Dead Wake (52 page)

25
“lids”:
Washington Herald
, May 1 and 2, 1915.

26
“cool and clean”:
New York Times
, May 7, 1915.

LUSITANIA: UNDER WAY

1
“Dark brown hair”: Poster, “Lusitania Disaster. Information Wanted,” Prichard Papers.

2
“a most interesting face”: Letter, Theodate Pope to Mrs. Prichard, Feb. 4, 1916, Prichard Papers.

3
“rather dull”: Letter, Thomas Sumner to Mrs. Prichard, Oct. 28, 1915, Prichard Papers.

4
“He was a great favorite”: Letter, Henry Needham to Mrs. Prichard, May 20, 1915, Prichard Papers.

5
“counting the time”: Letter, Arthur Gadsden to Mrs. Prichard, July 4, 1915, Prichard Papers.

6
“Do you think all these people”: Hoehling and Hoehling,
Last Voyage
, 21; see also
New York Times
, May 6, 1915.

7
“Captain Turner … neglected his duty”: Letter, Oliver Bernard to Mrs. Prichard, Aug. 15, 1915, Prichard Papers.

8
While moving downriver: I culled these details of New York Harbor from a variety of sources, held at the New York Public Library main branch. These include Map of New York and Harbor, A. R. Ohman Map Co., 1910; Sea Chart, New York Bay and Harbor, 1910; Map of Depths, New York Bay and Harbor, U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, May 1914; Map, Manhattan, G. W. Bromley & Co., 1916, Plate 38; Map, New York City, 1910, Section 2, Plate 10, 1911. Interestingly, the last map makes a reference to “Sir Peter Warren Farm,” just above Fourteenth Street in Manhattan, once a vast tract of open land acquired in the eighteenth century by Warren, a British sea captain. May I offer a pointless observation: there is no farm in that location today.

9
Governors Island: In the interests of filling the reader’s mind with yet more useless knowledge, I’d like to note, here, that the 1960s comedy duo the Smothers Brothers—Tom and Dick—were born on Governors Island.

10
This being wartime: Preston,
Lusitania
, 136. There is scant information about these mysterious gentlemen. I was unable to find any source that identified them by name. It is also unclear exactly where they were held aboard ship, as the
Lusitania
had no formal “brig,” but all reports agree they were confined behind locked doors.

11
Alta Piper: See “Not on Board,” under “People,” at Lusitania Resource,
www.rmslusitania.info/people/not-on-board/
.

U-20: TOWARD FAIR ISLE

1
The boat’s ventilators: Spiegel,
Adventures
, 3.

2
“here and there rain and fog”: Schwieger, War Log. All references in this chapter to course, weather, wave heights, and so forth come from this log.

3
Men served as ballast: Neureuther and Bergen,
U-Boat Stories
, 126, 186, 195.

4
One boat, U-3: Rössler,
U-Boat
, 25.

5
“The scratches on the steel walls”: Neureuther and Bergen,
U-Boat Stories
, 145.

LUSITANIA: RENDEZVOUS

1
Its walls were covered: See details in “Saloon (First Class) Accommodations,” under “Lusitania Accommodations,” at Lusitania Resource,
www.rmslusitania.info/lusitania/accommodations/saloon
.

2
Theodate found a copy: Letter, Pope to Ada Brooks Pope, June 28, 1915, Riddle Papers. Pope’s letter provides one of the most detailed accounts of shipboard life and the sinking that I was able to locate.

3
The paper devoted:
New York Sun
, May 1, 1915.

4
“The President was entirely unaware”: Ibid.; see also Berg,
Wilson
, 347–49.

5
A German drive:
New York Sun
, May 1, 1915.

6
“Whatever else could they expect”: Katz,
Dearest
, 103.

7
“Under no circumstances”: Ibid.

8
“Passengers are informed”: Ibid., 109.

9
“to head off American travel”:
New York Sun
, May 1, 1915.

10
“That means of course”: Letter, Pope to Ada Brooks Pope, June 28, 1915, Riddle Papers.

11
“My!… The mail I got today”: Letter, Huston to “Ruth,” May 1, 1915. This compelling bit of
Lusitania
arcana was provided to me by Geoffrey Whitfield. The letter is published in Kalafus, Poirier et al.,
Lest We Forget
.

12
“swirling mist-veils”: Bisset,
Commodore
, 45.

13
Turner was under orders: “Answers of the Petitioner to the Interrogatories Propounded by May Davies Hopkins,” Petition of the Cunard Steamship Company, April 15, 1918, U.S. National Archives–New York, 3, 9; Memorandum, “ ‘
Lusitania
’—American Proceedings,” Admiralty Papers, ADM 1/8451/56, National Archives UK; minute, Nov. 19, 1914, Cunard Archives.

ROOM 40: CADENCE

1
Intercepted Position Reports: Minute Sheet: U-20, Ministry of Defence Papers, DEFE/69/270, National Archives UK.

PART II: JUMP ROPE AND CAVIAR

U-20: “THE BLIND MOMENT”

1
By 8:25
A
.
M
., Sunday: Schwieger, War Log.

2
Simple enough in concept: For additional details about diving, see Forstner,
Journal
, 20–27; Koenig,
Voyage
, 51–58; Neureuther and Bergen,
U-Boat Stories
, 174.

3
as little as seventy-five seconds: Bailey and Ryan,
Lusitania Disaster
, 120.

4
Certain older boats: Koerver says that boats built before U-20, numbered U-5 to U-18, all powered by gasoline, took “several minutes” to dive (
German Submarine Warfare
, xxxvii). Breemer says, “By 1914 a diving time of five minutes or less had become standard for a boat when fully surfaced, about one minute from an awash condition” (
Defeating the U-Boat
, 14).

5
“suicide boats”: Koerver,
German Submarine Warfare
, xxxvii.

6
Commander Paul Koenig recalled: Koenig,
Voyage
, 51–58.

7
a reddish light: Spiegel,
Adventures
, 15.

8
“Well, we seem to have arrived”: Koenig,
Voyage
, 54.

9
To speed the process: Thomas,
Raiders
, 33.

10
with an angry growl: Koenig,
Voyage
, 27. He calls it a “furious” growl.

11
“the blind moment”: Ibid., 31; Forstner,
Journal
, 75.

12
“some of the most nerve-racking”: Neureuther and Bergen,
U-Boat Stories
, 118.

13
U-20 emerged: Schwieger, War Log.

LUSITANIA: A SUNDAY AT SEA

1
the “long course”:
New York Times
, Sept. 12, 1909.

2
Timing was crucial: “Answers of the Petitioner to the Interrogatories Propounded by May Davies Hopkins,” Petition of the Cunard Steamship Company, April 15, 1918, U.S. National Archives–New York, 4; Ramsay,
Lusitania
, 227.

3
Theodate Pope awoke: Letter, Pope to Ada Brooks Pope, June 28, 1915, Riddle Papers.

4
Second-class passenger William Uno Meriheina: Meriheina’s letter was reprinted in an unidentified news article “Saves 15 Lusitania Passengers, Then Writes to Wife from Raft,” held by the New-York Historical Society, New York, NY. It is excerpted as well in Kalafus et al.,
Lest We Forget
.

5
“A braver man”: Kalafus et al., “William Meriheina: An Inventive Survivor,”
Encyclopedia Titanica
, March 29, 2014,
www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/documents/william-meriheina-an-inventive-survivor.pdf
.

6
“We have passed”: “Saves 15 Lusitania Passengers, Then Writes to Wife from Raft,” unidentified news article, New-York Historical Society, New York, NY.

7
into the crow’s nest: Testimony, Charles E. Lauriat Jr, Petition of the Cunard Steamship Company, April 15, 1918, U.S. National Archives–New York, 87.

8
On Sunday, the ship’s first full day: Lauriat,
Lusitania’s Last Voyage
, 3.

9
“At this rate”: Quoted in “Mr. Charles Emelius Lauriat, Jr.,” under “People,” “Saloon (First Class) Passenger List,” at Lusitania Resource,
www.rmslusitania.info/people/saloon/charles-lauriat
.

10
He looked them over: Lauriat, Claim. Lauriat’s claim before the Mixed Claims Commission numbers hundreds of pages and contains many details about his journey, down to the number of bags he brought with him and where he stored them. His claim also provides insights into his dealings with Thackeray’s daughter and granddaughter.

11
“absolutely necessary”: “Answers of Petitioner to Interrogatories Propounded by Hunt, Hill & Betts,” Petition of the Cunard Steamship Company. April 15, 1918, U.S. National Archives–New York, 58.

12
expressly prohibited from “gossiping”: Memorandum, to Captain and Staff Captain,
Lusitania
, Nov. 21, 1914, Cunard Archives, GM 22/1/1.

13
“
Ships should give
”: “Answers of the Petitioner to the Interrogatories Propounded by May Davies Hopkins,” Petition of the Cunard Steamship Company, April 15, 1918, U.S. National Archives–New York, 5; “Memorandum as to Master’s Actions,” Admiralty Papers, ADM 1/8451/56, National Archives UK.

14
“in a place where it can be destroyed”: “Instructions for Owners and Masters,” Admiralty Papers, ADM 1/8451/56, National Archives UK. A May 1915 Admiralty memorandum entitled “Notes on Mines and Torpedoes” instructs ship captains on how to treat a torpedo found floating in the sea. The first, and possibly wisest, bit of advice: “Do not hit it on the nose.” Bailey/Ryan Collection.

15
This was an effective maneuver: Telegram, Adm. John Jellicoe to Admiralty, March 23, 1915, Churchill Papers, CHAR 13/62/83. In his telegram, Jellicoe recounts the sinking of U-29 and praises the “seamanlike handling” of the
Dreadnought
, but nonetheless urges that the sinking be kept secret. In telegraphic prose, he writes: “It must be very disconcerting to the enemy when submarine disappeared and cause of loss not known.”

16
“It is not in any way dishonorable”: “Instructions for Owners and Masters,” Admiralty Papers, ADM 1/8451/56, National Archives UK.

17
“No ocean-going British merchant vessel”: Ibid.

18
“War experience has shown”: Confidential Memorandum, April 16, 1915. Admiralty Papers, ADM 1/8451/56, National Archives UK; “Answers of the Petitioner to the Interrogatories Propounded by May Davies Hopkins,” Petition of the Cunard Steamship Company, April 15, 1918, U.S. National Archives–New York, 5–6.

19
Cunard’s lawyers later would hedge: “Answers of Petitioner to Interrogatories
Propounded by Hunt, Hill & Betts,” Petition of the Cunard Steamship Company, April 15, 1918, U.S. National Archives–New York, 4.

20
little impression:
Lusitania
seaman Leslie Morton, for example, wrote in a letter to the Associated Press that “zig-zagging for merchant ships had not at that time been introduced, also a ship traveling at sixteen knots or over was considered by practice and precedent to be safe from submarine attack.” Morton to Associated Press, May 15, 1962, Morton Papers, DX/2313, Merseyside.
   During Cunard’s limit-of-liability trial in New York, Thomas Taylor, a Cunard captain, testified that merchant captains did not begin zigzagging until five months
after
the sinking of the
Lusitania
. Asked whether he would have considered doing so before the disaster, he said, “No, we would not have done it. We never thought of it up to that time.” Testimony of Thomas M. Taylor, Petition of the Cunard Steamship Company, April 15, 1918, U.S. National Archives–New York, 907, 911, 915.

21
“I took a look around”: Letter, Dwight Harris to Mother, May 10, 1915, Harris Papers.

ROOM 40; QUEENSTOWN; LONDON: PROTECTING ORION

1
“There will be less moon”: Telegram, Henry Francis Oliver to Jacky Fisher, May 2, 1915, Admiralty Papers, ADM 137/112, National Archives UK.

2
“in view of the submarine menace”: Telegram, Henry Francis Oliver to Adm. John Jellicoe, May 2, 1915, Admiralty Papers, ADM 137/112, National Archives UK.

3
Oliver would send explicit warnings: Beesly,
Room 40
, 100; Ramsay,
Lusitania
, 246.

4
declared it clear on April 15: Beesly,
Room 40
, 96–97.

5
Admiral Oliver issued orders: Ibid., 100.

6
That Sunday: Ibid.

7
the Admiralty also tracked: Telegram, St. Marys Scilly to Admiralty, May 2, 1915, 4:05
P
.
M
., Admiralty Papers, ADM 137/112, National Archives UK; telegram, St. Marys Scilly to Admiralty, May 2, 1915, 6:07
P
.
M
., Admiralty Papers, ADM 137/112, National Archives UK; Telegram, Admiral, Devonport to Admiralty, May 2, 1915, 10:22
P
.
M
. Admiralty Papers, ADM 137/112, National Archives UK; ledger, “Subs,” May 2, 1915, 10:27
A
.
M
., 4:05
P
.
M
., and 6:07
P
.
M
., Admiralty Papers, ADM 137/4101, National Archives UK.