Published first person accounts of the Lusitania sinking

[Tarn Stephanos]

When reading about any shipwreck, i prefer reading first person accounts- Id much rather read the account of someone who was there, over the account of an author who was born decades after the disaster occoured.

Thus for Titanic books, the Thayer,Gracie,Beesley,Lightoller and US and Brit testimonies are all i am interested in reading.

With Lusitania- i can find only one book written by a survivor- survivor Charles lauriet's fine 1915 book "Lusitania's last Voyage".

Im certain I heard of two other books about the Lusitania that were written by survivors, albiet published priavatly, hence the scarcity.

To the Lucy experts here, (Eric and Bill especially), how many books/pamplets do you know of about the Lusitania sinking that were written by survivors?

Thanks

Tarn Stephanos

 

[Randy Bryan Bigham]

One must not forget the celebrity passengers who wrote autobiographies or had early biographies published about them. While not devoted to the shipwrecks, these books all have intimate information pertaining to them. These are some I know of:

Titanic -

"The Letters of Archie Butt" (New York: Doubleday Page and Co.)was edited by L.F. Abbott and released in 1924.

William Thomas Stead's biographer Frederic White published "The Life of W.T. Stead" (Boston: Houghton-Mifflin) in two volumes in 1925.

Lucy, Lady Duff Gordon ("Lucile") wrote her memoirs "Discretions and Indiscretions" (London: Jarrold's Ltd and New York: Fred. A. Stokes, Co.)in 1932.

Lusitania -

Charles Frohman's brother Daniel published in 1916 "Charles Frohman: Manager and Man" (New York: Harper and Bros).

Sir Hugh Lane's aunt Lady Gregory published "Hugh Lane's Life and Achievements" (London: John Murray) in 1921.

Felix Shay's biography "Elbert Hubbard of East Aurora" (New York: W.H. Wise) was released in 1926 with a foreword by Henry Ford.

Hubbard's sister wrote "The Elbert Hubbard I Knew" (East Aurora) in 1929.

Margaret, Lady Mackworth, later Viscountess Rhondda, wrote her life story "This Was My World," in 1933 (London: Macmillan).

As to writers publishing works many years afterwards. Sometimes that is an advantage as previously unpublished letters, documents and other material in private hands are made available to these authors. Without the exploration of modern day researchers, many facts about these disasters and the people who were involved in them would not now be known.

 

[Tarn Stephanos]

I think there was another...There was an autobio of a man who I believe was a steward on the Lusitania- it was a green book with a drawing oif a sailing ship on the cover- oddly enough the Lusitania account was only a chapter or two...I saw the book years ago, I just can't remember the name..

regards


Tarn Stephanos