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00:00For more than 100 years, the lighthouse on the old head of Kinsale
00:29on the southern coast of Ireland had been a welcome sight after an often perilous crossing
00:34of the North Atlantic by ocean liner.
00:39Today, it marks the nearest landfall to the scene of the most dramatic and controversial
00:44maritime disaster of the century.
00:4618 kilometres offshore, in waters 100 metres deep, lies the wreck of Lusitania, one of
01:03the greatest passenger ships of her time.
01:05Her sinking by a German U-boat in the first year of World War I shocked the world.
01:15But Lusitania was not merely a casualty of war.
01:19She was a victim of the extraordinary rivalry that had brought about her very creation.
01:23At the turn of the century, ocean liners were the largest moving objects ever built.
01:45Grand expressions of the Industrial Revolution.
01:48And like rockets of the space age, the liners had become the ultimate symbol of national
01:54prestige.
01:56The ships evolved from just being a strictly business venture to being a statement about
02:02the particular country.
02:05Britain and the new united German nation became embroiled in an extraordinary game of one-upmanship
02:11for maritime supremacy.
02:12England had always been supreme on the oceans of the world.
02:17So, to suddenly have an upstart, a place which hadn't even been a country, get together
02:23and build four stackers, this was a shock to England, a terrible blow, and they had to
02:30do something about it.
02:31By 1914, the rivalry between Britain and Germany became war, and the liners were to become giant
02:45pawns in an unbridled battle for dominance of the globe.
02:49At the beginning of hostilities, the British First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, ordered
03:06his navy to blockade Germany.
03:13His aim, to starve the enemy into submission.
03:16As well as having the world's largest navy at his disposal, Churchill requisitioned scores
03:23of ocean liners for war duties.
03:26And Winston Churchill, who was First Lord of the Admiralty, was determined that he had
03:30this sort of extra fleet at his command, which would be the armed merchant cruisers.
03:39The British government had subsidized the two Cunard giants, Mauritania and Lusitania,
03:44for precisely this purpose.
03:46But the Admiralty overlooked Lusitania, and called up the newer Aquitania.
03:55Completed only months before the war, Aquitania was designed as a comfortable, luxurious vessel
04:00for the transatlantic run.
04:02With guns mounted, exteriors painted grey, and splendid interiors stripped bare, Aquitania
04:12and Mauritania were transformed into the fastest auxiliary cruisers on the high seas.
04:17But almost immediately, Churchill discovered that the giant Cunardas were totally unsuited to the purpose.
04:31Well, he made a discovery that his planners had told him that within three weeks, there wasn't a scrap
04:38of coal left in the Admiralty bunker that drained all the coal that these ships are very expensive to run.
04:44Impractical as auxiliary cruisers, Aquitania and Mauritania were dispatched to other,
04:51but more appropriate war duties, as troop ships.
04:54Almost overnight, the fleet of passenger liners that had linked the British Empire in peace,
05:10were transformed for trooping duties.
05:16Indeed, with their enormous passenger-carrying capacity,
05:19ocean liners would approve of great strategic importance in the war against Germany,
05:24and would help facilitate the spread of the war to a global scale.
05:30Hundreds of thousands of eager soldiers from New Zealand, Australia, Canada and South Africa
05:36set out on a voyage of a lifetime to the front lines of Europe and North Africa.
05:43Potential to move troops around by sea isn't just a function of the great liners.
05:49We did it with sail and wood throughout the 19th century.
05:54We had, from the East India Company on in India,
05:57and we carried troops to India by the long route to South Africa by the long routes.
06:02But steam and metal transformed that with the rapidity with which you could move them,
06:08and the scale on which you could move them.
06:11The first truly ocean-going liner to carry troops was the Great Britain.
06:16In the mid-1850s, she was converted to carry 1,650 soldiers and 30 horses to the Crimean War.
06:24At the end of the 19th century,
06:28empire troops voyaged from Australia to South Africa to fight in the Boer War.
06:39And throughout the 19th century, ocean liners were fundamental
06:43to furthering France's new colonial interests in Africa and the Far East.
06:47Yeah, this is an interesting drawing of the liner Lafayette.
06:53She was built in 1864, and later in her career,
06:59she has been used as a troop transport all over the world
07:03with the French troops, and especially the Boxer Rebellion.
07:07So, this is originally the steerage,
07:10which has been transformed to accommodate the soldiers.
07:14Here, you can see the banks.
07:15On the drawing, you can see on the promenade deck,
07:20we have got 37mm cannons marked in red ink.
07:27For some ships, you have got two drawings, I should say.
07:29You have got one drawing, which is for the way out,
07:34and one for the way back.
07:36And unfortunately, on the way back,
07:39instead of a dining room, you find an hospital
07:41to bring back the diseased people or the wounded,
07:44even the dead.
07:50During the First World War,
07:52hundreds of liners served as hospital ships.
07:55Wearing the distinguishing Red Cross colours,
07:57a ship could claim protection under the Geneva Convention
08:00and, theoretically, become a sanctuary from the carnage.
08:04In 1914, the White Star Line launched the Britannic.
08:15A sister ship of Titanic,
08:17she would be the largest British liner constructed for almost 20 years.
08:21But she was never to see passenger service.
08:26Britannic was hurriedly converted into a massive hospital ship
08:30and, like her sister, would meet an untimely end
08:33when sunk by a mine during one of the most ill-fated battles of the war.
08:38Britannic served alongside Aquitania and Mauritania
08:51and scores of other liners,
08:53enabling Britain to launch a second front
08:55against Turkey at Gallipoli.
08:57In the first six months of the campaign,
09:04more than 100,000 wounded received treatment on board
09:07one of the 20 hospital ships on duty.
09:10The Gallipoli campaign ended in disaster for Britain
09:18and, in one of the sad ironies of the war,
09:22countless troops were to spend their last days alive
09:25on some of the world's most luxurious liners.
09:35As the war escalated,
09:37the British government actively encouraged
09:39Cunard to maintain a regular passenger service
09:42across the Atlantic.
09:46The giant Cunarder Lusitania
09:48had so far avoided war duties.
09:53Unlike her fleet mates, Mauritania and Aquitania,
09:57her cabins and public rooms
09:58had not been stripped bare for bunks and war supplies.
10:02As long as there were paying passengers,
10:04the sound of champagne corks and a palm court orchestra
10:07would continue to drown out thoughts of the war.
10:09But in 1915, the sea lanes around Britain
10:17were the most dangerous in the world.
10:25In retaliation for the British blockade of her shores,
10:28Germany had declared the waters around Britain a war zone.
10:32And every ship met in this zone would be sunk without warning.
10:35The German embassy in New York began to advertise in American newspapers.
10:43On the side of the Cunard advertisers,
10:46they wrote that here,
10:48a warning to all travellers who want to use a ship of Cunard,
10:53that their life would be in danger if they do so.
10:57Saturday morning in New York.
11:01It was May 1st, 1915.
11:04Sailing day for Lusitania.
11:06D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation was playing on 42nd Street.
11:11Bloomingdale's was pushing Pianolas,
11:15and the stores were promoting Blue Surge Week for men.
11:18Cunard was advertising to Lusitania,
11:24the largest and fastest liner in Atlantic Service sales at 10 a.m.
11:30Beside it, a warning.
11:33Vessels flying the flag of Great Britain are liable to destruction.
11:37Travellers do so at their own risk.
11:39Imperial German embassy.
11:49Despite the warning,
11:511,300 passengers arrived at New York's Pier 54 to board the giant Cunard.
11:55There were only 12 cancellations.
12:00Rumours persisted that the ship was armed and carrying war supplies.
12:05The British denied it.
12:06So did the New York Port Collector,
12:09who cleared the ship for sailing.
12:12On board were 159 Americans.
12:15As citizens of a neutral country,
12:18their presence alone, it was felt,
12:19would be the absolute guarantee of safety
12:22against any proposed U-boat attack.
12:26And of the German threat,
12:28Captain Turner, confident his ship could outrun any submarine afloat,
12:31said,
12:32The best joke I've heard in years.
12:36You had that ironic situation.
12:39And it looks so naive now.
12:42And we think that any shipping company could,
12:45in 1914,
12:46have continued to keep a vessel in service
12:49across the hostile North Atlantic
12:51when it was a German proclivity
12:53to sink anything in sight.
12:55Five days later,
13:06off the southern coast of Ireland,
13:08Lusitania received a radio message
13:10warning of submarine activity in the area.
13:17U-boat skipper Lieutenant Walter Schweiger
13:19had found good hunting in the fishing grounds
13:21off the Irish coast.
13:23In 48 hours,
13:28he'd sunk two Harrison Line steamers.
13:36At 2 p.m. on the 15th of May,
13:39Schweiger spotted an enormous steamer
13:40with four funnels and two masts.
13:42He gave the order to dive and give chase.
13:51At 3 p.m.,
13:53the unidentified liner changed course
13:55to take a bearing of the old head of Kinsaia.
13:58In doing so,
14:00it offered Schweiger a perfect target.
14:02In less than 20 minutes,
14:26Lusitania sank 100 metres
14:28down to the sandy bottom.
14:29The news reached London
14:35shortly after 4 p.m.,
14:37an hour after the attack.
14:40Cunard and the London newspapers
14:42said details were still coming in,
14:44but it appeared
14:45all the passengers had been saved.
14:46The next morning,
14:51a more accurate picture emerged.
14:53Of the 1918 on board,
14:561195 perished.
15:02The Irish port of Queenstown
15:04had known tragedy before.
15:07Three years earlier,
15:08it was the last port of call for Titanic
15:10on her fateful maiden voyage
15:13across the Atlantic.
15:17Now, townspeople rallied
15:19to help Lusitania survivors
15:21and deal with the scores of bodies
15:23that had washed ashore.
15:28123 Americans had perished
15:30in the disaster,
15:31including millionaire sporting identity
15:33Alfred Vanderbilt
15:34and famous theatrical producer
15:36Charles Frohman.
15:40The disaster stunned America.
15:44President Woodrow Wilson wept
15:46when told of the sinking.
15:49On Wall Street,
15:51hundreds of millions of dollars
15:52were wiped off the market.
15:55And Washington was abuzz
15:57with talk of America
15:58joining the war.
15:59In Germany,
16:02the sinking was applauded.
16:05News of the speed
16:06at which Lusitania sank
16:07and survivors' accounts
16:09of a second explosion
16:10following the torpedo
16:11were used to justify
16:13Germany's claim
16:14that Lusitania was carrying munitions
16:16destined for Britain.
16:19I don't think there's any doubt
16:20that she was carrying
16:21a certain limited amount
16:22of ammunition.
16:24But nothing that would have caused
16:26the huge explosion
16:28that did occur.
16:33After nearly 80 years
16:35of controversy,
16:36Dr. Robert Ballard,
16:37discoverer of the Titanic,
16:39led an expedition in 1993
16:41to the wreck of the Lusitania
16:43in an attempt to discover
16:45the reason for the second explosion.
16:56Was Lusitania carrying
16:58explosives,
16:58as the Germans claimed,
16:59or was there another explanation?
17:05Rather than contraband,
17:07Ballard found evidence
17:08to suggest the torpedo
17:09hit a near-empty fuel bunker
17:11and ignited highly combustible coal dust.
17:15So I think Ballard
17:16has got it about right
17:17and that it was
17:18a secondary explosion
17:19of a mixture of coal dust
17:22which blew the side out of the ship
17:23and that's why she went down
17:24so quickly.
17:31Both sides used the incident
17:32for propaganda
17:33at home and abroad.
17:37A medal struck in Germany
17:38celebrating the sinking
17:39of the so-called blockade runner
17:41caused a furor in Britain.
17:43The medal was not printed
17:45by the German government
17:46but it was here
17:47printed by a private man
17:49in Munich
17:50and one of these
17:51of course
17:52or several of these
17:53also came to England
17:54and in England
17:55the propaganda was made.
17:56they took the medal
17:58reprinted it
17:58and brought it
17:59on the people
18:00and said that's the way
18:01as Germany reacts
18:03on the thing of the Lusitania.
18:09The final moments
18:10of Lusitania
18:11were re-enacted
18:12before movie cameras
18:13in a duck pond
18:14on London's Wimbledon Common.
18:17Presented in Newsreel cinemas
18:19as actual footage
18:20of the disaster
18:21the film was designed
18:22to fuel
18:23international hatred
18:24of Germany.
18:26Indeed
18:28Winston Churchill
18:29seemed to be looking
18:30for just such an incident
18:31to encourage
18:32neutral America
18:33into the war.
18:39In top secret correspondence
18:41written months earlier
18:42Churchill stressed
18:44the importance
18:45of attracting
18:45neutral shipping
18:46to British shores
18:47in the hope
18:48of embroiling the US
18:49in the war with Germany.
18:53He stressed Britain's need
18:55for the ocean trade
18:56the more the better
18:57he said
18:58but if some of it
19:00gets into trouble
19:01better still.
19:15Churchill's macabre wish
19:16came true
19:17but at the cost
19:18of over a thousand
19:19innocent lives.
19:22For its part
19:24Germany had unwittingly
19:25fallen into Churchill's trap
19:27and offered the world
19:28its first terrible vision
19:30of total war.
19:33And that in a sense
19:34set the tone
19:36for the world
19:37that after a hundred years
19:38almost
19:38of the Congress of Vienna
19:40to the sinking
19:41of the Lusitania
19:41that civilians
19:43were not safe.
19:44There was no respect
19:45for civilian traffic
19:46as opposed to
19:48naval or war traffic.
19:50That Lusitania
19:51was one of the first
19:52cases
19:53of modern
19:55total war.
19:57A terrible thing
19:58of course.
20:04The Lusitania incident
20:06dramatically changed
20:07United States'
20:08attitudes towards Germany.
20:10But the American
20:12president stepped away
20:13from declaring war.
20:16Instead he sent
20:17a damning protest
20:18to the Kaiser
20:19warning that
20:20further incidents
20:21would not be tolerated
20:22by his government.
20:28American passenger ships
20:29would now sail
20:30the Atlantic
20:30with guns mounted
20:31to fend off
20:32any overzealous
20:33U-boat captain.
20:33But the attacks
20:41continued
20:42and every American
20:44ship that limped
20:45into port
20:45hauled by torpedoes
20:47or wrecked
20:47by gunfire
20:48further pressured
20:49the U.S. president.
20:52Finally
20:53on April 6,
20:541917
20:55after two years
20:56of provocation
20:57the United States
20:58Congress voted
20:59to declare war
21:00on Germany.
21:03Across America
21:08young men rallied
21:09to the call
21:10to arms.
21:12The American
21:12expeditionary force
21:13would offer
21:14a fresh vitality
21:15to the exhausted
21:16Allied battalions
21:17bogged down
21:18in the mud
21:18and misery
21:19of Europe.
21:21But how to get
21:22them there?
21:23The answer
21:24dozens of German
21:26passenger liners
21:26tied up
21:27in U.S. ports.
21:30Indeed
21:31all the German
21:32liners
21:32were immediately
21:33interned
21:34at the declaration
21:34of war.
21:36They were to be
21:37transformed
21:37from passenger ships
21:39to American
21:39troop ships.
21:42Before they went
21:43ashore
21:43some German
21:44crews scuttled
21:45or sabotaged
21:46their ships
21:47rather than
21:47give their new
21:48enemy any advantage.
21:53To clear a path
21:54for the troopers
21:55on the Atlantic
21:55U.S. and British
21:57submarine chasers
21:58and blimps
21:58made an all-out
21:59assault
22:00on the elusive
22:00German U-boats.
22:02along the eastern
22:14seaboard of America
22:15bound for France
22:16were shiploads of troops
22:17fresh to war
22:18and high in morale.
22:21Men full of confidence
22:23in the
22:23we'll soon finish this off
22:25kind of spirit.
22:26when crowds
22:30at a French port
22:31cheered the arrival
22:32of General Pershing
22:33the American
22:33commander-in-chief
22:34the Germans
22:35could no longer
22:36boast that no
22:36American soldier
22:37would ever
22:37set foot
22:38on the soil
22:39of Europe
22:39for now the
22:40first was
22:41setting foot
22:41and so were
22:42thousands more
22:43of his fellow
22:43countrymen.
22:44over the coming
22:49months
22:49nearly 2 million
22:50soldiers
22:51would cross
22:52the perilous
22:52Atlantic
22:53on converted
22:53liners.
22:55It was the
22:56largest seaborne
22:56transportation
22:57of troops
22:58in history
22:58and certainly
23:00the most dangerous.
23:06By the summer
23:07of 1918
23:08American soldiers
23:09had joined
23:10a massive
23:10counter-offensive
23:11that would
23:12bring an end
23:12to the war.
23:17In the Argonne
23:18the stars
23:19and stripes
23:19rose from the ground
23:20and the promise
23:21behind all that
23:22training and build-up
23:23of American strength
23:24was fulfilled.
23:27So then
23:27it was British,
23:29French,
23:29American,
23:30Australian,
23:31New Zealand,
23:32Canadian
23:32and South African
23:34together sweeping
23:35the grave
23:35from the field.
23:40On the 11th
23:50of November
23:501918
23:51the battlefields
23:53of Europe
23:53fell silent
23:54for the first
23:54time in four years.
24:10at war's end
24:14hundreds of
24:15overcrowded troopers
24:15and hospital ships
24:16made for home.
24:21The Atlantic crossing
24:22of a week or two
24:23was bearable
24:24but the two-month
24:27voyage to Australia
24:28and New Zealand
24:29left many wondering
24:30if they'd ever
24:31reach home at all.
24:40homecomings
24:41to New York
24:42drew enormous crowds.
24:47The ex-German
24:48liner Waterland
24:50renamed the Leviathan
24:51had transported
24:52over 110,000
24:54troops to Europe.
24:56On one
24:56extraordinary crossing
24:57she carried
24:58more than 14,000
25:00people
25:00at the time
25:01the greatest
25:02number of passengers
25:03to travel
25:03on a ship
25:04ever recorded.
25:05In the war
25:10to end all wars
25:11the liners
25:12had a tremendous
25:12impact.
25:14Their capacity
25:15to move entire
25:16armies from
25:17continent to
25:18continent
25:18was instrumental
25:19in globalising
25:20the war
25:21and shifting
25:22the balance
25:22of power
25:23to the Allies.
25:26Indeed
25:26the loss
25:27of almost
25:27their entire
25:28fleet of
25:28high-speed liners
25:29to the Americans
25:30had proved
25:31disastrous
25:32for Germany.
25:35perhaps if
25:39Germany
25:39hadn't sung
25:40Lusitania
25:41and then
25:42continued
25:42her premeditated
25:43slaughter
25:43on the high seas
25:44America may have
25:46slumbered
25:47in neutrality
25:47and the war
25:49may have had
25:49a very different
25:50outcome.
25:53Instead
25:54the United States
25:55emerged
25:56as the world's
25:57most powerful
25:57nation.
25:58in 1919
26:05the victors
26:06met in Paris
26:07to decide
26:08on the fate
26:08of Germany.
26:12Squeeze Germany
26:14until the pips
26:15squeak
26:15so preached
26:16the war leaders
26:17men like
26:18Diaz of Italy
26:19Beatty of Britain
26:20Pershing of America
26:21and Foch of France.
26:23With 13 million
26:26tons of
26:27Allied merchant
26:27shipping lost
26:28now was the
26:29time to
26:30settle the score.
26:33The three giants
26:34of the Hamburg
26:35America line
26:35were handed over
26:36to their
26:37American
26:37and British
26:38competitors.
26:40Having lost
26:4011 liners
26:41in the war
26:42Cunard received
26:43Imperator
26:44and renamed
26:45her
26:45Berengaria.
26:47Leviathan
26:48the ex
26:49Vaterland
26:49went into
26:50service for
26:51the United
26:51States line.
26:53and the
26:54world's
26:55largest liner
26:55Bismarck
26:56was taken
26:57over by
26:57the White
26:58Star line
26:58and renamed
27:00Majestic.
27:03Albert
27:04Ballen
27:04the director
27:05of the
27:06Hamburg
27:06America line
27:07as if
27:08foreseeing
27:08the inevitable
27:09loss of his
27:09great fleet
27:10took an
27:11overdose of
27:11sleeping pills
27:12two days
27:13before the
27:13armistice.
27:23war.
27:24With much
27:26of Europe
27:27devastated
27:27by the war
27:28a tidal wave
27:29of refugees
27:30many facing
27:31political
27:31and religious
27:32persecution
27:33went in
27:34search of
27:34a new
27:34life
27:35elsewhere.
27:38Hopeful
27:39immigrants
27:39took one-way
27:40passage on
27:41steamers bound
27:42for Canada
27:42South America
27:43Australia
27:44and New Zealand
27:45but for the
27:48overwhelming
27:48majority
27:48the destination
27:50was
27:51America.
27:54We left
27:54from Hamburg
27:55ship's name
27:58was Reliance.
27:59The name of the
28:00ship was the
28:00SS Sablund
28:02and I think
28:03it was called
28:04the Cameronia.
28:12In the early
28:13post-war years
28:14as many as
28:1530,000 immigrants
28:16crossed the
28:17Atlantic by
28:17liner each
28:18week.
28:19I remember
28:20hordes of
28:21people.
28:23There were
28:23more people
28:23on that boat
28:24than I thought.
28:29There was
28:29six of us
28:30I'm sorry
28:32seven.
28:32Six children
28:33and my mother
28:34were all
28:34in one room.
28:35We lived
28:36in the
28:37lowest part
28:38of the ship
28:38and the whole
28:39way down
28:39the hold
28:40on a
28:41three-tier
28:42as I remember
28:43three-tier
28:43high
28:44beds.
28:47In the first
28:47two, three days
28:48whoever was
28:49on the bottom
28:49was out of luck.
28:51My mother
28:52and my sister
28:53and I
28:53were seasick
28:55all the three
28:56weeks we were
28:57on that boat.
28:59The
28:59food
29:01was excellent.
29:02It was good food.
29:03Food was horrible.
29:05As I know,
29:06my mother
29:06was a terrific
29:07cook.
29:09But as far
29:10as I was concerned,
29:11it was
29:11part of like
29:12adventure,
29:13especially when
29:14during the day
29:14when you went
29:15up the steps
29:16and went out
29:16on the deck
29:17and looked out
29:17and saw that
29:18big expanse of
29:19ocean.
29:21It was impressive.
29:22of course,
29:36everybody got excited
29:38when you could see
29:52the skyline.
29:54All the people
29:55rushed up on deck,
29:57but we felt
29:58that the ship
29:58was going to roll
29:59over because all
30:01the passengers
30:02were on one side
30:02of the ship.
30:04But it was just
30:05fabulous.
30:06We were all
30:07waiting for the
30:08woman to see
30:10the Statue of Liberty
30:10because that was
30:11a sign we are
30:12now here.
30:20Immigrants
30:20travelling in
30:21first and second
30:22class were
30:23processed by
30:23officials on
30:24board and all
30:25being in order
30:26disembarked at
30:27the shipping
30:27line's terminal.
30:29But for steerage
30:30passengers,
30:31the journey was
30:32far from over.
30:33They were ferried
30:35to Ellis Island
30:36in the shadow
30:36of the Statue of Liberty.
30:44With its
30:45grandiose architecture,
30:46Ellis Island
30:46represented a gateway
30:48of both hope
30:49and fear
30:49for the immigrants.
30:54Here,
30:54they would face
30:55hours,
30:56sometimes even
30:56days,
30:57of rigorous
30:57processing
30:58and questioning.
31:01There was
31:01one large room
31:02and we were all
31:03in one large
31:04room.
31:04And I remember,
31:05first of all,
31:06they took all
31:06our clothing
31:07and washed
31:08it and cleaned
31:09it.
31:09And we had a
31:10chance to shower
31:11and clean
31:11ourselves.
31:12And we had
31:13the physical
31:14examinations.
31:16For all new
31:16arrivals,
31:17there is a medical
31:18examination to weed
31:19out those with
31:20serious illnesses
31:21and dangerous
31:22diseases.
31:24The real concern
31:25was, my mother
31:26said, if you go,
31:27when you come to the,
31:28we're coming to the
31:29medical department,
31:30when you get
31:31to the medical
31:32department,
31:32don't call
31:33for anything
31:33like that.
31:35And being
31:36examined,
31:36especially my
31:37hair,
31:38they were very
31:39careful about
31:41not letting
31:41people in
31:42with lice.
31:45Many immigrants
31:46were detained
31:47at the island's
31:48hospital for weeks
31:49and months
31:49at a time
31:50for observation
31:51or treatment,
31:52the cost of which
31:53was borne by
31:54the shipping line.
31:55Anyone ruled
31:56physically or
31:57mentally unfit
31:57would be handed
31:58back to the line
31:59for deportation.
32:01I was pulled
32:02out on a physical
32:04and we had to
32:05stay an extra
32:06night overnight.
32:07It had to be
32:07re-examined.
32:09And I was just
32:10fearful that I
32:12would be sent
32:13back.
32:15To this day,
32:16I always feel
32:16that if it was
32:17up to that I
32:18would have gone
32:18back, my family
32:19would have stayed
32:20here.
32:21And that was
32:22my fear.
32:23I was 11 years
32:25old.
32:27People turned
32:28away and walking
32:29away crying,
32:30bitter tears,
32:31but it obviously
32:32didn't help them
32:32because they
32:33walked away
32:33with an officer
32:34with them.
32:36And we were
32:37allowed to go
32:37through this
32:38door and they
32:38had to go
32:38through that
32:39door.
32:42More than
32:43100 million
32:43people today can
32:45trace their
32:45ancestry to that
32:46first, often
32:48fearful step
32:48onto American
32:49soil at Ellis
32:50Island.
32:51And before that,
32:53an often
32:53unforgettable passage
32:54by ocean liner.
32:56In earlier
32:57years, up
32:57until the
32:58early 20s,
32:5918 million
32:59people came
33:01across the
33:01Atlantic, all
33:02of them by
33:02sea, and most
33:04of them stopping
33:04at Ellis Island
33:05as part of the
33:06great process.
33:06It was the
33:07greatest movement
33:08the world has
33:08ever seen of
33:09people from one
33:10continent to
33:10another, from
33:11the old world
33:12to the new.
33:13You know, the
33:13creation of the
33:14American dream.
33:15And without the
33:15big superliners,
33:17there wouldn't
33:17have been any
33:17American dream.
33:20I don't think
33:21I'll ever forget
33:21it because that was
33:23one of the most
33:23important aspects
33:25of my life.
33:26Being aboard ship
33:27and knowing
33:28my destination.
33:31We look forward
33:32to being Americans.
33:35Among the lucky
33:36people, I was
33:37one of the luckiest.
33:40Freedom.
33:42Opportunity,
33:43freedom, which
33:44encompasses every
33:45possible definition
33:46of that word.
33:48I reflect upon
33:50it all the time
33:51because to us,
33:53it was a matter
33:55of life or death
33:56because all my
33:59mother's family
34:00and there must
34:02have been over
34:03a hundred people
34:04in that small
34:05town, they all
34:07perished and we
34:10lived because of
34:12that journey.
34:13according to F.
34:39Scott Fitzgerald,
34:39the 1920s, all
34:41gods were dead,
34:42all wars were
34:43fought and all
34:44faiths shaken.
34:46The post-war world
34:47was going to be
34:48different and how.
34:51But front row
34:52center on the
34:53American political
34:53stage, two new
34:55laws that threatened
34:56the future for the
34:57big transatlantic
34:58liners.
35:00A bill called
35:01the Emergency
35:01Quoter Act finally
35:03pulled down the
35:04curtain on unrestricted
35:05immigration to the
35:06United States and
35:08Prohibition outlawing
35:10the manufacture and
35:11sale of alcohol
35:12across the country.
35:14And that meant
35:14American liners
35:15could not offer one
35:16of the most wonderful
35:18aspects of an ocean
35:19voyage, the long
35:20bars, you know,
35:21that little nip in
35:22the morning and the
35:23little nip after lunch
35:24and the brandies and
35:24all that kind of stuff.
35:25So the foreign lines
35:26really were able to
35:27capitalize on this.
35:28To break the
35:34alcohol embargo,
35:36some American lines
35:37registered their
35:37ships elsewhere and
35:39capitalized on thirsty
35:41Americans by offering
35:42them booze cruisers
35:43to nowhere.
35:46Then a number of
35:47enterprising passenger
35:48agents came up with
35:50a novel idea at the
35:51same time.
35:54Tourism.
35:58Aimed at middle-class
36:00Americans, particularly
36:01the smart set, smaller
36:03ships would set sail to
36:04some exotic destination
36:06and back for no more
36:08important purpose than
36:09having a good time.
36:14Until the 1920s, there
36:16was no better place to
36:17see the class system at
36:19work than on an ocean
36:20liner.
36:22But now the age of
36:23mass tourism was here
36:24and ship life became a
36:26democracy of romance and
36:28pleasure where no one was
36:30better than anyone else.
36:43And the grand experiment
36:44would have a revolutionary
36:46outcome.
36:47The one-class ship.
36:50According to a New York
36:51Times critic, the new
36:52trend spelled the end of
36:53the class system on the
36:55high seas.
36:58It was an overreaction.
37:03But even the large and
37:05conservative British lines,
37:06Cunard and White Star,
37:08were forced by economic
37:09necessity to move with the
37:11times.
37:12The dramatic drop in
37:14immigration to America saw
37:15steerage and third-class
37:17quarters drop from most
37:18ships and improve to
37:20tourist class or tourist
37:22cabin.
37:22Cheap tickets to Europe
37:25attracted a growing number
37:26of ordinary middle-class
37:27Americans, teachers,
37:29students and office workers.
37:32For some, it was a chance to
37:34visit the historic sites of
37:35the Old World.
37:37For others, the nightlife
37:39they'd heard so much about
37:40from the doughboys when on
37:41leave in Paris.
37:42Despite the growth in
37:51tourism, many of the
37:52superliners were still far
37:53less profitable than in
37:55the days of mass
37:56immigration to America.
38:00Built pre-war, they were
38:01now becoming expensive to
38:03run and maintain.
38:06All the lines operating on
38:07the North Atlantic were
38:08forced to rethink their
38:09strategy.
38:10Both White Star and
38:14Cunard decided to rebuild
38:16their fleets with more
38:17modest-sized ships.
38:19At 20,000 rather than 60,000
38:22tons, they would be easier
38:23to fill and far more
38:25economic to run.
38:27The German lines were also
38:30rebuilding their fleets with
38:31smaller vessels.
38:32With ships like the 20,000
38:34ton Albert Ballern, Hamburg
38:36America was on its way to
38:38becoming the largest and
38:39most profitable line of the
38:40decade.
38:44But just as the days of the
38:46large, high-speed luxury
38:48liner appeared to be
38:49numbered, in 1927, the
38:53French line launched a
38:54stunning new flagship, the
38:56Ile de France.
38:58At over 43,000 tons, she was
39:01the largest ship built since the
39:03war.
39:10The Ile de France was to
39:11bring a new era for the
39:13superliner.
39:15Not with her size or speed, but
39:18for her revolutionary interior
39:19design.
39:20Her designers had created a
39:34modern, sumptuous, and uniquely
39:36ocean liner style that would take
39:38the world by storm.
39:40Decoratively, prior to the First
39:42World War, the liners were
39:43copying land-side establishments,
39:45manor houses, castles, even
39:48Moorish, Arabian, Egyptian
39:50concoctions.
39:52And then suddenly, in 1927,
39:54comes a liner that breaks away
39:55from it completely, the
39:57beginning of Art Deco on the
39:58high seas.
39:59In the coming decade, the Ile de
40:18France would carry more first-
40:20class passengers than any ship
40:21afloat.
40:25It was Americans who
40:26particularly fell under her spell,
40:28from movie stars to
40:30intellectuals.
40:32And a new breed of class-
40:34conscious American
40:35businessmen cashed in their
40:37stocks for a first-class ticket
40:38to France, just to be seen in
40:41the presence of Europe's social
40:42elite.
40:45It was like walking into the
40:47fanciest hotel you'd ever been
40:49in your life.
40:50I can remember coming on deck and
40:53seeing as far as the eye could see
40:55on this boat deck.
40:56All the ship's stewards lined out
40:58there, with their little pillboxes,
41:00hats on, their red and blue jackets,
41:02standing inspection like they were
41:04the Royal Marines.
41:06And they had to pass that
41:07inspection.
41:10Anybody who didn't have his hair cut,
41:12his gloves were dirty, his pants
41:14weren't creased, or there wasn't a
41:15shine on his shoes, he was immediately
41:17sent down below.
41:18The Ile de France was a floating
41:22showcase of the best of everything
41:24French.
41:26A boulevard at sea, a destination in
41:30itself.
41:30In John Brennan's classic, The Sway of the
41:36Grand Saloon, the author wrote,
41:39In those years to come, evenings on the
41:42Ile de France may be remembered for
41:43everything and anything, except that
41:46they were spent in the middle of the
41:47ocean.
41:49The ocean was as incidental as the
41:51street that runs by a hotel.
41:54The ship, as a place, had become a
41:56reality.
42:04But in the late 1920s, an ocean voyage
42:08was fast becoming a luxury in which
42:10fewer and fewer people could indulge.
42:13The economic recession, which would
42:15soon turn to depression with the
42:17Wall Street crash, threatened, as
42:19never before, the future of
42:20passenger lines.
42:21But a new wave of nationalism was
42:28sweeping across Europe.
42:31And like the heady pre-war days, rival
42:34nations still coveted the prestige of
42:36owning one of the world's finest ocean
42:38liners as a symbol of their maritime
42:40might.
42:41In 1928, Edna Mussolini, the daughter of
42:51the Italian dictator, launched the largest
42:54Italian liner built to date.
42:58At more than 32,000 tons, the Augustus was
43:02the largest diesel-powered liner of her
43:04time.
43:05Then, in 1929, it was Germany that sparked a new
43:14superliner race with two 50,000-tonne giants,
43:18Bremen and Europa.
43:21They were intended to be, from the very
43:24beginning, the greatest ships in the world.
43:27They introduced streamlining to ocean liners.
43:31And the superstructure forward was
43:34streamlined, it was rounded.
43:37Instead of great, tall, thin stacks like
43:39on the older vessels, they had very low,
43:43low, low, low stacks, stacks which were
43:45much too low.
43:46They had to be raised later on.
43:50Both Bremen and Europa slashed days off
43:53Mauritania's transatlantic record set two
43:55decades earlier.
43:57No longer humbled by war, Germany was
44:00back in the superliner business, and Britain
44:03had lost, yet again, the blue ribbon to her
44:06greatest maritime rival.
44:12But the British, in the shape of Cunard, would
44:16not give up the race.
44:18In the late 20s, they approached Glasgow shipbuilders
44:21John Brown to design two express liners for a new
44:25weekly service from Southampton to New York.
44:27The German at that time was adamant that there was no
44:32notion of building either the biggest ship or the
44:36fastest ship.
44:37All he wanted was a ship that would satisfy this
44:41requirement for a two-ship service.
44:48Despite Cunard's brief, the shipbuilders soon realised that to achieve a weekly schedule
44:54with only two vessels, the liners would need to be bigger and faster than ever before.
45:01These liners would need to be giants.
45:07In late December 1930, construction began on the first of the yet unnamed vessels.
45:13Hull 534, as she was known, captured the imagination of the British people.
45:21At 80,000 tonnes, she was to be the largest ship ever built and certainly the fastest.
45:29But at the same time, across the English Channel, the French were building a liner of almost the
45:34the same size and potential speed, Normandy.
45:39She would hopefully follow in the wake of the stunning success of Ile de France.
45:46The French and the British were now locked in an extraordinary race to be the first to challenge
45:51their German rivals for the Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic.
45:5412 months later, the worsening economic situation in Britain forced Cunard to halt construction
46:06of their ship.
46:07Over three and a half thousand men were laid off.
46:11And Hull 534, 80% complete, was left to rust.
46:16Britain was out of the race.
46:21Italian shipping lines were also facing ruin.
46:24But in 1932, Mussolini stepped in and forced the merger of his country's three largest lines
46:33to form the megalithic Italia line.
46:38Within the first year, Italia would launch two brilliant superliners into transatlantic service.
46:45The first, the 50,000 tonne Rex.
46:54She was a greyhound.
46:58Her designers far more concerned about mechanics than luxurious interiors.
47:05Averaging 28 knots across the Atlantic, Rex beat her German competitors' best time to New York
47:11by almost four hours.
47:12and became the first Italian liner to win the coveted Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic.
47:25Her running mate, Comte de Savoie, was fast but not a record-breaker.
47:29She became renowned for her stabilizing equipment, an attempt to combat the eternal problem of seasickness.
47:37Then, in late October 1932, the French delivered, to an expectant world, their most dazzling creation, Normandy.
47:51Normandy.
47:56Rather than her stalled Cunard competitor, Normandy would acquire the mantle as the first 80,000 tonne liner.
48:05And at over 1,000 feet in length, the longest ever constructed.
48:08Underwritten by the French government, Normandy was designed to impress upon the world that France was recovering from the tough economic times.
48:21But Normandy was far more than a show pony.
48:28She was to influence ocean liner design for decades to come.
48:35Her dramatic, clipper-like bow and clean, sweeping superstructure
48:40left her contemporaries looking staid and cluttered by comparison.
48:44He's quintessentially, I think, THE ocean liner.
48:49She was fast, she was smart, she was chic.
48:56Her interiors were extraordinary, the best that French art and artists could devise.
49:02And she was just exquisite.
49:04It was just exquisite.
49:05It was just exquisite.
49:06She'd also explained, she says.
49:07She's become rich, she was rich.
49:08You've beenadata back in her own.
49:09She raised her own.
49:10She's become rich.
49:11Her, she's poor.
49:12She was rich as a unicorn.
49:13She's not only white earth, she's not all.
49:14She's very rich.
49:15She's very rich.
49:16She's very rich.
49:17She's very rich.
49:18She really is.
49:19She's very rich.
49:20She never was rich.
49:21She created her own.
49:22She's very rich.
49:23She's very rich.
49:24She's very rich.
49:25I think that it was sophisticated, elegant, and just dreamlike almost in a way.
49:41I think a lot of ship enthusiasts would agree that that perhaps might have been the most beautiful ship inside and out.
49:49It was truly the ship of state. You can see that it was just more than trying to build a nice ship for passengers.
50:01This was France, and they were proud of it, and, well, they should have been proud of it.
50:07Then, in 1934, after two lost years, the British government forced the merger of Cunard and White Star and provided much-needed finance for work to begin again on Hull 534.
50:27Just look at the giant 534 and see some of the things that make her the wondership of the age.
50:33She represents the supreme triumph of marine architecture and engineering.
50:37The houses of Parliament will be completely hidden where it's possible to put this monster liner in front of them.
50:43The interest was fantastic.
50:45They talk about her, you know, there was some sort of miracle, the coming of the Lord or something like that,
50:51because it was sort of the sign, the end of the Depression.
50:54In less than six months, an army of workers brought back to life the greatest British engineering triumph of its time.
51:05A triumph whose name would become synonymous forever with ocean travel.
51:10I am happy to name this ship the Queen Mary.
51:24At the time of her launch, the Queen Mary was at least a year behind her French rival, Normandy.
51:34Already, the German and Italian ships had left Britain in their wake,
51:38and no one had any doubt France had its sights on the blue ribbon of the Atlantic.
51:43When the Queen Mary took to the water, no British ship in history seemed so important to reviving the nation's prestige.
51:53A duel was about to begin.
51:55A duel between the two biggest ships the world had ever seen.
51:58A duel between the One who does names his Children's Pakistan
52:00and other than the two biggest ships the world had ever seen.
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