipping has transformed the once-routine trip into a perilous one.

Nine days before the Lusitania is to set sail, the German Embassy publishes an ominous notice in New York newspapers, warning that travelers sailing in the war zone on British ships "do so at their own risk." Nevertheless, 1,962 passengers, including Alfred Vanderbilt, heir to one of America’s largest fortunes, board the Lusitania. They’re apparently convinced that the ship’s speed—a good 13 knots faster than a U-boat—will enable it to outrun any pursuer. The Lusitania's 58-year-old captain, William "Bowler Bill" Turner, even boasts to one passenger that the ship is "safer than the trolley cars in New York City." The travelers, of course, don’t know about the Lusitania's secret cargo-- 173 tons of rifle ammunition and artillery casings, stored in the forward hold. As the ship leaves the harbor, its master-at-arms discovers three German stowaways, who are in possession of a camera. Turner locks up the Germans in the ship’s brig and continues out to sea.