47 pages • 1 hour read
Erik LarsonDead Wake: The Last Crossing Of The Lusitania
Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2015A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Historic Consequences of Small Actions
As Larson traces the journeys of the Lusitania and the U-20 throughout Dead Wake, he pays special attention to how the fateful encounter between the two ships occurs due to a multitude of small incidents and actions. When isolated from each other, each of these events seems to have no particular bearing on the journey of the Lusitania. When considered together, however, these small incidents directly lead to the Lusitania’s destruction. Larson notes often throughout Dead Wake that it was highly unlikely that the Lusitania would ever cross paths with the U-20 or that the U-boat would successfully torpedo the massive passenger liner. However, a “convergence of disparate forces” places the Lusitania directly in the U-20’s firing line on May 7, 1915 (117).
On May 1, the day of the Lusitania’s departure, Larson describes a number of small events that would have historic consequences for the Lusitania. One of these events occurs after the British Admiralty requisitions a small passenger liner, the Cameronia. The passengers of the Cameronia are transferred to the far larger Lusitania. This delays the Lusitania’s departure for two hours as baggage is transferred and passengers are brought on board. During the two-hour delay, Captain Turner decides to invite his niece on board for a tour of the ship. During the tour, the gangplank is removed. Turner orders the gangplank to be replaced so that his niece can disembark from the ship—a lengthy procedure that further delays the Lusitania’s departure. Larson suggests that such delays meant life or death for the Lusitania and its passengers because “even the tiniest alteration in a single [historical] vector” could have altered the ship’s fate (326). If the Lusitania had left at its original departure time, its path might never have crossed the U-20.
As Larson notes, these slight incidents have historical implications beyond the Lusitania’s destruction. The attack on the Lusitania is a major event during World War I, especially with regards to America’s involvement in the war. Though Woodrow Wilson refrains from declaring war after the Lusitania attack, he issues a harsh statement denouncing Germany’s attacks on neutral merchant ships. The statement sets off a series of escalating tensions between the United States and Germany, eventually leading to America’s declaration of war on Germany two years later.
British Mishandling of the Lusitania
Throughout Dead Wake, Larson notes a number of ways in which the British Admiralty could protect the Lusitania but ultimately fails to do so. Early in the Lusitania’s voyage, Britain’s secret Room 40 intercepts a number of messages indicating that Germany is monitoring the Lusitania’s journey across the Atlantic Ocean. Room 40 further intercepts communications from the U-20 revealing that the U-boat is on the prowl in waters that the Lusitania will be traversing. Though these messages suggest that the Lusitania may be a target for German submarines, the Admiralty chooses not to take measures to protect the passenger liner. The Admiralty could easily have sent a battleship escort for the Lusitania, or it could have ordered the Lusitania to use the newly opened North Channel to enter Liverpool. It is likely that either of these two actions would have ensured the Lusitania’s safe passage. But the Admiralty chooses to do nothing, presumably to protect the secrecy of Room 40. The British Admiralty further endangers the Lusitania after the attack when it orders that the HMS Juno not be sent to rescue the Lusitania’s survivors. The Admiralty feared that sending a large battleship on a rescue mission would make that battleship vulnerable to submarine attacks. However, because the Juno—which was capable of reaching high speeds and could have reached the Lusitania quickly—was not sent, far more survivors died from hypothermia in the cold waters.
Larson suggests that Britain’s inaction regarding the Lusitania’s sinking may actually have been part of a plot to lure the United States into declaring war on Germany. Though there exists no archival evidence that Britain deliberately chose to endanger the Lusitania, Larson cites a number of memos which imply that such a plot may have existed. Particularly damning is a memo issued by Winston Churchill several months before the Lusitania’s sinking. In the memo, Churchill notes that Britain should “attract neutral shipping to our shores, in the hopes especially of embroiling the United States with Germany” (190). It is plausible that Churchill saw the Lusitania as a chance to convince America to join Britain in the war, and that he intentionally refrained from sending the Lusitania protection.
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By Erik Larson
