14 “My own personal loss”: Letter, Alfred A. Booth to Charles P. Sumner, May 8, 1915, D42/C1/1/66, Part 2 of 4, Cunard Archives.
15 “is sad beyond expression”: Letter, Charles P. Sumner to Alfred A. Booth, May 14, 1915, D42/C1/1/66, Part 2 of 4, Cunard Archives.
16 “a picture of peace”: Washington Times, May 10, 1915.
17 The family of Elizabeth A. Seccombe: “Identified Remains,” R.M.S. Lusitania: Record of Passengers & Crew, SAS/29/6/18, Merseyside; letter, Wesley Frost to U.S. Secretary of State, Sept. 17, 1915, decimal file 341.111L97/123-124, U.S. National Archives–College Park.
18 Of the 791 passengers: I computed these numbers on the basis of data provided in R.M.S. Lusitania: Record of Passengers & Crew, SAS/29/6/18, Merseyside.
19 “The place is alive”: Preston, Lusitania, 297.
20 “I can see his face”: Letter, Grace French to Mrs. Prichard, Sept. 10, 1915, Prichard Papers.
21 “I beg of you”: Letter, Theodate Pope to Mrs. Prichard, Feb. 4, 1916, Prichard Papers.
22 “I know you must be tempted”: Letter, Ruth M. Wordsworth to Prichard, July 9, 1915, Prichard Papers.
PART V: THE SEA OF SECRETS
LONDON: BLAME
1 “We sh’d pursue the Captain”: Annotation to telegram, Richard Webb to Cecil Spring-Rice, May 11, 1915, “Lusitania Various Papers,” Admiralty Papers, ADM 137/1058, National Archives UK.
2 “a brave but unlucky man”: Horgan, Parnell to Pearse, 274.
3 “willful and wholesale murder”: Ibid., 273.
4 “That august body”: Ibid., 275.
5 “proceeded along the usual trade route”: “Memorandum as to Master’s Actions,” May 8, 1915, Admiralty Papers, ADM 1/8451/56, National Archives UK.
6 “appears to have displayed”: Telegram, Richard Webb to Cecil Spring-Rice, May 11, 1915, “Lusitania Various Papers,” Admiralty Papers, ADM 137/1058, National Archives UK.
7 “Bare facts only”: Letter, Wesley Frost to William Jennings Bryan, May 11, 1915, Lusitania Papers, Microcopy 580, Roll 197, U.S. National Archives–College Park.
8 “I was struck by the fact”: Memorandum, “Statement of Captain W. A. Castle,” May 14, 1915, Lusitania Papers, Microcopy 580, Roll 197, U.S. National Archives–College Park.
9 “Merchant traffic must look after itself”: Independent, May 24, 1915.
10 “Have sunk off the South Coast of Ireland”: Images of the actual handwritten decodes may be found in the papers of the Ministry of Defence, DEFE/69/270, National Archives UK.
11 “My highest appreciation”: Ibid.
12 “by means of one torpedo”: Ibid.
13 Turner testified that by his own standards: Testimony, William Thomas Turner, June 15, 1915, 4, “Investigation.”
14 Carson let pass the fact: Bailey and Ryan, Lusitania Disaster, 143; telegram, Wesley Frost to William Jennings Bryan, May 9, 1915, Foreign Relations. In his telegram, Frost quotes a passenger’s statement, which began, “At 12 noon ship began to zigzag … off Irish coast.”
15 “I mean to say, we have the very great advantage”: Testimony, William Thomas Turner, June 15, 1915, 15, “Investigation.”
16 “exercised his judgment for the best”: Annex to the Report, Ministry of Transport Papers, MT 9/1326, “Investigation,” 9.
17 “still left the Lusitania a considerably faster ship”: Ibid., 7.
18 “He was very bitter”: Letter, Norman H. Turner to Adolf Hoehling, Sept. 18, 1955, Hoehling Papers.
19 “a damned dirty business”: Memorandum, Head of Naval Historical Branch, Oct. 25, 1972, Ministry of Defence Papers, DEFE/69/270, National Archives UK.
20 “one is left only with an unforgivable cock-up”: Beesly, Room 40, 121.
21 “As an Englishman”: Article and associated interview, Patrick Beesly, Misc. 162, Item 2491, Imperial War Museum.
22 “With regard to the question of convoy”: Memorandum, “ ‘Lusitania’—American Proceedings,” Admiralty Papers, ADM 1/8451/56, National Archives UK.
23 “Even one destroyer encircling the liner”: Irish Independent, May 7, 1955.
24 “The neglect to provide naval escort”: Bisset, Commodore, 46.
25 “It might … but it is one of those things one never knows”: Liverpool Weekly Mercury, May 15, 1915.
26 Testing done several years earlier: Bailey and Ryan, Lusitania Disaster, 101; Wood et al., “Sinking,” 179–80.
27 A more plausible theory: Ballard, Exploring the Lusitania, 194–95. Ballard’s book, by the way, has many compelling photographs (152–91) of what remains of the Lusitania at the bottom of the sea, taken during his exploration of the wreck in 1993.
28 Subsequent investigation by forensic engineers: Garzke et al., Titanic, 260–61; Wood et al., “Sinking,” 181–83, 187. Also see Annex to the Report, Ministry of Transportation Papers, MT 9/1326, “Investigation.”
29 This was Turner’s theory: Preston, Lusitania, 453.