27 “I left my coffee and nuts”: Testimony, Frederic J. Gauntlett, Petition of the Cunard Steamship Company, April 15, 1918, U.S. National Archives–New York, 115.
28 The two first-class elevators: There is debate as to exactly what happened in these two elevators. Preston quotes one of the ship’s bellboys as saying, “We could hear their screams coming up—they knew they were trapped.” She also quotes a passenger’s statement that the elevators were “filled with passengers screaming.” Certainly, the loss of electric power would have stopped the elevators and would have provided a truly terrifying moment for passengers within. But Lusitania expert Mike Poirier questions whether anyone was in fact trapped or killed in the elevators. He bases his skepticism on the absence of additional corroborating accounts in the scores of statements made by passengers after the disaster. The debate, however, cannot be settled in any definitive way. Preston, Lusitania, 210.
29 The scores of men: There is, however, no debate about what happened with this elevator, and in the luggage room.
30 “rush of water”: Ramsay, Lusitania, 214.
31 By one estimate, at least 70 portholes: Ibid., 215.
32 “A strange silence prevailed”: Irish Independent, May 7, 1955.
FIRST WORD
1 “ ‘LUSITANIA’ in distress”: “Copies of Telegrams Relative to Sinking of S.S. Lusitania,” Lusitania Various Papers, Admiralty Papers, ADM 137/1058, National Archives UK.
2 “ ‘Lusitania’ S.E. 10 miles sinking”: Telegram, Galley Head to Admiralty, May 7, 1915, Churchill Papers, CHAR 13/64.
3 “ ‘Lusitania’ torpedoed”: Telegram, Naval Center Queenstown to Admiralty, May 7, 1915, Churchill Papers, CHAR 13/64; also, Ledger, “Subs,” Admiralty Papers, ADM 137/4101, National Archives UK.
LUSITANIA: DECISIONS
1 Ogden Hammond: Testimony, Ogden H. Hammond, Petition of the Cunard Steamship Company, April 15, 1918, U.S. National Archives-New York, 171–78; letter, Ogden H. Hammond to Joseph F. Tumulty, May 21, 1915, Lusitania Papers, Microcopy 580, Roll 197, U.S. National Archives–College Park.
2 The boat contained: Testimony, Leslie Morton, June 16, 1915, 17, “Investigation”; James H. Brooks, “Statement or Story on the Sinking of the Lusitania,” Lusitania Papers, Microcopy 580, Roll 197, U.S. National Archives–College Park; testimony, Isaac Lehmann, Petition of the Cunard Steamship Company, April 15, 1918, U.S. National Archives–New York, 297.
3 “It is the captain’s orders”: This segment of dialogue was reported by Isaac Lehmann in Ibid., 297–98.
4 “I took a look at things”: Letter, Dwight Harris to Mother, May 10, 1915, Harris Papers.
5 “The deck suddenly looked very strange”: Letter, Pope to Ada Brooks Pope, June 28, 1915, Riddle Papers.
6 “We walked close together”: Ibid.
7 “Come Robinson”: Ibid.
8 another readout of the spirit gauge: Testimony, Hugh Robert Johnston, June 16, 1915, 19, “Investigation.”
9 “My God”: Hugh Johnston, interview, Lusitania, BBC Written Archives Centre.
10 “Save yourself”: Hugh Johnston, interview, Lusitania, BBC Written Archives Centre; testimony, Hugh Robert Johnston, June 16, 1915, 19, “Investigation.”
U-20: SCHWIEGER’S VIEW
1 “I took my position”: Thomas, Raiders, 97.
2 “It would have been impossible”: This sentence seems so unlike something Schwieger would write that it has prompted some Lusitania scholars to wonder whether he, or someone else, altered his log after the fact. But, as it is in the log, and I am in no position to know for certain whether he did in fact touch up the log to improve his future stature in the eyes of history, I quote it here. Schwieger, War Log.
LUSITANIA: THE LITTLE ARMY
1 The floor was canted: Lauriat, Lusitania’s Last Voyage, 14, 78.
2 “The steamer was all the time rapidly settling”: Ibid., 17.
3 “Never could one realize”: Statement of Mr. A. J. Mitchell, May 14, 1915, Lusitania Papers, Microcopy 580, Roll 197, U.S. National Archives–College Park.
4 Lauriat stood on a seat: Lauriat, Lusitania’s Last Voyage, 82–83.
5 “Please will you show me”: Newspaper account, “Knox Describes Lusitania’s End,” provided by Mike Poirier, quoted in Kalafus et al., Lest We Forget.
6 Norah Bretherton: Statement of Norah Bretherton (n.d.), Lusitania Papers, Microcopy 580, Roll 197, U.S. National Archives–College Park.
7 “I opened my eyes”: Letter, Pope to Ada Brooks Pope, June 28, 1915, Riddle Papers.
8 “The gulls were flying overhead”: Kalafus et al., Lest We Forget.
9 “It got blacker and blacker”: Grace French Account, Lennox Herald, May 1975, courtesy of Mike Poirier.
10 “I had no feeling of fear”: Letter, Dwight Harris to Mother, May 10, 1915, Harris Papers.
11 For the family of Joseph Frankum: Liverpool Weekly Mercury, May 15, 1915.
12 “I clung to my wife”: Ibid.
13 “gently and vaguely”: Mackworth, This Was My World, 244.
14 “Well, you’ve had your thrill”: Ibid.