Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania

by Erik Larson

  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.

  8 “The reference to the Lusitania”: Frost, German Submarine Warfare, 186.

  9 In fact, Wilson had by now: Link, Wilson: Struggle, 48, 120–22; Devlin, Too Proud to Fight, 318–19.

  10 “The blowing up of a liner”: Cooper, Walter Hines Page, 306.

  U-20: A PERILOUS LINE

  1 At 12:30 p.m. Sunday: All details in this chapter come from Schwieger, War Log.

  LUSITANIA: HALIBUT

  1 to “see that everything was clean”: Testimony, John I. Lewis, Petition of the Cunard Steamship Company, April 15, 1918, U.S. National Archives–New York, 598.

  2 “I remember putting an eye splice in”: Morton, Long Wake, 101.

  3 The Washington Times: Washington Times, May 3, 1915.

  4 “a very dyspeptic sort of fellow”: Letter, Grace French to Prichard, Sept. 10, 1915, Prichard Papers.

  5 On one voyage the menu: Menus, SAS/33D/2/13b, Merseyside.

  6 The company laid in a supply: All from Cunard Archives, D42/B4/45: Minutes, Feb. 18, 1915; March 10, 1915; April 21, 1915; May 5, 1915.

  7 Michael Byrne: Letter, Michael Byrne to William Jennings Bryan. June 8, 1915, Lusitania Papers, Microcopy 580, Roll, 197, U.S. National Archives–College Park.

  8 “war, and submarines”: Harold Smethurst, “Hand-Written Account,” DX/2085, Merseyside.

  9 “over consciousness”: S. Smith, Theodate Pope Riddle, ch. 1, p. 3.

  10 “Tears come”: Katz, Dearest, 20.

  11 “Cheer up”: Ibid., 19.

  12 Mitchell’s solution: Ibid., 22.

  13 “At first, and in some cases”: Mitchell, Fat and Blood, 42.

  14 “would do far better”: Mitchell, Wear and Tear, 47.

  15 “I am always happy”: Katz, Dearest, 22.

  16 “Live as domestic a life”: Knight, “All the Facts,” 277.

  17 “Never touch pen”: Ibid.

  18 “who so nearly drove me mad”: Ibid., 259. Although Gilman’s story dampened Mitchell’s popularity, it did not stop Woodrow Wilson, shortly after his 1912 election to the presidency, from undergoing an examination at Mitchell’s clinic. For over a decade Wilson had suffered small strokes and other events associated with an undiagnosed cerebral-vascular disorder, including one jarring moment in 1906 when, while president of Princeton, he temporarily lost vision in his left eye. Dr. Mitchell offered the prognosis that Wilson would not survive his first term. He recommended rest, exercise, and a healthy diet and advised the president to keep stress to a minimum. Link, “Dr. Grayson’s Predicament,” 488–89.

  19 “I find that my material world”: S. Smith, Theodate Pope Riddle, ch. 5, p. 1.

  20 “Pictures have been dead”: Ibid.

  21 “My interest in architecture”: Ibid.

  22 “tired of seeing”: Ibid.

  23 “I truly believe”: Letter, Pope to Ada Brooks Pope, June 28, 1915, Riddle Papers.

  24 “I can’t help hoping”: Mackworth, This Was My World, 242.

  25 “We noticed this with much surprise”: Ibid., 241–42.

  26 “one very smart navy blue serge”: Letter, Grace French to Mrs. Prichard, Nov. 12, 1915, Prichard Papers.

  27 “very short”: Letter, Grace French to Mrs. Prichard, Nov. 20, 1915, Prichard Papers. Mike Poirier contends this woman was Irish.

  28 “A party of us”: Letter, Olive North to Mrs. Prichard, Sept. 11, 1915, Prichard Papers.

  29 “I never saw him again”: Ibid.

  30 “There were so many on the ship”: letter, Gertrude Adams to Mrs. Prichard, undated, Prichard Papers.

  31 In the evening: Ramsay, Lusitania, 50.

  U-20: THE TROUBLE WITH TORPEDOES

  1 “Very beautiful weather”: Schwieger, War Log.

  2 Another indicator of velocity: At night, fast ships with all lights doused betrayed themselves by the glow of the white wake climbing their bows. The problem became acute when a ship passed through waters prone to the phosphorescence caused by certain marine organisms. Some U-boat men reported feeling a sense of awe upon seeing the bow wakes raised by speeding destroyers, even though destroyers were their most lethal opponents. One crewman called this “a lovely sight.” U-boat commander Georg von Trapp wrote that at such moments it seemed as though the destroyers were “wearing white mustaches.” Von Trapp, To the Last Salute, 75; Neureuther and Bergen, U-Boat Stories, 112, 199.

  3 According to a German tally: Translation notes, Arno Spindler, Der Handelskrieg mit U-Booten, Box 2, Bailey/Ryan Collection; Preston, Lusitania, 165; Richard Wagner, “Lusitania’s Last Voyage,” Log, Spring 2005, www.​beyondships.​com/​files/​hLUSITAN​IAartic​ler.​pdf, 3.

  4 One U-boat experienced three torpedo failures: “U-58: Interrogation of Survivors,” Admiralty Papers, ADM 137/4126, National Archives UK, 5.

  5 Another submarine: “Report of Interrogation of Survivors of ‘U.B. 109,’ ” Admiralty Papers, ADM 137/4126, National Archives UK, 7.

  6 Schwieger’s target: Schwieger, War Log.

  LUSITANIA: SUNSHINE AND HAPPINESS

  1 “Tuesday—Resumption”: “Saves 15 Lusitania Passengers, Then Writes to Wife from Raft,” unidentified news article, New-York Historical Society, New York, NY.

  2 “Tuesday: I didn’t write”: Letter, Huston to “Ruth,” May 1, 1915, Kalafus et al., Lest We Forget.

  3 “I think a happier company”: “Narrative of Mrs. J. MacFarquhar,” Lusitania Papers, Microcopy 580, Roll 197, U.S. National Archives–College Park.

  4 “As the days passed”: Lauriat, Last Voyage, 69.

  5 “I’d never seen”: Conner account, quoted in Kalafus et al., Lest We Forget.

  ROOM 40: THE ORION SAILS

  1 Admiral Oliver ordered the ship to depart: Telegram, Admiralty to C.-in-C. Devonport, May 4, 1915, and telegram, S
tockton to Admiralty, May 5, 1915, both in “Home Waters: General Operation Telegrams,” May 1–5, 1915, Admiralty Papers, ADM 137/112, National Archives UK.

  2 A succession of reports: Telegram, Admiralty to C.-in-C., May 4, 1915, telegram, Naval Center Devonport to Admiralty, May 4, 1915, telegram, Stockton to Admiralty, May 5, 1915, telegram, Orion (via Pembroke) to Admiralty, May 5, 1915, and telegram, C.-in-C. Home Fleet to Admiralty, May 5, 1915, all in “Home Waters: General Operations Telegrams,” May 1–5, 1915, Admiralty Papers, ADM 137/112, National Archives UK.

  3 On the morning of Sunday: Ledger, “Subs,” May 2, 1915, 10:30 A.M., and May 3, 2:30 A.M., Admiralty Papers, ADM 137/4101, National Archives UK; New York Times, May 3, 1915.

  4 “large sheet of flame”: Ledger, “Subs,” May 4, 1915, 3:32 A.M., Admiralty Papers, ADM 137/4101, National Archives UK.

  U-20: FRUSTRATION

  1 At 7:40 P.M., Tuesday: Schwieger, War Log.

  LONDON; BERLIN; WASHINGTON: COMFORT DENIED

  1 “The situation is curious”: Marder, From the Dreadnought, 266.

  Even their schedules clashed. Fisher’s best hours were the early morning, between 4:00 A.M. and breakfast; he also went to bed early, by nine at night. Churchill began work at eight in the morning, while still in his bed, and continued until 1:00 A.M. As Rear Adm. Sir Douglas Brownrigg recalled: “He presented a most extraordinary spectacle, perched up in a huge bed, with the whole of the counterpane littered with dispatch boxes, red and all colors, and a stenographer sitting at the foot—Mr. Churchill himself with an enormous Corona Corona in his mouth, a glass of warm water on the table by his side and a writing-pad on his knee!” (267).

  2 Churchill’s “energy and capacity”: “Lord Fisher and Mr. Churchill,” Hall 3/5, Hall Papers.

  Violet Asquith, daughter of Prime Minister Herbert Asquith, was a keen observer of her time and the men she encountered, including Churchill and Fisher.

  She quotes Churchill as saying, “I think a curse should rest on me because I am so happy. I know this war is smashing and shattering the lives of thousands every moment—and yet—I cannot help it—I enjoy every second I live” (quoted in Hough, Winston and Clementine, 286).

  She also has some choice observations to offer about Fisher. “I said both to my father and Winston that though I did not doubt Lord Fisher’s genius I thought him dangerous because I believed him to be mad” (quoted in Hough, Winston and Clementine, 284). On another occasion, she remarked, “What a strange man he is!” (quoted in Hough, Winston and Clementine, 306).

  One of her close friends, Archie Gordon, happened to take a voyage on the Lusitania in December 1908. He experienced something of a letdown. “I had hoped for novel sensations, experiences & acquaintances,” he wrote in a letter to her. “Instead, something closely resembling a hyper-dull hotel with the doors & windows shut.” The crossing was rough and uncomfortable at first, then improved. “The sea calmed, the sun came out, & people hitherto undreamt of came out like rabbits” (Carter and Pottle, Lantern Slides, 172).

  3 “Gradually we in the Admiralty”: “Lord Fisher and Mr. Churchill,” Hall 3/5, Hall Papers.

  4 “The state of affairs at Head Quarters”: Letter, Jellicoe to Sir Frederick Hamilton, April 26, 1915, Jellicoe Papers.

  5 “But he was seventy-four years old”: Churchill, World Crisis, 230.

  6 “I took him because I knew”: Hough, Winston and Clementine, 270.

  7 “great nervous exhaustion”: Churchill, World Crisis, 443.

  8 “He had evinced unconcealed distress”: Ibid.

  9 “Just look after ‘the old boy’ ”: Soames, Clementine Churchill, 157–58; Hough, Winston and Clementine, 270.

  10 “the constant bombardment”: Marder, Fear God, 209.

  11 “it has repeatedly occurred”: Telegram, James Gerard to William Jennings Bryan, May 6, 1915, Foreign Relations.

  12 “creamy lace”: Wilson, My Memoir, 61.

  13 “Cousin Woodrow looks really ill”: Ibid., 61–62.

  14 She nicknamed him “Tiger”: Ibid., 67.

  15 “Just as I thought”: Ibid., 61–62.

  16 “I don’t think he believed her”: Ibid., 62.

  17 “playing with fire”: Ibid.

  18 “an almost unqualified denial”: Telegram, William Jennings Bryan to Edward Grey, via Walter Hines Page, March 30, 1915, Foreign Relations; Link, Winston: Struggle, 347.

  19 the prompt release of an automobile: William Jennings Bryan to U.S. Consul General, London, May 3, 1915, Foreign Relations.

  20 “In the life and death struggle”: Link, Winston: Struggle, 119.

  21 “Together England and Germany are likely”: Ibid., 348.

  22 “No formal diplomatic action”: New York Times, May 5, 1915.

  23 “a sharp note”: Seymour, Intimate Papers, 1:432.

  LUSITANIA: THE MANIFEST

  1 “I shall never forget”: Hart, Gallipoli, 244.

  2 “I got back into the trench”: Ibid.

  3 “They crept right up”: Ibid., 210.

  4 By the time the Allied invading force: Keegan, First World War, 248.

  5 “The scene … was tragically macabre”: Hart, Gallipoli, 37.

  6 Here were muskrat skins: “Supplemental Manifest,” Bailey/Ryan Collection. For the insurance value of Hugh Lane’s paintings, see “Sir Hugh Percy Lane,” under “People,” “Saloon (First Class) Passenger List,” at Lusitania Resource, www.​rmslusitania.​info/​people/​saloon/​hugh-​lane/.

  7 “The army in France”: Churchill, World Crisis, 421, 447.

  8 The shrapnel shells were essentially inert: Wood et al., “Sinking,” 179–80.

  U-20: AT LAST

  1 Throughout the morning: Schwieger, War Log.

  SIGHTING

  1 “Small boat containing”: Telegram, Head of Kinsale to Admiralty, May 5, 1915, “Home Waters: General Operation Telegrams,” May 1–5, 1915, Admiralty Papers, ADM 137/112, National Archives UK.

  ROOM 40: SCHWIEGER REVEALED

  1 gunfire in the fog: Telegram, Naval Center to Admiralty, May 5, 1915, Lusitania Various Papers. Admiralty Papers, ADM 137/1058, National Archives UK. This spooky telegram reads: “Old Head Kinsale reports five forty three sounds of gunfire south, foggy, Brow Head.”

  2 The new message: Telegram, Head of Kinsale to Admiralty, May 5, 1915, “Home Waters: General Operation Telegrams,” May 1–5, 1915, Admiralty Papers, ADM 137/112, National Archives UK.

  3 The captain of a British ship: Telegram, Naval Center Queenstown to Admiralty, May 5, 1915, “Home Waters: General Operation Telegrams,” May 1–5, 1915, Admiralty Papers, ADM 137/112, National Archives UK.

  4 Now came a fourth message: Telegram, Naval Center Queenstown to Admiralty, May 5, 1915 (9:51 P.M.), “Home Waters: General Operations Telegrams,” May 1–5, 1915, Admiralty Papers, ADM 137/112, National Archives UK.

  5 A detailed record: Ledger, Ministry of Defence Papers, DEFE/69/270, National Archives UK.

  6 They accompanied the dreadnought: Telegram, Orion (via Pembroke) to Admiralty, May 5, 1915, “Home Waters: General Operation Telegrams,” May 1–5, 1915, Admiralty Papers, ADM 137/112, National Archives UK.

  7 The Orion continued: Ibid.

  8 “most important to attract neutral shipping”: Beesly, Room 40, 90; Ramsay, Lusitania, 202.

  LUSITANIA: HELPFUL YOUNG LADIES

  1 “wakened by shouts”: Letter, Pope to Ada Brooks Pope, June 28, 1915, Riddle Papers.

  2 “we mustered the cooks”: Testimony, John I. Lewis, Petition of the Cunard Steamship Company, April 15, 1918, U.S. National Archives–New York, 587.

  3 “The men were not efficient”: Myers account, quoted in Kalafus et al., Lest We Forget.

  4 “On Thursday morning”: “Narrative of Mrs. J. MacFarquhar,” Lusitania Papers, Microcopy 580, Roll 197, U.S. National Archives–College Park.

  5 “We were not issued with paint brushes”: Morton, Long Wake, 101. Mike Poirier contends Morton may in fact have encountered two Cromp
ton girls.

  6 A boy named Robert Kay: Robert Kay Account, courtesy of Mike Poirier. Special thanks also to Robert Kay.

  7 “It’s alright drilling”: New York Times, May 10, 1915.

  U-20: SPECTACLE

  1 Thursday morning, May 6: Schwieger, War Log.

  2 St. George’s Channel: Anyone interested in getting a better sense of where all these places and bodies of water are in relation to one another need only type the names into a Google search box.

  LUSITANIA: LIFE AFTER DEATH

  1 Theodate too was a member: For more on the Society for Psychical Research and on spiritualism at the end of the nineteenth century and the start of the twentieth, please see my own Thunderstruck, 386–87.

  2 “If you wish to upset the law”: Ibid., 11, 13, 401.

  3 Theodate claimed her own turban levitated: S. Smith, Theodate Pope Riddle, Notes, 8.

  4 In 1907, the year Theodate turned forty: Katz, Dearest, 69.

  5 Though only in his twenties: Ibid., 103; S. Smith, Theodate Pope Riddle, ch. 8, p. 1.

  6 “There were passages that illustrated”: Letter, Pope to Ada Brooks Pope, June 28, 1915, Riddle Papers.

  7 “All around us”: Quoted in “The Story of the Sinking of the Lusitania,” by Deborah Nicholson Lines Davison. Courtesy of Ms. Davison.

  8 As of noon Thursday: Memorandum, “ ‘Lusitania’—American Proceedings,” Admiralty Papers, ADM 1/8451/56, National Archives UK.

  U-20: CHANGE OF PLAN

  1 On Thursday afternoon: Schwieger, War Log.

  LUSITANIA: MESSAGES

  1 “Submarines active”: Telegram, Censor, Valencia to Admiralty, May 7, 1915, Lusitania Various Papers, Admiralty Papers, ADM 137/1058, National Archives UK.

  2 “Submarines off Fastnet”: Ibid.

  3 After dinner, Preston Prichard: Letter, Guy R. Cockburn to Mrs. Prichard, Sept. 6, 1915, Prichard Papers.

  4 On past voyages: “Programme in Aid of Seamen’s Charities,” R.M.S. Lusitania, Sept. 21, 1912, DX/728, Merseyside; “Programme of Entertainment,” April 21 and 22, 1915, D42/PR3/8/25, Cunard Archive.

  5 “I was keenly interested”: Lauriat, Lusitania’s Last Voyage, 5.

  6 Under certain conditions: Ramsay, Lusitania, 164.