The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-11-09

] 'SNe nave Stdiieu tne ordinary HneI
would have had little effect on the tower
ing speeder Lusitania, OF the Cunard
Line, If she had not plunged her nose
directly under the ferment. She encoun-
tered this retarding comber at ; O'Clock
on Thursday afternoon, when a few OF
the passengers were thinking about eat
ing dinner. Most of them had no thoughts
on that subject. as the motion of the
ship was a little too strenuous for any
body except one with a deep-sea appetite
and experience.
The great ship. descending the declivity
OF wave that Capt Watt said was not
under forty feet in height, scooped ur
| several tons OF green water and an i'm
mense quantity Of spume and spindrif,
A part Of the crest invaded the bridge
more than sixty feet above the water
line when the ship is on a level keel
smashing three windows on the port side
Of the bridge and slightly injuring a
naval seaman who was thrown down by
the lurching of the liner. First Officer
Nelson was cut on the hands by flying
glass.
PIunges Through storm.
Notwithstanding the Iambasting Of the
elements, the Lusitania made good the
declaration OF the line that she would
cut down on this trip her record OF
days 19 hours and 90 minutes. coming
this way. She beat that record by a
mere matter of l hour and I2 minutes
To do that she was forced 20 plunge
through the storm as no ship OF ordi-
nary mold would have dared 10 do.
Her commander trusted in her gigantic
| freeboard and her general sturdiness Ia
master even the phenomenal seas that
she found bristling in her course. II /,
had not been for the big blow she would
! have cut nearly three hours or her for
mer record.
All that Capt. Watt wants. he saws.
/ to bring his ship in and dock her Thurs
/ day night is smooth sea and a gale
less sky. She covered a course Of 2.7Sl
miles at an hourly average Of 2435 knots.
| II is a remarkable tribute to the navi-
/ eating skill of Capt Watt when IL IS
considered that in the three trips TO
this port, he has not varied his course
| by more than two or three nautical
miles. He has always taken the farther
northern route compatible with safety
/ Seldom has any liner SKINNED so closely
TO the point Of absolute safety.
! Besides breaking the transatlantic rec
ord in speed, the Lusitania also knocked
| out all records as a gold-carrying craft.
/ bringing in the unprecedented amount of
! $l2.000000 IN bar and coin. More than a
quarter Of this treasure stored in the
strong room OF the Lusitania had been
/ engaged abroad by American bankers at
/ the beginning of the financial trouble.
Carefully Counts the Cases.
There were in all about q tons Of spe-
cies. stored in 334 steeI-bound wooden
cases. Purser Joseph Lancaster checked
/ each case as il was brought out of the
! vault, and refused to talk TO aDvbody
! until every bit cf the gold had been put
/ ashore Detectives and men in uniform
We're on hand, but their services were nor
really required. as nobody attempted 20
/ carry away any of the cases. which
weighed more than any ordinary man
could negotiate successfully even on a
short journey. Five double and two sin
/ gle trucks took the treasure to its desti-
nation in the city.
John g. Dunlop, a director Of the com
/ pany that built the Lusitania. was a pas
senger aboard her. He said he was thor
/ oughly satisfied with her performance
/ and that If II had not been for the storm
she would easily have averaged an hourly
/ speed of 24.5e knots She had been briI.
| he said, to attain the speed of a 70 knots.
and that he had no doubt that she would
hnahy make il and possibly bit more
Julia MarlOwe, the actress. who has
been on four months vacation. said
she had the impression when the I.usi-
tania shipped the big comber. thar she
had run into Il rock. She said she hac
had the longest vacation Of her life and
that she enjoyed it thoroughly. Mrs
Patrick Campbell said that she and her
dog. Pinky-PankyPOo, had been much
upset by the bad weather
Blades Not Broken on.
Thomas Bell. managing engineer Of the
Cunard Line, who was also a pass+nper
by the Lusitania. said it was not true
that the blades of her turbines broke off
in great quantity. At the last exanIn.,-
ton of the Carmanias blades. thew were
found 10 be intact, and Mr.. Bell said bis
impression was that this would also he
the case with the Lusitania's turbines
when they were examined next Julv nv
British commission appointed for that
purpose.
The agent OF the Cunard Line Vernon
H. Brown, announced several weeks acc
that the Lusitania would do better on eacb
succeeding trip, until she had attainad
the climax of her power. 1t is the Inn
preston of the engineers Of the line tba.
this final triumph will make her a 25-xnot
ship from port TO port. They have no
doubt that she will fulfill all the reouire-
ments Of the British admiralty and u-fn
the great premium that the Covernn,e,t
has guaranteed for a ship OF this speed
Mr.. Brown has even higher hopes for the
Maurentia, which sails for New YorI-
from Liverpool on November I6. and which
is credited with "A tiial trip speed of ,.,o,e
than half knot better than that of tbo
LUsitania
The Lusitania is the first liner that has
ever averaged more than 500 knots a dav
on an entire trip According to her log
she covered p knots on the fragment Of
the hour before the end of the nautical
day that she left Queenstown. Thereafter
her daily runs-and coming westward
that means period Of "a hours and about
80 minutes-were 606. 6l6. 6lS. 6l0. and 10 the
Sandy Hook lightship, off which she ar
rived at ia a. m. 80 miles
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