Capt. William Thomas Turner: The Lusitania Resource

Captain WILLIAM THOMAS TURNER, R. N. R.

Captain Turner. Click for full image.
image credit: Mike Poirier/Daily Mirror, 24 June 1933.

A younger Turner.
Image credit: Mike Poirier.

Captain William Turner, 58, was commander of the Lusitania. Nicknamed "Bowler Bill," William Turner was born in 1856 to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Turner in Everton, England, near Liverpool. William's father was a Liverpool sea captain, his mother was the daughter of a respectable cotton mill owner. Will's parents wanted him to be "respectable" and become a minister, but refusing to become a "devil dodger," he managed to persuade his parent to let him go to sea at the age of eight as cabin boy of the bark Grasmere. When the Grasmere was wrecked in a gale off the northern coast of Ireland, Will refused offers of "strong arms" and swam through the stormy seas to shore all by himself.

Turner's next ship was the clipper White Star [Is this the same White Star that became the namesake of the line that operated the Titanic and her sisters?]. As a deckboy, he sailed around the Cape of Good Hope on his first voyage. When the White Star reached the Guanape Islands in 1869, who else would he just happen to meet there other than his own father, commander of the sailing ship Queen of the Nations.

For the next year, young Will Turner sailed with his father. During a gale, the Queen of the Nations lost her sails and sprang a leak off the Cape of Good Hope. Will's father threw the cargo overboard in order to save the ship and the Queen limped into the Falkland Islands for repairs.

Will Turner also served on the War Spirit where many of the crew died of yellow fever. The ship's deck load was washed overboard in a trip outbound from St. John, New Brunswick, Canada, and the ship became waterlogged. The War Spirit drifted for four days before being rescued by a steamer and towed to a Spanish port.

Other fullriggers that Turner served on included Duncraig, Royal Alfred, Prince Frederick, Thunderbolt, and Royal George. William boasted that he was the quickest man on any sailing ship, "except for a Greek I once met. And he must have had a monkey for a not very remote ancestor."

Turner always stuck to his original to become a captain, and when he wasn't at sea he was reading about the oceans and how to navigate them. Turner was also fond of storytelling. He told of an experience while a cabin boy scrubbing out the captain's cabin, he had helped himself to a slice of bread and butter which had been laying on the table. He soon heard the captain coming and slapped the bread, butter-side-up, on the bottom of the table and thus escaped detection.

As a second mate on the Thunderbolt, Turner had been swept overboard on the way to Calcutta, India fishing for dolphins. The first mate threw him a lifebuoy which kept Turner afloat for the next hour and twenty minutes it took for the Thunderbolt to reset her sails and come to his rescue in the shark-infested waters. Climbing back on the ship, the Thunderbolt's captain told Turner, "Well, you can come aboard and go to your bunk for three days . . .. Empty your watch before you turn in . . . or the water may rust the works."

Turner traveled around the world many times, and even though his first love was sail, the fact was the future of ships was in steam. Turner briefly served as junior officer on the Inman liner Leyland before joining Cunard in 1878 as third officer aboard the Cherbourg, which ran in the Mediterranean. Turner was twenty-two at the time. One time while steaming out of Liverpool's Huskisson Dock in heavy fog, the Cherbourg collided with and sank a barque, drowning the pilot and four of the crew. Turner promptly jumped into a boat and saved a man and a boy from the barque's cross tree.

Upon learning that Cunard would not make a man without a previous command a captain, Turner briefly returned to sail as captain of the clipper Star of the East. Cunard welcomed Turner back in 1883, after receiving "glowing testimonials" from the owners of the vessel (Hoehling/Hoehling, 66). In February of 1885, Turner jumped into Liverpool's Alexandra Dock to save a boy who had fallen in the water. For his heroic action, Turner was awarded the Humane Society's silver medal.

As chief officer of the Umbria, he helped carry hundreds of troops safely to South Africa during the Boer War. For that he was awarded the Transport Medal. Finally in 1903 at the age of forty-seven, William Turner received his own Cunarder, the Aleppo. He knew the ship well, as he had served on her as third officer before. Promotions came quickly after that, and Turner went on the command the Carpathia, Ivernia, Caronia, and others. Cunard considered Turner to be the fastest, safest, and most skilled when it came to docking ships. His salary came in at £1000 a year.

In 1907 William Turner succeeded Captain Jim Watt as commander of the Lusitania. Turner was promoted to Commodore of the Cunard Line and on 16 November 1907 he commanded the Mauretania, the Lusitania's sister ship, on her maiden voyage. With the Cunard sisters Turner set new speed records. The Mauretania's 1909 record of an average speed of 26.06 knots held undisputed for twenty years.

While captaining the Mauretania in 1912, Turner saved the crew of the burning steamer West Point and was awarded the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society's Medal.

image credit: Mike Poirier.

On 30 May 1914, Turner commanded of Cunard's newest and largest, the RMS Aquitania, on her maiden voyage. Turner became one of the most famous captains on the North Atlantic, and loved by his crew despite, or perhaps because, of his being a strict disciplinarian. Even so, Turner's family life was not as perfect as his record. Relations with his wife had deteriorated beyond repair and he never spoke of his marriage. The marriage, however, did produce two sons. The elder, Percy, was "never happy unless mixed up in a fight" had gone to sea in the Merchant Marine, but he had given that up and became involved with Huerta's rebellion in Mexico. Percy narrowly escaped "being shot against a brick wall." His younger son Norman was an officer with the Royal Regiment of Artillery, fighting somewhere in France.

While Turner and his wife lived apart, the sea captain hired a housekeeper by the name of Mabel Every. They had met in 1908 when Mabel was in her early twenties. Mabel was the youngest of seven children born to a one-time captain of the Indian Army and governor of Gibraltar and Dartmoor Prison. Mabel's mother had died soon after giving birth to Mabel. Mabel became a student nurse with a propensity for hijinks, and pulled a brief stint as a nurse before arriving in Liverpool to look after Captain Turner. With Mabel, Turner was now enjoying his domestic life.

When war broke out, Mauretania and Aquitania were requisitioned for war duty. The Lusitania was taken to Halifax to undergo a conversion to auxiliary cruiser, but the operating costs of a ship such as the Cunard's speed sisters were too uneconomical. The Mauretania and Aquitania became troop transports instead whereas the Lusitania was reinstated in the North Atlantic service.

Early in 1915, Turner was in command of the Transylvania off the Irish Coast. He received an order to divert to Queenstown because three British ships had been sunk by German submarines the previous day. Calming the passengers and after reaching Liverpool safely, Turner remarked, "I fooled them that time."

"Fairweather" Dow, then captain of the Lusitania, felt the strain of war get to his nerves, and so Cunard chairman Sir Alfred Booth re-assigned Turner to the Lusitania for the ship's 101st voyage.

On 16 April 1915, the Admiralty issued this memo:

War experience has shown that fast steamers can considerably reduce the chance of successful surprise submarine attacks by zigzagging -- that is to say, altering the course at short and irregular intervals, say in ten minutes to half an hour. This course is almost invariably adopted by warships when cruising in an area known to be infested with submarines. The underwater speed of a submarine is very slow and it is exceedingly difficult for her to get into position to deliver an attack unless she can observe and predict the course of the ship attacked.

In New York, Captain Turner testified for Judge Julius Mayer to give his insight on the Titanic disaster. When asked if he learned anything from the sinking, Turner said that he had not and that such a disaster "will happen again." Turner then called at the custom house where he swore that the single-page cargo manifest there was an honest and complete list of all goods being shipped aboard the Lusitania. The supplimentary manifest, which was to be presented after departure to include last minute changes, ran 24 pages long. While in New York, Turner's favorite restaurant was Lüchow's, which was near Cunard's 14th Street pier and owned and operated by August Lüchow, a German immigrant from Hanover.

Turner had reason to be concerned of his crew on the voyage home. Several men who would normally working the ship were serving in the Royal Navy. Those who weren't took advantage of the Lusitania's transatlantic crossings and jumped ship once reaching America to avoid conscription. As for the submarine threat, Turner was sure that even with the reduced speed that the Lusitania would have to cross because of the shortage of manpower, that he could outdistance any submarine out to get his ship. In any case, Turner promised that he would take "every precaution."

While waiting for the Cameronia passengers to transfer, Turner's niece, actress Mercedes Desmore, came to visit him onboard the Lusitania. Chief Officer Piper had ordered the gangway raised for casting off when Turner ordered him to put it back down. Mercedes was still aboard and needed to get back ashore.

Captain Turner and his niece, Mercedes
Desmore. The New York Times, 8 May 1915.

As captain, Turner was not inclined to socialize with the passengers. He saw socialization as being a chore and often let Staff Captain John Anderson handle the passengers. Turner, however, did make an appearance at the first dinner in saloon class and played the part of the host. Anderson informed Turner of the German stowaways, but Turner did not consider them to be more than the usual nuisance.

Turner attended the lifeboat drill on Sunday afternoon. Only the crew attended the jumping in and out of lifeboats #13 and #14. Chief Officer John P. Piper reported that everything had been carried out properly. There did not seem to be any need to distress the passengers about needing to attend to the lifeboats. That night, Chief Engineer Archibald Bryce reminded Turner at dinner that Lord Kitchener had predicted that the war would really start in May.

On Monday, 3 May, saloon class passenger George Kessler burst into Turner's day room to ask about preparations made due to the "torpedo scare."

"Then I have a suggestion," Kessler said, "I think it would be an excellent idea if each passenger was given a ticket listing the number of the boat he should make for, in case, you know, anything untoward happens."

Turner only gave the impression of being annoyed and replied firmly, "The company has already considered such a suggestion, Mr. Kessler. It was made to them after the Titanic disaster, but they considered it would not be practicable."

Kessler was not satisfied with Turner's answer and did not hesitate to say so. Turner only responded with, "But Mr. Kessler, you must understand that I could not possibly act on your advice unless I had received authority."

On Wednesday, a similar complaint came from second cabin passenger Professor Ian Holbourn. Holbourn had thought it important that all passengers know how to put on their lifebelts and what to do in case of an emergency. This action had alarmed several women passengers and so, on Tuesday, their men thought it best to insisted that Holbourn stop what he was doing. Holbourn insisted that there be a lifeboat drill, but Turner said was, "I understand, Mr. Holbourn. I shall speak to the Chief Officer about it."

Turner noticed that on Thursday noon, the Lusitania had only logged 484 nautical miles in the last twenty-four hours. Not satisfied, the captain instructed Chief Engineer Bryce to bring the Lusitania to top cruising speed under existing steam, volume, and safety conditions. Turner and Bryce could only do as much as they could with three operational boiler rooms. The lack of engineering crew due to the war had left the last boiler room cold the entire voyage. The Lusitania would not be able to make her top speed this crossing under any circumstance.

As Thursday evening was to be the last full day of the voyage, several passengers were throwing parties in their cabins. Captain Turner made a brief appearance at the party thrown by Charles Frohman, as did Staff Captain Anderson and Alfred Vanderbilt. Turner was called away early from the party as a bellboy handed him a radio message from the British Admiralty at 7:52 p.m. It read: "SUBMARINES ACTIVE OFF SOUTH COAST OF IRELAND."

Puzzled by the vagueness of the warning, Turner asked for a repetition and went back to the bridge. The request was tapped out at 7:56 p.m. and minutes later came back the reply. It was identical to the first.

That night, during the intermission of the Seamen's Charities Concert, Captain Turner addressed the audience. He told the passengers that there had been a submarine warning, but had assured them that "on entering the war zone tomorrow we shall be securely in the care of the Royal Navy . . . of course there is no need for alarm." Continuing, he added that on Friday the ship would be steaming full speed for Liverpool to make the bar on time. Finally, he warned passengers not to light their cigarettes on deck.

Turner returned to the bridge as the Lusitania continued eastward into the darkening night. At 8:30 p.m. a more specific report came through the airwaves from the Admiralty: "TO ALL BRITISH SHIPS 0005: TAKE LIVERPOOL PILOT AT BAR AND AVOID HEADLANDS. PASS HARBOURS AT FULL SPEED. STEER MID-CHANNEL COURSE. SUBMARINES OFF FASTNET."

Checking with Bryce again, the Lusitania would proceed at the full possible speed of 21 knots until fog set in. He ordered the lifeboats swung out, watertight bulkheads closed, lookouts doubled, and portholes closed and blacked out. Turner was impressed by the urgency of the "0005" message. The Admiralty repeated it seven times throughout the night and into the early morning. Turner retired into the night with instructions to be alerted of further wireless messages or if for any reason the officer of the watch was in doubt.

Friday morning dawned foggy and the Lusitania slowed down to 15 knots. Midmorning, the ship passed Fastnet Rock, but Turner noted that he "did not see it."

The fog dispersed by 11:00 a.m. and the weather was clear and calm. Turner ordered the ship's speed be increased to 18 knots and the course to remain straight so they could take their point bearings at first landfall.

At 11:25 a.m. another message came in from the Admiralty: "SUBMARINE ACTIVE IN SOUTHERN PART OF IRISH CHANNEL, LAST HEARD OF TWENTY MILES SOUTH OF CONINGBEG LIGHT VESSEL. MAKE CERTAIN LUSITANIA GETS THIS."

Ireland was sighted around noon and Turner noted that the previous day's run had only been 462 miles. Turner asked Bryce to make sure the boilers were ready for full-emergency steam should he give the order for wide-open throttles. Third Officer John Lewis was sent to check up on secured portholes below.

Yet another Admiralty dispatch reached Turner at 12:40. This one was wired through Valentia wireless in Ireland: "SUBMARINE FIVE MILES SOUTH OF CAPE CLEAR, PROCEEDING WEST WHEN SIGHTED AT 10:00 A.M."

Turner, thinking that his ship had passed Brow Head, believed to have left the submarine danger behind him. He thought that the fog had saved them. Believing that being closer to shore would be safer, Turner altered course to 67 degrees East.

Shortly after 1:00 p.m., Turner picked up landfall at Galley Head. Then he realized that the Lusitania was much farther west than previously thought. Still, he believed the submarine to be behind him and kept course on 67 degrees East. By 1:30 the Lusitania had entered what the Admiralty Charts had labeled War Area XXI. Turner, Anderson, Bryce, and other officers were puzzled by the complete lack of British patrols, cruisers, and destroyers.

At 1:40 the Lusitania came upon the Old Head of Kinsale. Turner knew where he was and remembered the Admiralty order to pass all ports, such as Queenstown, Ireland, at full speed. Turner also knew that if he followed this directive, he would arrive at Liverpool ahead of high tide, meaning circling for hours outside of Liverpool, being vulnerable to attack. In case a submarine was spotted, Turner knew to take the evasive measure of zigzagging; however, as these orders had not been clear, Turner did not think of taking these precautions before a submarine was sighted.

Turner had thought that, like previous wartime voyages, an escort ship would greet the Lusitania at this point and safely guide her to port. This time, not a single escort or auxiliary was in sight.

At 1:45 p.m., Turner changed course to 87 degrees East, putting the ship directly in line for easy pickings by the German submarine U-20.

Captain Turner was on the port side of the bridge when Second Officer Hefford relayed a message from the crow's nest: "There is a torpedo coming, sir!"

Turner looked up. The torpedo was so close now that he could see the torpedo's wake on the starboard side from all the way across the ship. Turner took one step towards the bridge when a banging sound and a tremendous explosion reeled underfoot. The time was 2:10 p.m.

Steam and water shot into the air and the Lusitania listed to starboard at once. Turner gave the order to Quartermaster Johnston, at the helm, to put the wheel hard over. Perhaps the ship was close enough to Ireland to beach her. Johnston brought the bow towards Kinsale, but then the ship kept swinging to port.

"Hard a'starboard!" Captain Turner shouted out, but the ship was not responding. The hydraulics had failed and the ship's rudder was stuck. The Lusitania would keep tracing an arc in the water. Turner then ordered the ship's engines reversed, but again, there was no response.

Turner sent Staff Captain Anderson to halt the launching of the lifeboats. Perhaps the Lusitania could still be beached. All he needed was another hour.

A woman passenger called towards the bridge, "Captain, what do you wish us to do?"

"Stay right where you are, Madam, she's all right." Turner answered reassuringly.

"Where do you get your information?" The woman asked.

"From the engine room" was all Turner could say.

Turner then went back to the commutator. He said to Johnston, "Keep your eye on her to see if she goes any further."

The commutator reading was not very encouraging. The list increased to 16, 17, 18, 19 . . .. At that moment, Chief Officer Piper shouted to Turner, "I'm going down to the fo'csle to help Hefford with the hatches -- she seems to be sinking fast by the bow! Perhaps we can slow her a bit!"

And then Piper hurried out. Now there were only Turner and Johnston left on the bridge.

"Twenty degrees to starboard!" Johnston called out.

The Lusitania continued to plunge. Soon the starboard bridge wing was submerged.

"Twenty-five degrees!" Johnston called.

Turner knew it was useless. He said to Johnston, "Save yourself."

Johnston ran off to starboard and found himself in the ocean.

Turner struggled uphill to the port side of the bridge and certainly must have realized that he soon would be a captain without a command. At that moment, he believed himself to be the last person aboard, though that was not the case. He decided that he would go down with his ship.

Pulling his cap tight on his head, Turner climbed up to the halyards so that he would not be swept away. He was staying with his ship to the very last. Upwards he climbed on the tar-drenched ropes when he saw an oar floating by. Instinctively, he made for it. Then he struck out for a nearby chair and clung onto that.

It was only when he was at a great enough distance away from the ship did he realize that he was not the last person off his ship. As the ship continued to plunge beneath he saw a mass of humanity and the rolling wave of water coming to devour them. As the funnels dipped underneath, he saw Inspector Pierpont sucked in and then blown out as the boilers exploded.

Turner clung onto his chair as his ship disappeared beneath a mass of foam and then flat calm. Sea gulls descended upon Turner and he beat them off with his arms. Eventually, he found a collapsible boat that was close to being swamped and climbed aboard for a bit before striking out in the open water again.

Hours later, John Roper, a seaman from the Lusitania, picked up by the small steamer Bluebell, spotted in the water the gold officer's braid Turner was wearing. Roper called to the Bluebell's Captain Thompson, "There's a ship's officer!"

The Bluebell maneuvered to pick Turner up and Thompson offered his sympathy to Turner. Later, a woman came up to Turner, scolding him, saying, "My child's death was not necessary. It was due to the lack of discipline and organization aboard your ship." She had recounted how she had been told to place her son in a lifeboat that had capsized.

Third Officer Bestic (whom Turner always called "Bisset") saw Turner sitting alone in the mess hall of the Bluebell and said to him, "I'm very glad to see you alive, sir."

"Why should you be?" Turner asked. "You're not that fond of me."

"Fondness doesn't enter into it, sir. I'm glad to see you alive because I respect you as my Captain and I admire you as a seaman."

Turner didn't respond. How much comfort could Bestic bring when others were possibly asking why the captain had survived when so many others had not.

It was 10:00 p.m. when the Bluebell arrived in Queenstown. Captain Turner was the last to disembark. Before he did so, he turned to Captain Thompson and said, "Well, it is the fortune of war."

The next day in Queenstown he bought candy for hildren who had survived the disaster. It was the least he could do.

Yet, the worst was not over for Captain Turner. When word reached London about the sinking of the Lusitania, First Sea Lord Jacky Fisher said of Turner, "The certainty is absolute that Captain Turner is not a fool, but a knave! It is my profound hope that Captain Turner will be arrested after the inquiry, whatever the outcome."

Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill said pretty much the same: "Fully concur! We shall pursue the Captain without check!"

Fisher and Churchill had hoped to put as much blame of the sinking on Turner as possible. They did not wish to make known that in the Admiralty's internal squabblings and preoccupation with the bumbling Gallipoli campaign in the Ottoman Empire that they had completely overlooked the protection of their own interests, namely, the Lusitania.

Solicitor Horgan had arranged for an inquest in Kinsale where Turner testified as to what had happened. The Admiralty had hoped to forestall such an event and exposure of such damning evidence of their neglect that they sent Harry Wynne, Crown Solicitor for Cork, to stop the inquest.

"Too late, Harry." Horgan told him, "It's all over."

Five weeks later Captain Turner was summoned to the official inquiry conducted by the British Board of Trade, overseen by Lord Mersey, the same man who presided over the Titanic inquiry three years previously. During this inquiry, Turner changed his testimony. While during Horgan's inquest he admitted that the second explosion may have been internal, for Mersey he said that it was from a second torpedo that had hit the engine room. He was, however, adamant that his ship was not carrying any explosives.

Going against the wishes of Fisher and Churchill, Mersey exonerated Turner and put the blame for the sinking squarely on the shoulders of the Imperial German Government. This was a wise move on Mersey's part, as he knew that any other verdict could be used as propaganda by the Germans.

In November of that year, Turner was assigned to the small freighter Ultonia and sailed her from France to Quebec. While in North America, he took the time to go to New York City to visit his friend Dr. Edwin Sternberger. There, to Sternberger's surprise, Turner agreed to an interview with the New York Times. He was adamant that nothing could have been done to avoid being torpedoed, and that there were possibly 2 or 3 submarines lurking in the area, "just waiting to blow her up with all on board." Turner hoped that after the war he would be given command of the Aquitania again, or the next big ship that Cunard had in the production line.

On Saturday, 20 November 1915, Turner and Sternberger were at Lüchow's. Restaurant owner August Lüchow embraced his old friend, saying, "I am sorry about your Lusitania, Captain. I knew her as well as my own restaurant." Lüchow was glad that the Captain had not changed his attitude towards him because he was a German immigrant. But something had changed that night -- there was no Lusitania docked just right down the street. On Tuesday, 23 November, he sailed the Ultonia back to England and never saw New York again.

In the fall of 1916, Turner, at the last minute, was assigned the Ivernia when the original captain of the ship fell ill. Thirty miles off the coast of Greece, the ship was torpedoed. Once again, Turner survived.

In October 1917, Judge Julius Mayer summoned Turner as chief witness into the American Lusitania inquiry. Julius, like Mersey, exonerated Turner and blamed the German Government. This verdict was taken without any opposition as the United States was now at war with Germany.

Turner was awarded the Order of the British Empire, but still the Lusitania haunted him. In November 1919, Turner retired, telling Mabel, "All I want now is a quiet life." They moved to Yelverton, close to Mabel's childhood home of Dartmoor. Often depressed and convinced that people avoided him because he didn't go down with his ship, he lived the life of a recluse. He never forgave Churchill for blaming him for the loss of the Lusitania. Soon, however, neighbors and reporters found out that Captain Turner lived among them. Turner could not escape the shadow of the Lusitania.

Albert Bestic came to visit Captain Turner in the fall of 1932, upon learning that Turner was ill with stomach cancer. Mabel answered the door to the house in the Liverpool suburbs when Bestic called. When she relayed the information to Turner, he said that he never heard of Bestic. Bestic was hurt and about to leave when he suddenly remembered: "Would you be kind enough to tell the Captain that my name is really Bisset." Mabel was suspicious, but she returned smiling after delivering the message, saying, "He said, 'Why the hell didn't he say so in the first place?' "

Turner and Bestic sat down and Turner recounted stories of his past. When Bestic got his chance, he asked, "The Lusitania, sir . . . did you think she was going to be torpedoed?"

"I was worried, Bisset." Turner answered. "Naturally I was. What Master wouldn't be? I thought we had an odds-on chance of escaping, you know. I didn't get a fair deal. I mean to say, no escort to meet us, despite the signals about submarines. Gave me false confidence. If the Admiralty didn't think it necessary to worry about a ship worth millions, not to mention hundreds of passengers, I reasoned they must think there's not much danger. No, I didn't get a fair deal. A good two years went by before they started issuing definite orders. What courses ships should take. The distance they should keep off headlands. I was told I should have taken a mid-Channel course. And my ship in the Atlantic? They didn't even explain to me about zigzagging."

Mabel continued to take care of Turner until his death on 23 June 1933. Mabel died in 1978. Turner’s son, Norman died in 1968. Percy died in World War II.

Contributors:
Mike Poirier
Judith Tavares

References:
Daily Telegraph, "Commander of Lusitania Dead." 24 June 1933.

Daily Mirror, "The Lusitania's Captain Dead." 24 June 1933.

Hickey, Des and Gus Smith. Seven Days to Disaster. G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1981.

Hoehling, A. A. and Mary Hoehling. The Last Voyage of the Lusitania. Madison Books, 1956.

The New York Times, (date I don't know -- I got the article from Judith)

Preston, Diana. Lusitania: An Epic Tragedy. Berkeley Books, 2002.

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