Dead Wake

1 Schwieger and his crew: Schwieger, War Log.



PART III: DEAD WAKE

THE IRISH SEA: ENGINES ABOVE

1 Early Friday morning a number of passengers: “Statement of Mrs. Theodore Naish,” Lusitania Papers, Microcopy 580, Roll 187, U.S. National Archives–College Park; “Statement of Maude R. Thompson,” Lusitania Papers, Microcopy 580, Roll 187, U.S. National Archives–College Park; Ramsay, Lusitania, 77.

2 “We had been told”: “Statement of Mrs. Theodore Naish,” Lusitania Papers, Microcopy 580, Roll 187, U.S. National Archives–College Park.

3 “I do not like this”: Ibid.

4 “As the horn was blowing”: Lauriat, Lusitania’s Last Voyage, 5, 69–70.

5 “just the loom of the land”: Testimony, Leo Thompson, Petition of the Cunard Steamship Company, April 15, 1918, U.S. National Archives–New York, 673.

6 “Number and directions”: Telegram, Kilrane to Director Naval Intelligence, London, May 7, 1915, “Home Waters: General Operation Telegrams,” May 6–10, 1915, Admiralty Papers, ADM 137/113, National Archives UK.

7 Booth quit breakfast: Testimony, Alfred Booth, “Investigation,” Lines 262–65, 276–77; “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, 1, 3.

8 “Submarines active”: Telegram, May 7, 1915, 11:25 A.M., cited in “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, 8.

9 “It was a beautiful day”: Lauriat, Lusitania’s Last Voyage, 70.

10 “just flat as a billiard table”: Francis Burrows, interview, Lusitania, BBC Written Archives Centre.

11 “The view was grand”: “Narrative of Mrs. J. MacFarquhar,” Lusitania Papers, Microcopy 580, Roll 197, U.S. National Archives–College Park.

12 “All of a sudden”: Schwieger, War Log.

13 A seven-year-old girl: As you perhaps have guessed, these and other details that follow also come from lists of belongings recovered from the unidentified dead of the Lusitania. “Unidentified Remains,” R.M.S. Lusitania: Record of Passengers & Crew, SAS/29/6/18, Merseyside; “Lusitania: Effects of Unidentified Bodies,” in Wesley Frost to William Jennings Bryan, June 4, 1915, decimal file 341.111L97/37, U.S. National Archives–College Park.

14 “I pinned the big diamond brooch”: Letter, Dwight Harris to Mother, May 10, 1915, Harris Papers.

15 “I replied that his word”: “Statement of Mrs. Theodore Naish,” Lusitania Papers, Microcopy 580, Roll 187, U.S. National Archives–College Park.

16 “Submarines 5 miles south”: “Memorandum as to Master’s Actions,” Admiralty Papers, ADM 1/8451/56, National Archives UK.

17 At his periscope: Schwieger, War Log.

18 “After I was through swearing”: Thomas, Raiders, 96.

19 “Unusually good visibility”: Schwieger, War Log.

LONDON; WASHINGTON: THE KING’S QUESTION

1 “We spoke of the probability”: Seymour, Intimate Papers, 1:432; also in Ramsay, Lusitania, 77–78.

2 “Suppose they should sink”: Seymour, Intimate Papers, 1:432; Cooper, Walter Hines Page, 306; Ramsay, Lusitania, 78.

3 severe shortage of artillery shells: Keegan, First World War, 199; Churchill, World Crisis, 437.

4 “incurring unjustifiable risks”: Churchill, World Crisis, 437.

5 “Without actually taking part”: Ibid.

6 “suffering from every form of horrible injury:” Ibid., 438.

7 “In this clear morning air”: Letter, Wilson to Galt, May 7, 1915, Wilson Papers.

THE IRISH SEA: FUNNELS ON THE HORIZON

1 U-20 moved: Schwieger, War Log.

2 “At first I thought”: Thomas, Raiders, 97.

3 “Ahead and to starboard”: Schwieger, War Log.

4 At about 1:30 P.M.: Bailey and Ryan, Lusitania Disaster, 143.

5 But as he watched: Robert Kay Account, courtesy of Mike Poirier.

6 “I suggested that the passengers”: Kessler, quoted in Kalafus et al., Lest We Forget.

7 Just as Pilot Lanz arrived: Schwieger, War Log.

8 That the ship “was not sent”: Ibid.

9 Charles Lauriat went to lunch: Lauriat, Lusitania’s Last Voyage, 73.

10 “A young Englishman at our table”: Letter, Pope to Ada Brooks Pope, June 28, 1915, Riddle Papers.

11 “While at table”: Letter, Dwight Harris to Mother, May 10, 1915, Harris Papers.

12 “talking about Submarines”: Letter, Gadsden to Mrs. Prichard, July 4, 1915, Prichard Papers.

13 “volunteered to point her out”: Letter, Grace French to Mrs. Prichard, Sept. 10, 1915, Prichard Papers.

14 “I replied that Mr. Prichard”: Letter, Grace French to Mrs. Prichard, Sept. 19, 1915, Prichard Papers.

15 They joked as they hunted: Ibid.

16 Schwieger estimated: Schwieger, War Log.

LUSITANIA: BEAUTY

1 “At five minutes to four bells”: Morton, Long Wake, 103.