Stowaways

Shortly after Lusitania left New York for the last time, three German stowaways were apprehended in the portside pantry.  They were interrogated by Detective-Inspector William Pierpoint, with Adolph Pederson serving as translator.  The stowaways refused to answer any questions.

The stowaways were locked below decks, presumably in a cabin as the Lusitania deck plans do not show a jail on board.

“The identity of the men is a mystery but there is little doubt that they were the photographic party ordered by Captain Boy-Ed and organized by Paul Koenig. The steward allocated to the portside pantry was Neil J. Leach [sic, his name was John Neil Leach].” (Simpson, page 116+.)  The names of the stowaways are not known, and they drowned when Lusitania was torpedoed.

The prisoners are also mentioned in Hickey and Smith, Ballard, and Preston.  Scholars often implicate Leach in the presence of the three Germans aboard, and the possibility remains that Leach was one of the three locked up.  While the “Distressed British Seamen” are of the same number as the seamen, they were unrelated and coincidental in number.

With the stowaways, the “official” death toll of 1,198 then already counts these men (plus some who were not actually on board), and the number 1,201 would count them twice and is incorrect.

Contributors:
Sue Keeler
Peter Engberg-Klarström
Judith Tavares

References:
Ballard, Robert D. and Spencer Dunmore.  Exploring the Lusitania.  Warner Books, 1995.

Hickey, Des and Gus Smith.  Seven Days to Disaster.  G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1981.

Preston, Diana.  Lusitania:  An Epic Tragedy.  Berkley Books, 2002.

Simpson, Colin.  The Lusitania.  Little, Brown, and Company, 1972.

 

10 thoughts on “Stowaways”

  1. Please see my comments on the third class passengers, re Distressed British Seaman. One, Mr Harold James Slight, a merchant seaman, was my grandmothers first husband. He definitely was not a German spy.

  2. Unless I am mistaken Leach was supposedly a steward on the Lusitania and he wnet on board with Stahl to examine the ‘copper?’ guns and to help him with his trunk. However, later when Leach’s room was searched his trunk was found. We must really take anything written by Simpson with an almost huge pinch of salt as most of what he wrote was entirely fictional. It is difficult to sort out fact and fiction..

    • I’ve stopped relying on Simpson. Far better is J. Kent Layton’s book “Conspiracies At Sea: Titanic and Lusitania”. Chapter 10 is worth the price of the book alone.

  3. Was it a mistake that two John Farrell’s were listed as survivors from engineering (firemen)?
    Would there have been two Farrell’s of the same name? Could they have been related. I believe one John Farrell could be related to my uncle Henry Farrell.

  4. Checking the Crew list I found only one german sounding name OSTERMAN, Mr. Jacob
    On the Victualing Crew list–other german sounding names: GIFTENBURG, Mr. Anton; GORST, Mr. Frederick William; KUPFENAGEL, Mr. Alfred Felix C.

    If Leach was one of the three “spys” possibly indeed the other two were sympathic members of the crew…

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