Dead Wake (47 page)

In the course of my research, I sought whenever possible to rely on archival materials, but I did find certain secondary works to be of particular value: Arthur S. Link’s monumental multivolume biography of Woodrow Wilson, titled, well,
Wilson
—the most valuable volume being, for me,
The Struggle for Neutrality, 1914–1915
; A. Scott Berg’s more recent
Wilson
; John Keegan’s wrenching
The First World War
; Martin Gilbert’s
The First World War
; Gerhard Ritter’s
The Schlieffen Plan
; Lowell Thomas’s 1928 book about World War I U-boats and their crews,
Raiders of the Deep
; Reinhard Scheer’s
Germany’s High Sea Fleet in the World War
;
Churchill’s
The World Crisis, 1911–1918
; Paul Kennedy’s
The War Plans of the Great Powers, 1880–1914
; and R. H. Gibson and Maurice Prendergast’s primer,
The German Submarine War, 1914–1918
.

I especially enjoyed the many works of intimate history—memoirs, autobiographies, diaries—that I came across along the way, though these of course must be treated with special care, owing to fading memories and covert agendas. Their greatest value lies in the little details they offer about life as once lived. These works include
Starling of the White House
, by one of Wilson’s Secret Service men, Edmund W. Starling (“as told to” Thomas Sugrue), who took me aboard Wilson’s honeymoon train;
Woodrow Wilson: An Intimate Memoir
, by Wilson’s physician, Cary T. Grayson;
My Memoir
, by Edith Bolling Wilson;
Commodore
, by James Bisset;
Voyage of the Deutschland
, by Paul Koenig;
The Journal of Submarine Commander von Forstner
, by Georg-Gunther Freiherr von Forstner;
The Lusitania’s Last Voyage
, by Charles E. Lauriat Jr.;
This Was My World
, by Margaret Mackworth (Viscountess Rhondda); and
When the Ships Came In
, by Jack Lawrence. Another such intimate work, valuable for grounding me in British high society before the war, was
Lantern Slides: The Diaries and Letters of Violet Bonham Carter, 1904–1914
, edited by Mark Bonham Carter and Mark Pottle, which I found utterly charming. I confess to having fallen a little in love with Violet, the daughter of British prime minister Herbert Henry Asquith.

T
HE FOLLOWING LIST
of citations is by no means exhaustive: to cite every fact would require a companion volume and would be tedious in the extreme. I cite all quoted material and anything else that for one reason or another requires noting or amplification or that might cause a
Lusitania
buff to burn a lifeboat on my lawn. Throughout I have included small stories that I could not fit into the main narrative but that struck me as worth telling all the same for the oblique insights they offer but also for the best reason of all: just because.

ABBREVIATIONS USED IN NOTES

Foreign Relations

U.S. Department of State,
Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States
. 1915, Supplement, The World War, University of Wisconsin Digital Collections,
http://digital.​library.​wisc.​edu/​1711.​dl/​FRUS.​FRUS1915Supp
.

“Investigation”

“Investigation into the Loss of the Steamship ‘Lusitania,’ ” Proceedings Before the Right Hon. Lord Mersey, Wreck Commissioner of the United Kingdom, June 15–July 1, 1915, National Archives UK.

Lauriat, Claim

Charles E. Lauriat Jr., Claim, Lauriat vs. Germany, Docket 40, Mixed Claims Commission: United States and Germany, Aug. 10, 1922. U.S. National Archives and Records Administration at College Park, MD.

Merseyside

Maritime Archives, Merseyside Maritime Museum.

Schwieger, War Log

Walther Schwieger, War Log. Bailey/Ryan Collection, Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford University, Stanford, CA.

U.S. National Archives–College Park

U.S. National Archives and Records Administration at College Park, MD.

U.S. National Archives–New York

U.S. National Archives and Records Administration at New York City.

A WORD FROM THE CAPTAIN

1
“vessels flying the flag”: See
New York Times
, May 1, 1915. An article about the warning appears on p. 3, the ad itself on p. 19.

2
“thinking, dreaming, sleeping”:
Liverpool Weekly Mercury
, May 15, 1915.

3
He assured the audience: Preston,
Lusitania
, 172.

4
“The truth is”: Bailey and Ryan,
Lusitania Disaster
, 82.

5
on two previous occasions: Ibid., 65; Beesly,
Room 40
, 93; Ramsay,
Lusitania
, 50, 51.

6
“You could see the shape”: Testimony, Thomas M. Taylor, Petition of the Cunard Steamship Company, April 15, 1918, U.S. National Archives–New York, 913.

PART I: “BLOODY MONKEYS”

LUSITANIA: THE OLD SAILORMAN

1
Despite the war in Europe: “General Analysis of Passengers and Crew,” R.M.S. Lusitania: Record of Passengers & Crew, SAS/29/6/18, Merseyside.

2
This was … the greatest number:
New York Times
, May 2, 1915.

3
During an early trial voyage:
Cunard Daily Bulletin
, July 19, 1907, Merseyside.

4
“a vote of censure”: Ibid.

5
“for I calculate that there is room”: Ibid.

6
“Please deliver me”: Ibid.

7
“The inhabitants were warlike”: “
Lusitania
,” D42/S9/5/1, Cunard Archives.

8
“Rule, Britannia!”: The title of this song is often written and said incorrectly, as if it were a declaration. The title, however, is meant to be an exhortation, as in “Go Britain!”

9
“You do not get any idea”: Letter, C. R. Minnitt to Mrs. E. M. Poole, July 9, 1907, DX/2284, Merseyside.

10
The ship’s lightbulbs: Minutes, Cunard Board of Directors, July 10, 1912, D42/B4/38, Cunard Archives; Fox,
Transatlantic
, 404.

11
He found it “very gratifying”: Letter, W. Dranfield to W. T. Turner, Jan. 20, 1911, D42/C1/2/44, Cunard Archives; Letter, W. T. Turner to Alfred A. Booth, Feb. 6, 1911, D42/C1/2/44, Cunard Archives.

12
Its 300 stokers: Bisset,
Commodore
, 32.

13
Cunard barred crew members: The company called the permissible matches “Lucifer matches,” though in fact that name harked back to a decidedly unsafe early precursor that lit with a pop and sent embers flying.

14
“counteract, as far as possible”: “Cunard Liner
Lusitania
,” 941.

15
The guns were never installed: Strangely, this remained a point of controversy
for decades, reinforced by reports by at least one diver who reported seeing the barrel of a naval gun protruding from the wreckage. But no passenger ever spoke of seeing a gun aboard, and a film of the ship’s departure shows clearly that no guns were mounted. Also, a search by Customs in New York found no evidence of armament.

16
“devil-dodger”: Hoehling and Hoehling,
Last Voyage
, 42.

17
“Had it been stormy”:
Hobart Mercury
, March 8, 1864.

18
“I was the quickest man”: Hoehliing and Hoehling,
Last Voyage
, 42.

19
“never, at any time”: Letter, George Ball to Adolf Hoehling, July 22, 1955, Hoehling Papers.

20
“On the ships”: Letter, Mabel Every to Adolf Hoehling, May 4, 1955, Hoehling Papers.

21
“a load of bloody monkeys”: Preston,
Lusitania
, 108; also see “William Thomas Turner,” Lusitania Online,
http://www.​lusitania.​net/​turner.​htm
.

22
On one voyage: “Captain’s Report, Oct. 15, 1904,” Minutes, Cunard Executive Committee, Oct. 20, 1904, D42/B4/22, Merseyside.

23
“Madam, do you think”: Letter, George Ball to Adolf Hoehling, July 22, 1955, Hoehling Papers.

24
more “clubbable”: Preston,
Lusitania
, 108.

25
“He was a good, and conscientious skipper”: Letter, R. Barnes (dictated to K. Simpson) to Mary Hoehling, July 14, 1955, Hoehling Papers.

26
“Captain’s compliments”: Albert Bestic to Adolf Hoehling, June 10, 1955, Hoehling Papers.

27
“one of the bravest”: Letter, Thomas Mahoney to Adolf Hoehling, May 14, 1955, Hoehling Papers.

28
“The wave,” Turner said:
New York Times
, Jan. 16, 1910.

29
The Cunard manual: The manual was an exhibit in the New York limit-of-liability proceedings. Cunard Steamship Company, “Rules to Be Observed in the Company’s Service,” Liverpool, March 1913, Admiralty Case Files: Limited Liability Claims for the Lusitania, Box 1, U.S. National Archives–New York.

30
The dangers of fog: Larson,
Thunderstruck
, 376.

31
“to keep the ship sweet”: Cunard Steamship Company, “Rules,” 54.

32
“The utmost courtesy”: Ibid., 43.

33
“much to the amusement”:
New York Times
, May 23 and 24, 1908.

34
“should not be made a market place”: Minutes, Sept. 1910 [day illegible], D42/B4/32, Cunard Archives.
   There were other sorts of complaints. On a couple of voyages in September 1914 third-class passengers “of a very superior type” complained about the fact that Cunard did not supply them with sheets, unlike other less exalted steamship lines, according to a report by the chief third-class steward. He wrote, “They did not quite understand why sheets should not be supplied on vessels like the LUSITANIA and MAURETANIA where higher rates were charged.” The company studied
the matter and found that it could supply two thousand sheets and one thousand quilts at a cost of £358 per voyage. Memoranda, General Manager to Superintendent of Furnishing Department, Sept. 30, 1914, and Oct. 2, 1914, D42/PR13/3/24-28, Cunard Archives.

35
“When you have it on”: Lauriat,
Lusitania’s Last Voyage
, 21.

36
“to be severely reprimanded”: Captain’s Record: William Thomas Turner, D42/GM/V6/1, Cunard Archives.

37
“tired and really ill”: Preston,
Lusitania
, 110; Ramsay,
Lusitania
, 49.

WASHINGTON: THE LONELY PLACE

1
The train carrying the body: Schachtman,
Edith and Woodrow
, 41; G. Smith,
When the Cheering Stopped
, 11;
New York Times
, Aug. 12, 1914.

2
just a year and a half: In 1913, Inauguration Day came in March.

3
“For several days”: Schachtman,
Edith and Woodrow
, 72.

4
“felt like a machine”: Ibid., 48. Harlakenden House was owned by an American author named Winston Churchill, whose books were, at the time, very popular—enough so that he and the other Winston exchanged correspondence and the latter resolved that in all his writings he would insert a middle initial, S, for Spencer. His full and formal name was Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill.

5
The South in particular suffered: Berg,
Wilson
, 341–42.

6
The lead story:
New York Times
, June 27, 1914.

7
In Europe, kings and high officials: Keegan,
First World War
, 53–54, 55, 57, 58; Thomson,
Twelve Days
, 89.

8
In England, the lay public: Thomson,
Twelve Days
, 186. When Shackleton read a report in the press that Britain was soon to mobilize, he rather chivalrously volunteered to cancel his expedition and offered his ship and services to the war effort. Churchill telegraphed back: “Proceed.”

9
“These pistols”: Ibid., 64, 65, 67, 97.

10
Far from a clamor for war: Keegan,
First World War
, 10, 12, 15.

11
the Ford Motor Company:
New York Times
, June 27, 1914.

12
But old tensions and enmities persisted: Devlin,
Too Proud to Fight
, 220; Keegan,
First World War
, 17, 18, 19, 38, 42–43.

13
“Europe had too many frontiers”: Thomson,
Twelve Days
, 23.

14
As early as 1912: Tuchman,
Zimmermann Telegram
, 11.

15
In Germany, meanwhile, generals tinkered: Keegan,
First World War
, 29, 30, 32–33.

16
“It’s incredible—incredible”: Berg,
Wilson
, 334.

17
“We must be impartial”: Ibid., 337, 774.
   Britain resented American neutrality. On December 20, 1914, First Sea Lord Jacky Fisher wrote, “The time will come when the United States will be d—d sorry they were neutral.… We shall win all right.
I am only VERY
sorry
” (Marder,
Fear God
, 3:99). In the same letter Fisher made reference to a widely published poem, popular in Britain, by William Watson, entitled “To America Concerning England.” Watson asks:

18
“The United States is remote”: Brooks, “United States,” 237–38.

19
Louvain: Keegan,
First World War
, 82–83; Link,
Wilson: Struggle
, 51;
New York Times
, Oct. 4, 1914.

20
“felt deeply the destruction”: Link,
Wilson: Struggle
, 51.

21
The German toll: Keegan,
First World War
, 135–36.

22
By year’s end: Ibid., 176.

23
For Wilson, already suffering depression: Berg,
Wilson
, 337.

24
“I feel the burden”: Link,
Wilson: Struggle
, 50.

25
“The whole thing”: Ibid., 52.

26
There was at least one moment: Berg,
Wilson
, 339–40; Devlin,
Too Proud to Fight
, 227; Schachtman,
Edith and Woodrow
, 52.