Jack Pepper Discovers the Lusitania — Martin Tarpey

In finding out about himself, Jack Pepper and his friends are researching the fascinating history of his great grandfather, John Nelson Pepper in 1915. They discover that after the death of his mother when he was 7 years old, his father sent him and his 8 year old brother to a boarding school in Dublin. They were so badly treated there that they ran away from school.
The only way get back to England was to stowaway on a ship bound for Liverpool. Unfortunately they boarded the wrong ship, because the Annie was sailing to New York. But they made friends with Captain Boland and worked their passage across the U boat infested Atlantic; he arranged for them to come back on the Lusitania which was the next ship returning to England.
Captain Turner arranged for Mary, a ship's nurse to look after the boys and ‘mother them,' and a wonderful loving relationship developed between the three of them. The book describes what happened when the ship was torpedoed by the U 20, how Mary saved their lives when they all went into the sea and how the boys managed to save her from drowning.
The book is fiction but based on historical fact and describes how nearly 1,200 passengers were lost and only 764 saved. The story of the courageous work of seamen and fishermen is told as the youngsters research the many rescue attempts made. They also discover what happened to the U boat and its crew. The children learn a great deal about themselves by seeing how their ancestors faced their problems, enduring unbelievable hardship in their lifelong search for companionship, happiness and love.