by Erik Larson
As strange as such stories were, Hall wrote, “I am sometimes inclined to think that perhaps the strangest thing of all was the intelligence Division itself. For it was like nothing else that had ever existed.” “The Nature of Intelligence Work,” Hall 3/1, Hall Papers.
LUSITANIA: A CAVALCADE OF PASSENGERS
1 All these things were captured on film: The film, SS Lusitania on Her Final Departure from New York City, During World War I, can be viewed at CriticalPast.com (www.criticalpast.com/video/65675040085_SS-Lusitania_passengers-arrive-at-the-dock_passengers-aboard-SS-Lusitania_author-Elbert-Hubert). An agent for the Justice Department’s Bureau of Investigation (not yet the Federal Bureau of Investigation) watched this film twice in succession during a private showing at a theater in Philadelphia. The agent, Frank Garbarino, was struck by the detail it captured and believed it would provide all the information necessary to confirm that the film was not a fake. “It will be easy to identify many of the persons who were aboard the steamer by those who knew them intimately,” he wrote. “Furthermore we were able to distinguish the numbers of the license on three taxicabs which drove up to the pier with passengers and the features of the passengers as they emerged from the taxicabs are very clear. The license numbers of the taxicabs were 21011, 21017, 25225. It will be easy to ascertain what taxicab company has these licenses and they will probably have a record of the persons they took to the Cunard pier that morning.” Letter, Bruce Bielaski to Attorney General, June 27, 1915, Bailey/Ryan Collection.
2 Here came Charles Frohman: For details about Frohman and his life, see Marcosson and Frohman, Charles Frohman, throughout; also New York Times, May 16, 1915; Lawrence, When the Ships Come In, 126.
3 Another arrival was George Kessler: For an overview of Kessler’s flamboyant life as the “Champagne King,” see “Compliments of George Kessler,” American Menu, April 14, 2012 (courtesy of Mike Poirier); for the Gondola Party, see Tony Rennell, “How Wealthy Guests Turned the Savoy into the World’s Most Decadent Hotel,” Daily Mail, Dec. 17, 2007, www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-502756/How-wealthy-guests-turned-Savoy-worlds-decadent-hotel-shuts-100m-refit.html, and “The Savoy: London’s Most Famous Hotel,” Savoy Theatre, www.savoytheatre.org/the-savoy-londons-most-famous-hotel/ For reference to “freak dinners,” see Lexington Herald, May 16, 1915.
According to one account, Kessler had brought with him cash and securities valued at $2 million. Preston, Lusitania, 137.
4 “misconducting himself”: New York Times, May 26, 1908, and June 11, 1909.
5 “Just Missed It” club: “Titanic’s ‘Just Missed It Club’ an Elite Group,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 16, 2012, www.post-gazette.com/life/lifestyle/2012/04/15/Titanic-s-Just-Missed-It-Club-an-elite-group/stories/201204150209.
6 “Ships do have personalities”: Jack Lawrence’s memoir, When the Ships Came In, to which I was directed by Lusitania ace Mike Poirier, is really very charming and conveys a sense of New York’s vibrant maritime days in compelling fashion, to the point where a reader has to long for those days when dozens of ships nuzzled Manhattan’s Hudson River shoreline. Lawrence, When the Ships Came In; 116, see also 15, 16, and 117.
7 “to give satisfaction”: 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, 73.
8 “I’m about to become”: Lawrence, When the Ships Came In, 119–21.
9 “Alfred Vanderbilt may have been a riot”: Ibid., 124.
10 “The Lusitania is doomed”: Ibid., 125.
11 Lawrence came across Elbert Hubbard: Ibid., 123.
12 “When I showed it to him”: Ibid.
13 “When you are getting ready to sail”: Ibid., 122.
14 “A feeling grew upon me”: See “Not on Board,” under “People,” at Lusitania Resource, www.rmslusitania.info/people/not-on-board/.
15 A few others canceled: Ibid., and New Zealand Herald, June 26, 1915.
16 “From the very first”: Letter, A. B. Cross, published June 12, 1915, in Malay Mail, Doc. 1730, Imperial War Museum.
17 “there is a general system”: New York Times, May 1, 1915.
18 “Perfectly safe; safer than the trolley cars”: Testimony, Ogden Hammond, Petition of the Cunard Steamship Company, April 15, 1918, U.S. National Archives–New York, 166. For details about trolley accidents, see New York Times, Jan. 3, 1915; May 3, 1916; July 9, 1916.
19 “Of course we heard rumors”: May Walker, interview transcript, BBC Radio Merseyside, 1984, Imperial War Museum (with permission, BBC Radio Merseyside).
20 “looked personally after their comfort”: Letter, Charles P. Sumner to Alfred A. Booth, May 26, 1915, D42/C1/1/66, Part 2 of 4, Cunard Archives.
21 Theodate Pope: I came across several worthy accounts of Pope’s life and work. See Cunningham, My Godmother; Katz, Dearest; Paine, Avon Old Farms School; and S. Smith, Theodate Pope Riddle.
22 “You never act as other girls do”: Katz, Dearest, 25.
23 “the momentary effect”: Quoted in Cunningham, My Godmother, 53–54, and Katz, Dearest, 54.
24 “I have no memory at all”: Quoted in S. Smith, Theodate Pope Riddle, ch. 1, p. 3 (each chapter paginated separately).
25 “the greatest blot”: Ibid., ch. 2, p. 4.
26 “As it is my plan”: Ibid., ch. 4, p. 2; see full letter at Appendix B.
27 “I have wrung my soul dry”: Ibid., ch. 5, p. 1.
28 One incident in particular underscored: Katz, Dearest, 1.
29 “I am having such persistent insomnia”: S. Smith, Theodate Pope Riddle, ch. 6, p. 7.
30 “There is nothing like the diversion”: Katz, Dearest, 75.
31 “I was surprised”: Lauriat, Lusitania’s Last Voyage, 65–66.
32 Chandler joked: Lauriat, Claim.
33 “A thousand thanks”: Letter, Harris to “Gram and Gramp,” May 1, 1915, Harris Papers.
34 “was of that brand”: Lawrence, When the Ships Came In, 129.
35 “When a British skipper knows”: Ibid., 130.
ROOM 40: BLINKER’S RUSE
1 “An untried agent”: Record of Telegrams, April 24, 1915, Antwerp to Bruges, Antwerp Naval Intelligence Center, Admiralty Papers, ADM 137/4177, National Archives UK.
2 “So that’s what war looks like!”: von Trapp, To the Last Salute, 24.
3 At some point that day: Bailey and Ryan, Lusitania Disaster, 73, 83.
WASHINGTON: LOST
1 “I hope it will give”: Letter, Wilson to Galt, April 28, 1915, Wilson Papers.
2 “fill my goblet”: Letter, Galt to Wilson, April 28, 1915, Wilson Papers.
3 It had been particularly welcome: Levin, Edith and Woodrow, 58.
4 “Such a pledge of friendship”: Letter, Galt to Wilson, April 28, 1915, Wilson Papers.
5 “It’s a great privilege”: Letter, Wilson to Galt, April 30, 1915, Wilson Papers.
6 “a heaven—haven—sanctuary”: Levin, Edith and Woodrow, 55.
7 “From the first”: Wilson, My Memoir, 58.
8 “perhaps the weal or woe of a country”: Levin, Edith and Woodrow, 57.
9 “In order to fit yourself”: Ibid.; for a variation, see Wilson, My Memoir, 55.
10 “life giving”: Letter, Galt to Wilson, April 28, 1915, Wilson Papers.
11 She had never met a man: Schachtman, Edith and Woodrow, 78.
12 “no mean man in love-making”: Levin, Edith and Woodrow, 74.
13 “He’s a goner”: Starling, Starling, 44.
14 On Saturday, May 1: Gilbert, First World War, 154.
15 “In Flanders fields”: Quoted in ibid., 156.
16 By the end of the month: Ibid., 164.
17 “We are still in our old positions”: Ibid., 126.
18 Elsewhere, wholly a new f
ront: Ibid., 121, 135–36; Keegan, First World War, 238, 239.
19 a systematic slaughter: Gilbert, First World War, 142–43.
20 “It is difficult, if not impossible”: Lansing, Private Memoranda, April 15, 1915, Lansing Papers.
21 “A neutral in time of international war”: Ibid., April 29, 1915.
22 “German naval policy”: Link, Wilson: Struggle, 366.
23 “It was not thought in official quarters”: New York Times, May 2, 1915.
24 The ship remained afloat: Ledger, Messages Received, Admiralty Papers, ADM 137/4101, National Archives UK.
25 “lids”: Washington Herald, May 1 and 2, 1915.
26 “cool and clean”: New York Times, May 7, 1915.
LUSITANIA: UNDER WAY
1 “Dark brown hair”: Poster, “Lusitania Disaster. Information Wanted,” Prichard Papers.
2 “a most interesting face”: Letter, Theodate Pope to Mrs. Prichard, Feb. 4, 1916, Prichard Papers.
3 “rather dull”: Letter, Thomas Sumner to Mrs. Prichard, Oct. 28, 1915, Prichard Papers.
4 “He was a great favorite”: Letter, Henry Needham to Mrs. Prichard, May 20, 1915, Prichard Papers.
5 “counting the time”: Letter, Arthur Gadsden to Mrs. Prichard, July 4, 1915, Prichard Papers.
6 “Do you think all these people”: Hoehling and Hoehling, Last Voyage, 21; see also New York Times, May 6, 1915.
7 “Captain Turner … neglected his duty”: Letter, Oliver Bernard to Mrs. Prichard, Aug. 15, 1915, Prichard Papers.
8 While moving downriver: I culled these details of New York Harbor from a variety of sources, held at the New York Public Library main branch. These include Map of New York and Harbor, A. R. Ohman Map Co., 1910; Sea Chart, New York Bay and Harbor, 1910; Map of Depths, New York Bay and Harbor, U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, May 1914; Map, Manhattan, G. W. Bromley & Co., 1916, Plate 38; Map, New York City, 1910, Section 2, Plate 10, 1911. Interestingly, the last map makes a reference to “Sir Peter Warren Farm,” just above Fourteenth Street in Manhattan, once a vast tract of open land acquired in the eighteenth century by Warren, a British sea captain. May I offer a pointless observation: there is no farm in that location today.
9 Governors Island: In the interests of filling the reader’s mind with yet more useless knowledge, I’d like to note, here, that the 1960s comedy duo the Smothers Brothers—Tom and Dick—were born on Governors Island.
10 This being wartime: Preston, Lusitania, 136. There is scant information about these mysterious gentlemen. I was unable to find any source that identified them by name. It is also unclear exactly where they were held aboard ship, as the Lusitania had no formal “brig,” but all reports agree they were confined behind locked doors.
11 Alta Piper: See “Not on Board,” under “People,” at Lusitania Resource, www.rmslusitania.info/people/not-on-board/.
U-20: TOWARD FAIR ISLE
1 The boat’s ventilators: Spiegel, Adventures, 3.
2 “here and there rain and fog”: Schwieger, War Log. All references in this chapter to course, weather, wave heights, and so forth come from this log.
3 Men served as ballast: Neureuther and Bergen, U-Boat Stories, 126, 186, 195.
4 One boat, U-3: Rössler, U-Boat, 25.
5 “The scratches on the steel walls”: Neureuther and Bergen, U-Boat Stories, 145.
LUSITANIA: RENDEZVOUS
1 Its walls were covered: See details in “Saloon (First Class) Accommodations,” under “Lusitania Accommodations,” at Lusitania Resource, www.rmslusitania.info/lusitania/accommodations/saloon.
2 Theodate found a copy: Letter, Pope to Ada Brooks Pope, June 28, 1915, Riddle Papers. Pope’s letter provides one of the most detailed accounts of shipboard life and the sinking that I was able to locate.
3 The paper devoted: New York Sun, May 1, 1915.
4 “The President was entirely unaware”: Ibid.; see also Berg, Wilson, 347–49.
5 A German drive: New York Sun, May 1, 1915.
6 “Whatever else could they expect”: Katz, Dearest, 103.
7 “Under no circumstances”: Ibid.
8 “Passengers are informed”: Ibid., 109.
9 “to head off American travel”: New York Sun, May 1, 1915.
10 “That means of course”: Letter, Pope to Ada Brooks Pope, June 28, 1915, Riddle Papers.
11 “My!… The mail I got today”: Letter, Huston to “Ruth,” May 1, 1915. This compelling bit of Lusitania arcana was provided to me by Geoffrey Whitfield. The letter is published in Kalafus, Poirier et al., Lest We Forget.
12 “swirling mist-veils”: Bisset, Commodore, 45.
13 Turner was under orders: “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, 3, 9; Memorandum, “ ‘Lusitania’—American Proceedings,” Admiralty Papers, ADM 1/8451/56, National Archives UK; minute, Nov. 19, 1914, Cunard Archives.
ROOM 40: CADENCE
1 Intercepted Position Reports: Minute Sheet: U-20, Ministry of Defence Papers, DEFE/69/270, National Archives UK.
PART II: JUMP ROPE AND CAVIAR
U-20: “THE BLIND MOMENT”
1 By 8:25 A.M., Sunday: Schwieger, War Log.
2 Simple enough in concept: For additional details about diving, see Forstner, Journal, 20–27; Koenig, Voyage, 51–58; Neureuther and Bergen, U-Boat Stories, 174.
3 as little as seventy-five seconds: Bailey and Ryan, Lusitania Disaster, 120.
4 Certain older boats: Koerver says that boats built before U-20, numbered U-5 to U-18, all powered by gasoline, took “several minutes” to dive (German Submarine Warfare, xxxvii). Breemer says, “By 1914 a diving time of five minutes or less had become standard for a boat when fully surfaced, about one minute from an awash condition” (Defeating the U-Boat, 14).
5 “suicide boats”: Koerver, German Submarine Warfare, xxxvii.
6 Commander Paul Koenig recalled: Koenig, Voyage, 51–58.
7 a reddish light: Spiegel, Adventures, 15.
8 “Well, we seem to have arrived”: Koenig, Voyage, 54.
9 To speed the process: Thomas, Raiders, 33.
10 with an angry growl: Koenig, Voyage, 27. He calls it a “furious” growl.
11 “the blind moment”: Ibid., 31; Forstner, Journal, 75.
12 “some of the most nerve-racking”: Neureuther and Bergen, U-Boat Stories, 118.
13 U-20 emerged: Schwieger, War Log.
LUSITANIA: A SUNDAY AT SEA
1 the “long course”: New York Times, Sept. 12, 1909.
2 Timing was crucial: “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, 4; Ramsay, Lusitania, 227.
3 Theodate Pope awoke: Letter, Pope to Ada Brooks Pope, June 28, 1915, Riddle Papers.
4 Second-class passenger William Uno Meriheina: Meriheina’s letter was reprinted in an unidentified news article “Saves 15 Lusitania Passengers, Then Writes to Wife from Raft,” held by the New-York Historical Society, New York, NY. It is excerpted as well in Kalafus et al., Lest We Forget.
5 “A braver man”: Kalafus et al., “William Meriheina: An Inventive Survivor,” Encyclopedia Titanica, March 29, 2014, www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/documents/william-meriheina-an-inventive-survivor.pdf.
6 “We have passed”: “Saves 15 Lusitania Passengers, Then Writes to Wife from Raft,” unidentified news article, New-York Historical Society, New York, NY.
7 into the crow’s nest: Testimony, Charles E. Lauriat Jr, Petition of the Cunard Steamship Company, April 15, 1918, U.S. National Archives–New York, 87.
8 On Sunday, the ship’s first full day: Lauriat, Lusitania’s Last Voyage, 3.
9 “At this rate”: Quoted in “Mr. Charles Emelius Lauriat, Jr.,” under “People,” “Saloon (First Class) Passenger List,” a
t Lusitania Resource, www.rmslusitania.info/people/saloon/charles-lauriat.
10 He looked them over: Lauriat, Claim. Lauriat’s claim before the Mixed Claims Commission numbers hundreds of pages and contains many details about his journey, down to the number of bags he brought with him and where he stored them. His claim also provides insights into his dealings with Thackeray’s daughter and granddaughter.
11 “absolutely necessary”: “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, 58.
12 expressly prohibited from “gossiping”: Memorandum, to Captain and Staff Captain, Lusitania, Nov. 21, 1914, Cunard Archives, GM 22/1/1.
13 “Ships should give”: “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; “Memorandum as to Master’s Actions,” Admiralty Papers, ADM 1/8451/56, National Archives UK.
14 “in a place where it can be destroyed”: “Instructions for Owners and Masters,” Admiralty Papers, ADM 1/8451/56, National Archives UK. A May 1915 Admiralty memorandum entitled “Notes on Mines and Torpedoes” instructs ship captains on how to treat a torpedo found floating in the sea. The first, and possibly wisest, bit of advice: “Do not hit it on the nose.” Bailey/Ryan Collection.
15 This was an effective maneuver: Telegram, Adm. John Jellicoe to Admiralty, March 23, 1915, Churchill Papers, CHAR 13/62/83. In his telegram, Jellicoe recounts the sinking of U-29 and praises the “seamanlike handling” of the Dreadnought, but nonetheless urges that the sinking be kept secret. In telegraphic prose, he writes: “It must be very disconcerting to the enemy when submarine disappeared and cause of loss not known.”
16 “It is not in any way dishonorable”: “Instructions for Owners and Masters,” Admiralty Papers, ADM 1/8451/56, National Archives UK.
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.