Lusitania Steward

[PhilB]

My mother-in-law always said her cousin, a steward, went down with the Lusitania. As he was serving on an (allegedly) purely civil ship, would he have qualified for a Merc Marine, BWM pair? And plaque? Phil B

[spithead]

QUOTE (Phil_B @ May 28 2007, 09:27 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

My mother-in-law always said her cousin, a steward, went down with the Lusitania. As he was serving on an (allegedly) purely civil ship, would he have qualified for a Merc Marine, BWM pair? And plaque? Phil B

Hello Phil B

A Bronze Mercantile Medal was awarded to the survivors of the Lusitania crew and also to the next of kin of the members of the crew who were drowned. Not sure on eligibility of other awards, but I do have a list of the crew who perished which I could check if required.

Regards John

[PhilB]

Thanks, John. Presumably a plaque as well. And a BWM? Phil B

Name: ALMOND, JOHN

Initials: J

Nationality: United Kingdom

Rank: 1st Class Waiter

Regiment/Service: Mercantile Marine

Unit Text: S.S. "Lusitania" (Liverpool)

Age: 26

Date of Death: 07/05/1915

Additional information: Son of John and Alice Almond, of 66, Cherry St., Blackburn, Lancs.

Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead

Memorial: TOWER HILL MEMORIAL

[veeb]

Hi Phil B,

Have you looked him up on here: www.rmslusitania ? Just put him in as a ' name search ' and you get whether found, where buried etc.,

Veeb

[spithead]

Have him listed as coming from blackburn.

Regards John

[per ardua per mare per terram]

If the medals were claimed on his behalf they will be listed on the microfiche MICs at Kew in BT 351 Board of Trade: Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen: Index of First World War Mercantile Marine Medals and the British War Medal.

The merchant marine was treated badly by medal awarding authorities in WWI; someone posted the rules for qualifying for the plaque for someone in the Merchant Marine, but I can't find them. I think there was also a special scroll for them.

[PhilB]

I looked him up on www.rmslusitania.info. There were 115 waiters listed of whom 53 survived, about a half. One wonders what factors would account for half dying and half surviving, as they were presumably in similar situations. Phil B

[espiegle]

The merchant marine was treated badly by medal awarding authorities in WWI; someone posted the rules for qualifying for the plaque for someone in the Merchant Marine, but I can't find them. I think there was also a special scroll for them.

The scroll was quite different to the normal military one. It was larger, all script in red and name at the bottom. I have one somewhere at home, I will see if I can find it and scan it on the site.

Regards

Andrew

[historydavid]

Hello Phil,

There many reasons for not surviving a torpedo hit on your ship.

1 being killed or badly injured in the initial blast (or subsequent fire).

2 inability to make it to the boat deck (fire, smoke, damage, darkness, other people. all mitigating against).

3 there were insufficient life boats.

4 if you ended up in the water, its temperature and the prevailing weather.

5 even if you managed to stay afloat, not being picked up by rescue craft.

In the case of the Lusitania there were many passengers, who got priority (supposedly) over crew for the life boats. Some of the life boats tipped and sank, putting the occupants in the water.

Can't remember whether the Lusitania listed after the hit, but if it did then the life boats on the high side would have been useless.

All told over 1200 lost their lives.

Best wishes

David

[PhilB]

Ref:- http://web.rmslusitania.info:81/pages/breakdown.html

These figures indicate that survival rates were Saloon Passengers 38.9%, 2nd Cabin 39.7%, 3rd Class 36.0%, total passengers 38.3%. Band 60%, Engineering Crew 35.8%, Victualling Crew 45.2%, total crew 42.1%. I`m not sure what to make of that? Is it reasonable to assume that most passengers were high in the ship whereas most crew were lower down and thus more vulnerable? Phil B