Impression
sketch of sinking of the Lusitania - by Jamie. The original can be seen at: http://www.illustratedfirstworldwar.com/timeline/1915-2/rms-lusitania-sunk/
Source: File: Lady Margaret Mackworth.jpg, 2015. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
[online]
Available at: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Mackworth,_2nd_Viscountess_Rhondda> [Accessed:
10 May 2015].
i
Among those aboard the RMS Lusitania,
A survivor stated sinking of the
ocean liner,
Deserved the condemnation of the
world.
Sailing 15 miles off the coast of
Ireland,
When either one or two torpedoes
struck.
Within a time of 15 minutes the boat
sank.
Mr Thomas travelling with his
secretary,
Mr Rhys Evans, who along with young
Lady Mackworth, was to survive
ordeal.
There was hardly any notice of the
blast,
As the decks became suddenly a wash -
Both men had taken to the same boat.
Where they joined many other
passengers,
To total up to sixty - while Lady
Mackworth
Had travelled with her father Mr
Thomas.
By the time Lady Mackworth had
reached
Deck, the boats angle made
difficulty
To move about as the ship went down.
Pulled under for a depth, she
surfaced
To swim to a piece of board to
provide
A corner to a man who held on for a
time.
The man must have moved away, when
Lady Mackworth then fell unconscious,
To wake floating above a deck chair.
For a while longer she drifted there,
To be unconscious once more -
For a long time she lay immersed.
For three hours the survivors waited
When up to twelve steamers arrived.
Captain Turner and Lady Mackworth
Found rescue on the same boat, while
Mr Thomas and Mr Evans gained
Safety on a nearby Manx fishing boat.
Such was the rapidity of the sinking,
There was a question of port side
boats,
Unable to have been launched properly.
Captain Turner had remained on
bridge
As the ship went down, to be rescued
Some hours later - saved by a
lifebelt.
Not knowing how it happened Lady
Mackworth found herself on a
trawler,
The Bluebird taking her to
Queenstown.
ii
A Lusitania Survivor to find himself
in cork,
Told how he had been at lunch, as
sound of
Torpedoes struck with loudness of a
boom.
Doctor Foss of Montana was one of a
party
Of Physicians, travelling to join
the Red
Cross In the field - when all heard
the noise.
Everyone in the luncheon saloon
paused,
Knowing they must have struck a mine
Or hit by a torpedo-the Doctor went
to deck.
Without waiting, he took a lifebelt
and leapt
Over the port side – he hit the
water close
To a propeller, as a released boat
crashed
Close , it broke as it hit water -
among
Some people one man clung to
wreckage;
The boat moved, as the propeller
lifted.
The man suffered cut legs from
spinning
Metal and clung to a rope as ship lurched.
A good swimmer the Doctor 'struck
out.'
The broken boat was dragged, as he
saw
Now people were jumping over the
side,
Women and children falling over 60
feet.
They struck water in a sheer drop -
Foss
Went to assist a woman and child - nearby
A boat on its keel - he helped them
aboard.
They struck water in a sheer drop -
Foss
Went to assist a woman and child -
to help
Aboard a nearby boat - safely on its
keel.
Within the boat were five male
members
Of the crew - Dr Foss turned about to swim
Some 300 feet to another boat of
women.
They were highly distressed - despite
trying
To pacify them, the boat capsized -
he held
One woman to the keel, then between
them
They righted to boat - with some
back aboard
Others remained in the sea – at a
quarter
Of a mile away was shape of a canvas
craft.
To move the
waterlogged boat he took
An oar and the woman the other, to
drive
Them towards the canvas shaped raft.
Together they watched the startling
site,
As they saw the Lusitania’s stern rise,
She filled with water to be pulled
down.
On moment of finally plunging Doctor
Foss
Saw men make a final leap of 70 feet,
falling,
Twisting into the sea - during those
moments
The Doctor saw a number of lifeboats
still
Attached to their blocks, across the
angled
Decks, without time given to release
them.
With the Lusitania now
gone, survivors
Were all scattered about - the
Doctor
Sought to keep those with him
occupied.
Manning a raft were a group of men -
one
Woman was in weak condition - The
doctor
Worked to revive her within forty
minutes.
Time elapsed in the calm flat sea -
finally
A steamer approached - gathering
people
To be taken on board the Indian
Empire.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1915. Mr D. A. Thomas’s Story – Launching
the Boats. Doctor's Narrative- Women Jump Overboard. The Daily Telegraph,
[online] 10 May. P.10. Col.
3-4. Available at
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11587055/Daily-Telegraph-May-10-1915.html
[Accessed: 10 May 2015].
Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 10 May 2015).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary
#worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Lusitania
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