Summary

The movement of U-20 was monitored through wireless intercepts by a secret unit of British intelligence called Room 40. Only a handful of people with knew of the unit’s existence. On New Year’s Day 1915 a German submarine sank a British warship which killed 547 men. British warships were nearby but could not try to rescue survivors due to the policy established after the Aboukir disaster. German warships were shelling innocent civilians in British coastal towns killing 100 and injuring more than 500 men, women and children. In mid-January, Germany sent two zeppelins in an air attack. In April 1915, the Germans gassed allied forces in Ypres, Belgium, with 160 tons of chlorine gas. It was the very first use of gas in warfare. Two-thousand Canadian soldiers were killed along with casualties from other nations.

The most high-profile passenger was Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt I who was...