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.