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 “zigzagging 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, “HandWritten 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.