# The Lusitania Sinking: Eyewitness Accounts from Survivors - Hardcover

by **Anthony Richards** (Author)

**Uncertain of their son's fate, his family leaped into action.**  
  
The sinking of the passenger liner _Lusitania_ was a maritime disaster that may have changed the course of history by making American involvement in World War I almost inevitable. This part of the story has been told before but here, for the first time, _The Lusitania Sinking_ has a far more personal tale to tell, of a family looking for information on their son's death.  
  
On 1 May 1915 Preston Prichard, a 29-year-old student, embarked as a second-class passenger on the _Lusitania_, bound from New York for Liverpool. Just after 2 p.m. on 7 May, a single torpedo, fired by the German submarine _U-20_, caused a massive explosion in the _Lusitania_'s hold, and the ship began sinking rapidly. Within 20 minutes she disappeared and 1,198 men, women and children, including Preston, died.  
  
Preston's mother wrote hundreds of letters to survivors to find out more about what might have happened in his last moments. The replies she received included an extensive selection of moving and evocative survivors' accounts. Although this was not Mrs Prichard's intention, she thus assembled an outstanding collection of vivid first-hand recollections. _The Lusitania Sinking_ tells the story of this tragedy using this previously unseen historical treasure trove.

### Author Biography

Anthony Richards has worked in the document and sound archives of the Imperial War Museum in London for more than twenty years. He has contributed to many publications based on personal written testimony of the two world wars. He is the author of _The Somme: A Visual History_, _In Their Own Words: Untold Stories of the First World War_ and _The War on Paper: 20 Documents that Defined the Second World War_.

**Number of Pages:** 224

**Dimensions:** 1 x 9.2 x 6.5 IN

**Illustrated:** Yes

**Publication Date:** October 01, 2019

## Details

- **Price:** 36.99 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 36.99 USD | In stock |

## Images

- The Lusitania Sinking: Eyewitness Accounts from Survivors - Hardcover

---

> Source: [Smart supply deals](https://smartsupplydeals.com/products/the-lusitania-sinking-eyewitness-accounts-from-survivors-hardcover)
> Updated: 2026-07-23