A Higher Form of Killing (53 page)

“A burst . . . witness.”: Ibid., p. 145.

 
“death . . . conjure.”: J. Spiess quoted in Thomas,
Raiders of the Deep
,
p. 11.

 
“advisedly simpler.”:
Engineering
,
July 19, 1907.

 
“lavish . . . British.”: The Cunard
Daily Bulletin
is in the Cunard archive.

 
“looked about . . . any incident.”: Letter from O. Hanson to A. A. Hoehling, June 13, 1955, Mariners’ Museum, Newport News.

 
A copy of the manifest and “Supplemental Manifest” are in the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library in New York.

 
“practically all . . . some kind”: Letter from A. J. Peters, Treasury Department, to R. Lansing, May 8, 1915, NARA.

 
“the ship . . . sunk.”: Evidence of A. Booth Wynne (T).

 
The quote from the
Times
about the warning is from the edition of May 3, 1915.

 
“The reference . . . and fast as the
Lusitania
.
”: Frost,
German Submarine Warfare
, p.186.

 
The rumor that the stowaways were German spies is included in the sworn statement of C. T. Hill made in Queenstown to Frost on May 10, 1915, NARA.

 
By May 5 . . . fired upon”: The quotes in these two paragraphs are from the
U-20
’s war diary, German Military Archive, Freiburg.

 
The timing of the receipt of information about the sinking of the
Candidate
is in file ADM 187/1058, as are the signals sent to the
Lusitania.

The war diary . . . unobserved. The quotes in this paragraph are from the
U-20
’s war diary, German Military Archive, Freiburg.

 
Vice Admiral Coke describes sending the messages in a report of 1915, in file ADM 137/113.

 
“To all . . . Fastnet.”: file ADM 137/1058.

 
“bloody monkeys.”: Letter from A. Bestic to A. A. Hoehling, June 10, 1955, Mariners’ Museum, Newport News.

 
May Barwell’s message is in file ADM 187/1058.

 
“on entering the war zone . . . Royal Navy”: NARA.

 
“of course . . . alarm.”: Quoted in Hickey and Smith,
Seven Days to Disaster
,
p.155.

 
Smoking was still considered very much a male pleasure. It was only seven years since the O’Sullivan Ordinance had forbidden women in New York City to smoke in public.

CHAPTER TWELVE—“THEY GOT US THIS TIME, ALL RIGHT”

 
The questor/westrona exchange and the other messages are in file ADM 137/1058.

 
The description of the precautions taken by Captain Turner are from his evidence to Lord Mersey in 1915 and to Commissioner Wynne in 1917.

 
“for ships . . . the water”: Evidence of Neil Robertson to Wynne.

 
“You could catch . . . submarines around.”: Interview given by Quartermaster Hugh Johnston to BBC.

 
The description of Sir Alfred Booth’s thoughts and actions comes from his evidence to Wynne.

 
The description of Colonel House’s activities on the morning of May 7, 1915, comes from his diary, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.

 
“submarines . . . at ten A.M.”: file ADM 187/1058.

 
The principles of the four-point bearing are well explained in a footnote to an article by P. B. Ryan in the
American Neptune
(vol. 35, 1975). He states that a “point” equals 11/4 degrees. A navigator can obtain his position by the four-point, or “bow and beam,” method. When a particular landmark is four points (or forty-five degrees) on the bow, a navigator takes a bearing and plots it on his chart. The ship must then maintain a steady course and speed until the landmark is broad on the beam (eight points or ninety degrees). A second bearing is then taken and plotted, effectively forming an isosceles triangle. The ship’s distance to the landmark is equal to the distance traveled by the ship between observations.

 
“unusually . . . beautiful weather.”: From the
U-20
’s war diary, RM97/578, German Military Archive, Freiburg.

Hermann Lepper, on watch that day, described what happened in an interview with the
Bochumer Anzeiger
on February 21, 1985.

 
“forest of masts and stacks . . . over the horizon.”: Schwieger, quoted Thomas,
Raiders of the Deep
,
p. 97.

“When the steamer . . . attack her . . . at that . . . we waited.”: Ibid.

 
“like the banging . . . day . . . a kind of a rumble”: Turner’s evidence to Wynne.

 
“we couldn’t see . . . a while: Interview given by Quartermaster Hugh Johnston to BBC.

 
“hard-a-starboard the helm”: Evidence of Hugh Johnston, Mersey (TO).

 
“keep her head into Kinsale.”: Deposition of Hugh Johnston, May 12, 1915, file ADM 137/1058.

 
“hard-a-starboard”: Evidence of Hugh Johnston, Mersey (TO).

 
“My God”: Hugh Johnston’s interview with the BBC.

 
come . . . Old Kinsale . . . 10 miles . . . Kinsale: Evidence of Radio Officer R. Leith, Mersey (TO).

 
“in a rocking motion . . . over and over and over”: Evidence of Mr. Duncan, Senior Third Engineer, Mayer (T).

“Clean bow shot . . . by the bow.”: From the
U-20
’s war diary, RM97/578, German Military Archive, Freiburg.

 
“trying . . . children everywhere.”: Quoted by J. Lawrence in an article in the
Coronet
,
March 1950.

 
“Find all the kiddies . . . boy . . . dashed . . . time.”: Quoted A. Hurd,
Murder at Sea
,
p. 10.

 
“Why fear . . . us.”: Quoted F. D. Ellis,
The Tragedy of the Lusitania
, pp. 38–39.

 
Up in the wheelhouse . . . bridge: All the quotes in this paragraph are from Quartermaster H. Johnston’s interview with the BBC or from his letter to A. A. Hoehling of September 25, 1955.

 
“was crowded . . . water”: J. McFarquhar, NARA.

 
“agonising . . . afloat.”: Bernard,
Current Opinion.

 
“mighty . . . whisper”: Interview given by bellboy Ben Holton to BBC.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN—“WILFUL AND WHOLESALE MURDER”

 
“swooped . . . eyes out.”: Letter from N. Turner, Captain Turner’s son to A. A. Hoehling, July 9, 1955, Mariners’ Museum, Newport News.

 
“flung . . . arm”:
New York Tribune
, May 9, 1915.

 
U.S. consul . . . survivors: The quotations in this paragraph are from Frost,
German
Submarine Warfare
, p. 187 and from his report to the U.S. State Department, May 11, 1915, NARA.

 
“as hard . . . we’re there.’ ”:
Cork Examiner
, May 18 1915.

 
“a perfectly blank expression”: Lauriat,
The “Lusitania’s” Last Voyage
, p. 34.

 
At the Cunard wharf . . . husband.: Frost,
German Submarine Warfare
, p. 211.

 
company . . . not accounted for: Note from U.S. State Department to W. Frost, NARA.

 
“We shall be at war . . . within a month.”: B. J. Hendrick,
The Life and Letters of
Walter Hines Page
,
vol. 2, p. 2.

 
“piles . . . wharves.”: Frost,
German Submarine
Warfare, p. 212.

 
The account of the Kinsale inquest is taken from the transcript of the “Proceedings of Coroner John J. Horgan’s Inquisition into the Death of Captain R. Matthews as a Result of the Sinking of R.M.S. Lusitania,” May 1915, in the Imperial War Museum, supplemented by reports in the
Times
weekly edition of May 14, 1915, and in the
Cork Examiner
of May 10, 1915. Coroner Horgan later joined the Coast Patrol Service to help in “bringing the criminals to justice” for the sinking of the
Lusitania.

 
The telegram requesting the stopping of the inquest was sent by Captain Webb and is in file ADM 137/113.

 
“as belated . . . against attack.”: J. J. Horgan,
Parnell to Pearse
,
p. 275.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN—“TOO PROUD TO FIGHT”

 
“extraordinary success”:
Frankfurter Zeitung.

 
“hundreds . . . lines.”:
Neue Preussische Zeitung
, May 10, 1915.