Dead Wake (51 page)

8
The Machiavelli side: Adm. William James,
Code Breakers
, 202.

9
the empire’s first defeat: Gilbert,
First World War
, 102.

10
British warships nearby: Gibson and Prendergast,
German Submarine
War, 19; Gilbert,
First World War
, 124.

11
And then came April 22: Clark,
Donkeys
, 74; Gilbert,
First World War
, 144–45; Keegan,
First World War
, 198–99.

12
“I saw some hundred poor fellows”: Clark,
Donkeys
, 74.

13
The Admiralty also harbored: Frothingham,
Naval History
, 66, 75.

14
“no major movement”: History of Room 40, CLKE 3, Clarke Papers.

15
“the risk of compromising the codes”: Memorandum, Henry Francis Oliver, CLKE 1, Clarke Papers.

16
“Had we been called upon”: History of Room 40, “Narrative of Capt. Hope,” CLKE 3, Clarke Papers.

17
“shook the nerve”: History of Room 40, CLKE 3, Clarke Papers.

18
“soul-destroying … object of hatred”: Ibid.

19
“Watch this carefully”: Beesly,
Room 40
, 92.

20
“Any messages which were not according to routine”: History of Room 40, CLKE 3, Clarke Papers.

21
“The final note”: Memorandum, Herbert Hope to Director of Operations Division, April 18, 1915, “Captain Hope’s Memos to Operations Division,” Admiralty Papers, ADM 137/4689, National Archives UK.

22
“Whenever any of their vessels”: History of Room 40, CLKE 3, Clarke Papers.

23
a sense of the flesh-and-blood men: Reports derived from interrogations of captured U-boat officers and crew yield a sense of U-boat life far richer than that provided by any other published memoir or book. Admiralty Papers, ADM 137/4126, National Archives UK. Specifically, see interrogations involving crew from U-48, U-103, UC-65, U-64, and UB-109; see also Grant,
U-Boat Intelligence
, 21.

24
They used their wireless systems incessantly: Beesly,
Room 40
, 30.

25
“extreme garrulity”: History of Room 40, CLKE 3, Clarke Papers; Beesly,
Room 40
, 30.

26
“I fooled ’em that time”:
New York Times
, May 8, 1915.

27
Room 40 had long followed: “Capt. Hope’s Diary,” Admiralty Papers, ADM 137/4169, National Archives UK.

28
Addressed to all German warships: Record of Telegrams, March 3, 1915, Norddeich Naval Intelligence Center, Admiralty Papers, ADM 137/4177, National Archives UK.

29
“Four submarines sailed”: Intercepted telegrams, April 28 and 29, 1915, Admiralty Papers, ADM 137/3956, National Archives UK. Anyone examining these files will note, to his or her pleasure, that these are the actual handwritten decodes.

30
“that of mystifying and misleading the enemy”: “A Little Information for the Enemy,” Hall 3/4, Hall Papers.
   Hall loved the surprise of intelligence work and loved knowing the real stories behind events reported in the news, which often were censored. For example, Room 40 learned the real fate of a German submarine, U-28, that had attacked a ship carrying trucks on its main deck. One shell fired by the U-boat’s gun crew blew up a load of high explosives stored in the ship, and suddenly “the air was full of motor-lorries describing unusual parabolas,” Hall wrote. Officially, the U-boat was lost because of explosion. But Hall and Room 40 knew the truth: one of the flying trucks had landed on the submarine’s foredeck, penetrating its hull and sinking it instantly. “In point of actual fact,” wrote Hall, “U-28 was sunk by a motor-lorry!”
   As strange as such stories were, Hall wrote, “I am sometimes inclined to think that perhaps the strangest thing of all was the intelligence Division itself. For it was like nothing else that had ever existed.” “The Nature of Intelligence Work,” Hall 3/1, Hall Papers.

LUSITANIA: A CAVALCADE OF PASSENGERS

1
All these things were captured on film: The film,
SS Lusitania on Her Final Departure from New York City, During World War I
, can be viewed at
CriticalPast.com
(
www.criticalpast.com/video/65675040085_SS-Lusitania_passengers-arrive-at-the-dock_passengers-aboard-SS-Lusitania_author-Elbert-Hubert
). An agent for the Justice Department’s Bureau of Investigation (not yet the
Federal
Bureau of Investigation) watched this film twice in succession during a private showing at a theater in Philadelphia. The agent, Frank Garbarino, was struck by the detail it captured and believed it would provide all the information necessary to confirm that the film was not a fake. “It will be easy to identify many of the persons who were aboard the steamer by those who knew them intimately,” he wrote. “Furthermore we were able to distinguish the numbers of the license on three taxicabs which drove up to the pier with passengers and the features of the passengers as they emerged from the taxicabs are very clear. The license numbers of the taxicabs were 21011, 21017, 25225. It will be easy to ascertain what taxicab company has these licenses and they will probably have a record of the persons they took to the Cunard pier that morning.” Letter, Bruce Bielaski to Attorney General, June 27, 1915, Bailey/Ryan Collection.

2
Here came Charles Frohman: For details about Frohman and his life, see Marcosson and Frohman,
Charles Frohman
, throughout; also
New York Times
, May 16, 1915; Lawrence,
When the Ships Come In
, 126.

3
Another arrival was George Kessler: For an overview of Kessler’s flamboyant life as the “Champagne King,” see “Compliments of George Kessler,”
American Menu
, April 14, 2012 (courtesy of Mike Poirier); for the Gondola Party, see Tony Rennell, “How Wealthy Guests Turned the Savoy into the World’s Most Decadent Hotel,”
Daily Mail
, Dec. 17, 2007,
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-502756/How-wealthy-guests-turned-Savoy-worlds-decadent-hotel-shuts-100m-refit.html
, and “The Savoy: London’s Most Famous Hotel,” Savoy Theatre,
www.savoytheatre.org/the-savoy-londons-most-famous-hotel/
For reference to “freak dinners,” see
Lexington Herald
, May 16, 1915.
   According to one account, Kessler had brought with him cash and securities valued at $2 million. Preston,
Lusitania
, 137.

4
“misconducting himself”:
New York Times
, May 26, 1908, and June 11, 1909.

5
“Just Missed It” club: “Titanic’s ‘Just Missed It Club’ an Elite Group,”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
, April 16, 2012,
www.post-gazette.com/life/lifestyle/2012/04/15/Titanic-s-Just-Missed-It-Club-an-elite-group/stories/201204150209
.

6
“Ships do have personalities”: Jack Lawrence’s memoir,
When the Ships Came In
, to which I was directed by
Lusitania
ace Mike Poirier, is really very charming and conveys a sense of New York’s vibrant maritime days in compelling fashion, to the point where a reader has to long
for those days when dozens of ships nuzzled Manhattan’s Hudson River shoreline. Lawrence,
When the Ships Came In
; 116, see also 15, 16, and 117.

7
“to give satisfaction”: 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, 73.

8
“I’m about to become”: Lawrence,
When the Ships Came In
, 119–21.

9
“Alfred Vanderbilt may have been a riot”: Ibid., 124.

10
“The
Lusitania
is doomed”: Ibid., 125.

11
Lawrence came across Elbert Hubbard: Ibid., 123.

12
“When I showed it to him”: Ibid.

13
“When you are getting ready to sail”: Ibid., 122.

14
“A feeling grew upon me”: See “Not on Board,” under “People,” at Lusitania Resource,
www.rmslusitania.info/people/not-on-board/
.

15
A few others canceled: Ibid., and
New Zealand Herald
, June 26, 1915.

16
“From the very first”: Letter, A. B. Cross, published June 12, 1915, in
Malay Mail
, Doc. 1730, Imperial War Museum.

17
“there is a general system”:
New York Times
, May 1, 1915.

18
“Perfectly safe; safer than the trolley cars”: Testimony, Ogden Hammond, Petition of the Cunard Steamship Company, April 15, 1918, U.S. National Archives–New York, 166. For details about trolley accidents, see
New York Times
, Jan. 3, 1915; May 3, 1916; July 9, 1916.

19
“Of course we heard rumors”: May Walker, interview transcript, BBC Radio Merseyside, 1984, Imperial War Museum (with permission, BBC Radio Merseyside).

20
“looked personally after their comfort”: Letter, Charles P. Sumner to Alfred A. Booth, May 26, 1915, D42/C1/1/66, Part 2 of 4, Cunard Archives.

21
Theodate Pope: I came across several worthy accounts of Pope’s life and work. See Cunningham,
My Godmother
; Katz,
Dearest
; Paine,
Avon Old Farms School
; and S. Smith,
Theodate Pope Riddle
.

22
“You never act as other girls do”: Katz,
Dearest
, 25.

23
“the momentary effect”: Quoted in Cunningham,
My Godmother
, 53–54, and Katz,
Dearest
, 54.

24
“I have no memory at all”: Quoted in S. Smith,
Theodate Pope Riddle
, ch. 1, p. 3 (each chapter paginated separately).

25
“the greatest blot”: Ibid., ch. 2, p. 4.

26
“As it is my plan”: Ibid., ch. 4, p. 2; see full letter at Appendix B.

27
“I have wrung my soul dry”: Ibid., ch. 5, p. 1.

28
One incident in particular underscored: Katz,
Dearest
, 1.

29
“I am having such persistent insomnia”: S. Smith,
Theodate Pope Riddle
, ch. 6, p. 7.

30
“There is nothing like the diversion”: Katz,
Dearest
, 75.

31
“I was surprised”: Lauriat,
Lusitania’s Last Voyage
, 65–66.

32
Chandler joked: Lauriat, Claim.

33
“A thousand thanks”: Letter, Harris to “Gram and Gramp,” May 1, 1915, Harris Papers.

34
“was of that brand”: Lawrence,
When the Ships Came In
, 129.

35
“When a British skipper knows”: Ibid., 130.

ROOM 40: BLINKER’S RUSE

1
“An untried agent”: Record of Telegrams, April 24, 1915, Antwerp to Bruges, Antwerp Naval Intelligence Center, Admiralty Papers, ADM 137/4177, National Archives UK.

2
“So that’s what war looks like!”: von Trapp,
To the Last Salute
, 24.

3
At some point that day: Bailey and Ryan,
Lusitania Disaster
, 73, 83.

WASHINGTON: LOST

1
“I hope it will give”: Letter, Wilson to Galt, April 28, 1915, Wilson Papers.

2
“fill my goblet”: Letter, Galt to Wilson, April 28, 1915, Wilson Papers.

3
It had been particularly welcome: Levin,
Edith and Woodrow
, 58.

4
“Such a pledge of friendship”: Letter, Galt to Wilson, April 28, 1915, Wilson Papers.

5
“It’s a great privilege”: Letter, Wilson to Galt, April 30, 1915, Wilson Papers.

6
“a heaven—haven—sanctuary”: Levin,
Edith and Woodrow
, 55.

7
“From the first”: Wilson,
My Memoir
, 58.

8
“perhaps the weal or woe of a country”: Levin,
Edith and Woodrow
, 57.

9
“In order to fit yourself”: Ibid.; for a variation, see Wilson,
My Memoir
, 55.

10
“life giving”: Letter, Galt to Wilson, April 28, 1915, Wilson Papers.

11
She had never met a man: Schachtman,
Edith and Woodrow
, 78.

12
“no mean man in love-making”: Levin,
Edith and Woodrow
, 74.

13
“He’s a goner”: Starling,
Starling
, 44.

14
On Saturday, May 1: Gilbert,
First World War
, 154.

15
“In Flanders fields”: Quoted in ibid., 156.

16
By the end of the month: Ibid., 164.

17
“We are still in our old positions”: Ibid., 126.

18
Elsewhere, wholly a new front: Ibid., 121, 135–36; Keegan,
First World War
, 238, 239.

19
a systematic slaughter: Gilbert,
First World War
, 142–43.

20
“It is difficult, if not impossible”: Lansing, Private Memoranda, April 15, 1915, Lansing Papers.

21
“A neutral in time of international war”: Ibid., April 29, 1915.

22
“German naval policy”: Link,
Wilson: Struggle
, 366.

23
“It was not thought in official quarters”:
New York Times
, May 2, 1915.

24
The ship remained afloat: Ledger, Messages Received, Admiralty Papers, ADM 137/4101, National Archives UK.