[On Saturday, May 1, the day that the Lusitania left New York on her
last voyage, the following advertisement bearing the authentication of
the German Embassy at Washington appeared in the chief newspapers of the
United States, placed next the advertisement of the Cunard Line:

NOTICE!

TRAVELLERS intending to embark on the Atlantic voyage are
reminded that a state of war exists between Germany and her
allies and Great Britain and her allies; that the zone of war
includes the waters adjacent to the British Isles; that, in
accordance with formal notice given by the Imperial German
Government vessels flying the flag of Great Britain, or of any
of her allies, are liable to destruction in those waters and
that travellers sailing in the war zone on ships of Great
Britain or her allies do so at their own risk.

IMPERIAL GERMAN EMBASSY

WASHINGTON, D.C., APRIL 22, 1915.

Despite this warning, relying on President Wilson's note to Germany of
Feb. 10, 1915, which declared that the United States would "hold the
Imperial Government of Germany to a strict accountability" for such an
act within the submarine zone; relying, also, on the speed of the ship,
and hardly conceiving that the threat would be carried out, over two
thousand men, women, and children embarked. The total toll of the dead
was 1,150, of whom 114 were known to be American citizens.