On May 7th 1915, a German U-boat shot and sank the HMS Lusitania.
I have the book “Exploring the Lusitania” by Robert D. Ballard, 1995. Robert Ballard is an underwater archeologist who has discovered several shipwrecks and written about them, including the Titanic, the battleship Bismarck, USS Yorktown, and the PT-109. I also have his book “The Discovery of the Titanic”. Ballard has written great information about the Lusitania, along with why it was sunk. The Lusitania was commissioned in 1906, and was on its 202 trans-atlantic crossing, when it was torpedoed 11 miles off of Ireland. In 1908, it had a record for the fastest crossing over the Atlantic-four days, twenty hours, and twenty two minutes.
I also have the book “Ellis Island, Gateway to the American Dream” by Pamela A. Reeves, 1993. I took my Mom to Ellis Island in 2001. We used their computers ( I had actually done the pre-work before for ease in suprising her) to find passenger records for her father-Albert Nelson.
We printed the Passenger Manifest. Albert Nelson had arrived at Ellis Island, on September 11, 1908. He was 17 years old. His younger brother Edward Nelson (10 years old) came with him, along with Svan Nelson (26) his older brother, who was already a US citizen, and who had to go back to Sweden to bring and sponsor both his brothers to the United States.
The manifest stated that they paid for their own passage, each had $15, and they were going on to Chicago, (then Galesburg, IL). They were from Hjarsis Sweden, and their port of departure was Liverpool, England.
Oh, and they traveled on the Lusitania, leaving on September 5th, and arrived on September 11, 1908.
Mom was so happy that day. She remembered her dad saying he was 18 when he came to the U.S. Busted. And she was able to take home that day, some actual history about her father. She could picture him walking through the corridors and lines in the great hall at Ellis Island, wide-eyed in a new world; The same hall we walked through in our tour. It brought back so many memories of her dad. Mom said her father always had his Swedish accent, and spoke Swedish a lot to friends and family when she was growing up. She clutched the newly-found paperwork tightly, all the way home.
I felt this was one of my most successful adventure trips with Mom. Thanks for reading.
Librarytomes 