TO ATTEMPT TO WRITE A BOOK about an event that occurred almost a hundred years ago at first seems a daunting task. However, the encouragement and help I received from institutions and persons, and their willingness to respond to requests, has made such a book possible. I am very grateful to all of these people; some contributed a vast amount of information, while others offered a single piece of specialised information or suggested a rainbow that often led to a crock of gold.
I owe an immeasurable debt of gratitude to my late colleague and friend John Light of Boston. Without Johns contribution, chapters eight and nine of this book could not have been written. I am indebted to Muriel Light and her family for permission to quote from Johns findings relating to aluminium powder and munitions. Sadly, Muriel passed away in December 1997, before this books completion. The multitudinous documentation sent to me by John Light has relieved me of a great burden in searching the records to unearth data. I am especially indebted to Mrs Beesly for granting me permission to quote from the private letters of the late Patrick Beesly (to John Light) with regard to British Intelligence in 1915 and the machinations of Room 40. Patrick Beeslys book of the same name is pre-requisite reading for any serious student of the Lusitania story. I would like to thank Mr Hibberd of the Imperial War Museum for providing solutions to major problems in relation to shrapnel on the Lusitania, and detailed information on the use of aluminium fine powder for explosives manufacture at the Royal Laboratory at Woolwich in support of the 191418 war. Mr Hibberd deciphered numbers, notations and weights indicated on the Lusitanias munitions invoices, and explained, in plain language, their true meaning. I am also indebted to Larry Dorgan, former CQMS 11th Infantry Division Irish Army, and his then colleague CS Gus ODonnell. These gentlemen contributed greatly to my knowledge of First World War artillery shells, shrapnel and percussion fuses.
I wish to thank Oceaneering Contractors and their team for inviting me on board their diving vessel Archimedes during their 1982 diving exploration of the Lusitania. I want to thank Oceaneering diver Frank Mulcahy, who loaned me brass percussion fuses, which he recovered from the wreck and in which he allowed me to drill holes for inspection purposes, to validate their inert nature. I wish to thank National Geographic and Bruce Norfleet for inviting me as a guest to witness their exciting film work on the Lusitania in 1993. Also Bob Ballard for allowing me to tour the Lusitania in the armchair comfort of his control module on board the ROV support ship, Northern Horizon. I wish to thank National Geographic consultants Eric and Bill Sauder whose knowledge of vintage liners and photographic archive of Lusitania pictures are second to none. I am enriched by having met these two specialists during their visit to Ireland, and privileged to have shared their knowledge and valued opinions. I would like to thank the London Technical Diving Team, led by Polly Tapson, for their valued diving observations in the vicinity of forward cargo hatches numbers one and two on the Lusitanias foredeck, and survey carried out on portions of number one boiler room. I would like to acknowledge Tim Cadogan, former Cork County Librarian, for making available much-valued material for my Queenstown chapter and also for details relevant to rescue craft. I would like to thank Mr Dermot Lucey MA, of Cork, for allowing me to quote from his paper Lusitania Shock Waves. This valuable paper provides insight into the mood and attitude of the people in Ireland around the time of the disaster. I would like to thank fellow Lusitania author, and military historian, Graham Maddocks of Liverpool for his valued comments and contribution to my book. Chris Doncaster of Sheffield provided the entire story of the Manx fishing boat Wanderer and the heroic role it played in the rescue of survivors. I would like to thank Noel Ray, Luke Cassidy and Geoff Whitfield of the Cobh Titanic Society for providing information and statistics on the Queenstown dead following the loss of the Lusitania. Michael Galvin kindly allowed me to quote from his book Black Blight. My gratitude to Mr John James of Kinsale for bringing to my attention his sensational discovery of yet another variation of a Lusitania medal lampooning British propaganda in Sweden. Doctor John De Courcy Ireland kindly gave me a copy of Lieutenant Weisbachs hand-written account of his experiences inside the U-20 as it stalked and torpedoed the Lusitania; he also read my final manuscript and suggested some additions which I have since included in this book. I am indebted to Doctor Paul Cartwright of the Chillworth Technology and Research Centre of Southampton; this company was most generous in making available scientific data on the explosibility of aluminium fine powder. I would like to thank chemical engineers Ron Klaus, of Eli Lilly, for providing me with instructions that enabled me to fabricate a dust-cloud explosion test chamber and Barry Welch, also of Eli Lilly, for much scientific data on aluminium. Michael OConnell of Micro Mist also made a substantial contribution to my bulging aluminium file. I wish to acknowledge the Bureau of Mines in Pittsburgh for providing a detailed paper on the ability of aluminium powder to produce hydrogen gas when brought into contact with water. Finally, I wish to thank Paddy Duggan, chemistry teacher, for hazarding the science laboratory of Bandon Vocational School, and possibly his job, by running test experiments on aluminium powders potential to explode violently.
I would like to acknowledge the following institutions: the Bundesarchiv, Koblenz; the Merseyside Maritime Museum; the National Maritime Museum; St Petersburg Maritime Museum; the Scottish Records Office; the National Archives, Washington; Liverpool University; the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, New York; Cork County Library; the Public Records Office, Kew; the Royal Navy Submarine Museum, Gosport; Trinity College, Dublin; the Imperial War Museum, London; Glasgow University; and the British Museum.
I am indebted to Commander Richard Compton-Hall RN, author of several books on submarines, and Britains foremost authority on 1915 submarines. Richard provided me with a fascinating insight into the appalling conditions of squalor and discomfort endured daily by submariners of the Great War. Richard was an ex-submariner and wrote a definitive book on J.P. Holland, the Irish submarine inventor. I would like to acknowledge Alan Roddie for much expertise and computer wizardry in scanning and adjusting my text to meet 21st-century publisher requirements and for research in TCD archives on my behalf. I would like to thank renowned author Eddie Burke for researching the Robson papers at Trinity College, Dublin, on my behalf. I am indebted to ex
