Sir,—Lar Joye, in his item on the Lusitania (Artefacts, HI 23.3, May/ June 2015), refers to the torpedoing of the RMS Leinster in 1918 ‘with the loss of 178 lives’. This is a common error made by referring to an official 1919 publication on vessels lost at sea, which omits military deaths. Phillip Lecane, in his meticulously researched book Torpedoed! The RMS Leinster Disaster (2005), records at least 501 deaths (he puts the true figure closer to 530), the majority of whom were military. Amongst those who perished was my uncle, who was a postal sorter, and my wife’s grandfather, an RMC orderly, in what was (and remains) the greatest loss of life ever in the Irish Sea.—Yours etc.,
DERMOT QUINN
Sutton
1671 Irishman Col. Thomas Blood stole the Crown Jewels of England from the Tower of London. Having switched sides during the English Civil War, during which he gained a reputation for intrigue and espionage, Blood lost most of his lands with the Restoration and thereafter conducted a terror campaign against the Stuart establishment. None of his operations were remotely successful. A conspiracy to take Dublin Castle and stage a coup d’état was easily foiled, forcing him to flee to the Continent with a bounty of £1,000 on his head. A year later he reappeared in a kidnap attempt on the duke of Ormond in London, which was also unsuccessful, as was an attempt to assassinate the king as he was taking a dip in the Thames. The theft of the royal regalia was similarly botched. Pursued by the guards, with the crown, globe and sceptre stuffed under their clothing, he and his accomplices were promptly arrested. Yet in terms of outcome the botched robbery was his one big success. Refusing to speak to anyone except the king himself, he admitted to all of his conspiracies and warned the king that he had many friends who would ‘expose his majesty … to the daily fear and expectation of a massacre’. On the other hand, were he free to use his experience in the spying profession as a secret agent for the royal administration, he could prevent such attacks. And his arrogance prevailed. Charles was won over and accepted his offer. Blood lived in comfort on a generous royal allowance for another decade. Whether his services were of any use is not known.