A Terrible Beauty

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For Wiescka, with all my love.

For Roland and Kirsty; for Dan and Sarah; and for Luke. With thanks to An Garda Síochána for their good-humored help; and with deep appreciation to all of those people inCork who made us welcome.

"Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireas na daoine."

"People live in one another's shadow."

Irish proverb

Author's Note

The Cunard liner Lusitania set sail from New York on May 1, 1915, bound for Liverpool, England, even though the German authorities had published warnings in U.S. newspapers on the very morning of her departure. By this stage of the war, a considerable number of British merchant ships had already been sunk by German submarines, but it was thought that the Lusitania's superior speed would enable her to outrun any U-boat attack.

On May 7, as she approached southern Ireland, Captain William Turner was warned that there was U-boat activity in the area and that three British ships had already been sunk in the waters through which he intended to sail. However, he maintained his course and even-inexplicably-slowed down.

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