Thunderstruck - Erik Larson [183]
Marconi’s station at Poldhu: Baker, History, 159.
“Calls for assistance”: Marconi Co. of Canada Annual Report, Year-Ended January 31, 1915. File 191, 2–48. Annual Reports. Archives Canada, MG 28 III 72 Vol. 6.
In 1917 a German submarine: Hancock, Wireless, 91. Marconi himself may have been a target of the Imperial German Navy. In April, 1915, Marconi booked passage on the Lusitania and sailed to New York to testify in a patent lawsuit his company had brought against a competitor. While he was there, German officials warned that if the Lusitania reentered English waters, it would be torpedoed. A rumor circulated that the Germans planned to capture Marconi. On May 7, a German submarine did indeed sink the Lusitania.
Later that month, Marconi learned that Italy had entered the war. He was still in New York. He excused himself from the patent fight and sailed back to London aboard his old favorite, the St. Paul. He took the German threat against him seriously, however, and traveled incognito. From England he crossed to Italy, where he was put in charge of the Italian army’s wireless operations. Baker, History, 171.
“The past had been dead”: Marconi, My Father, 232.
Marconi sold their house: According to Degna Marconi, the sale was devastating. Degna recalled one day walking past the house just as the move was under way. “The door of our old home stood open and I went into the front hall. Most of the furniture had been taken away, and in its place were crates covered with dust. In a corner a few books we had once loved had been dumped like so much trash. Lamps with broken shades and letters in my father’s handwriting littered the floor. Mother, too sad to attend to the home that was being destroyed, had left the packing to the servants.” Degna wrote this in 1962. “I still feel grief for myself, a child standing alone in that derelict house.” Marconi, My Father, 234.
“I would like to wish”: Marconi, My Father, 252.
“They only want”: Ibid., 269.
“Young man”: Baker, History, 185.
“What a world we live in”: Sir Henry Morris-Jones. “Diary of a visit to Canada and the U.S.A., 1926.” Archives Canada, MG40 M22 Microfilm Reel A-1610.
“I admit that I am responsible”: Aitken, Syntony, 272.
The climax of the day: Marconi, My Father, 294.
As he aged, Marconi became aloof: Baker, History, 295.
“Listen for a regularly repeated signal”: Isted, I, 54.
“I am very sorry”: Indianapolis Times, July 20, 1937. Indiana State Library.
Amelia Earhart: Ibid.
That night the gloom: Ibid.
“I was unobserved”: Marconi, My Father, 311
FLEMING AND LODGE
“a fighting fund”: Lodge to Preece, June 15, 1911. Baker Collection: Further Papers of Sir William Henry Preece. IEE-NAEST 021.
“They are clearly infringing”: Ibid.
“I agree with every word”: Baker, Preece, 304–5.
“I am delighted to hear”: Preece to Lodge, October 24, 1911. UCL, Lodge Collection, 89/86.
“I love you”: Lodge, Raymond, 205.
“Father, tell mother”: Ibid., 207.
“I recommend people”: Ibid., 342.
The book became hugely popular: Lodge’s biographer, W. P. Jolly, put it nicely: “Seldom can a work of research and philosophy have been more opportunely published, when almost everyone in England was mourning the loss of some friend or relative.” Jolly, Lodge, 205.
“It is quite clear”: Fleming to Lodge, August 29, 1937. UCL, Lodge Collection, 89/36.
“Marconi was always determined”: Ibid.
CODA
VOYAGER
For the second time: Cullen, Crippen, 191.
After arriving in New York: Ibid., 199–201.
ONE OF THE GREAT PRIVILEGES of hunting detail is the opportunity for travel to far-flung places that do not typically appear on the itineraries of tour companies. In Oxford, for example, I had the happy experience of being allowed to use the New Bodleian Library, which is only a billion years old and is not to be confused with the Old Bodleian Library. Gaining access required a bit of perseverance. Well in advance I had to fill out an application and find a “Recommender” to vouch for me. On arrival, I had to read