TV REVIEWS : New Theories on the ‘Lusitania’ Mystery

One of the hardly remembered mysteries of the early 20th Century gets the “National Geographic Explorer” treatment Sunday night in “Last Voyage of the Lusitania,” an interesting mix of the usual TV documentary elements: present-day exploration, historical footage and eyewitness testimonials.

What is known to history is that on May 7, 1915, the Cunard liner Lusitania was hit by a single torpedo from a German submarine and quickly sank off the coast of Ireland with the loss of 1,195 lives.

What has always puzzled students of such disasters was a huge second explosion aboard the liner (it was thought to be carrying wartime munitions) and the speed with which it sank: 18 minutes. The Titanic, by contrast, stayed afloat for many hours despite the huge rip in its hull.

After studying Cunard records of the ship’s cargo and computer models, noted undersea explorer Robert Ballard examined the Lusitania’s remains (it sits in 300 feet of water) with television cameras mounted on a robot submarine. Ballard found a new theory for the second explosion in a trail of lumps of coal that led to the ghostly hull.

Ballard’s search is intercut with historical footage of the Lusitania’s sailing and with the often touching recollections of its survivors. Especially heart-wrenching is one survivor’s story of trying, vainly, to save her sister in the frigid water.

* “Last Voyage of the Lusitania” can be seen on cable station TBS Sunday at 6 p.m. , with repeat broadcasts Monday at 9:05 p.m. and next Saturday at 7:05 a.m .