How many times have you thought about the right time to say or do something with the least losses? This book will help you make this difficult decision.
At midday on Saturday, May 1, 1915, a luxury ocean liner pulled away from Pier 54 on the Manhattan side of the Hudson River and headed for Liverpool, England. No doubt some of the 1,959 passengers and crew on the massive British ship felt a little uneasy - though not so much because of the waves as the period.
Great Britain was at war with Germany, and World War I had broken out the previous summer. Germany recently declared the waters adjacent to the British Isles, through which the ship was passing, a war zone. In the weeks leading up to departure, the German Embassy in the United States placed advertisements in American newspapers warning potential travelers that those entering those waters "on board ships of Great Britain or its allies do so at their own risk." However, only a few passengers canceled Her travels. Ultimately, these shipping lines crossed the Atlantic Ocean more than two hundred times without incident. It was one of the largest and fastest passenger ships in the world, equipped with a wireless telegraph and equipped with a good amount of lifeboats (thanks in part to lessons learned from the Titanic, which had sunk three years earlier). Perhaps most importantly, in charge of the ship was Captain William Thomas Turner, one of the most experienced sailors in the business - a gruff fifty-eight-year-old with a decorated career and "built as solid as bank vaults."2
The ship sailed the Atlantic Ocean for five uneventful days. But on May 6, as the massive ship set off toward the coast of Ireland, Turner received word that German submarines, or U-boats, were prowling the area. He quickly left the captain's room and positioned himself on the bridge to scan the horizon and prepare to make quick decisions.