Unlucky mayo 13 lost lives on lusitania

THE 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania this week has prompted that very fine researcher and historian, Alan King, of Mayo County Library, to do some digging into the Mayo connections with the great liner.

Alan says that from records there appears to have been 13 victims and eight survivors from Co. Mayo. From the Castlebar area there were seven crew members who died, listed by Alan as follows.

Patrick Browne (24), Kilboyne, Castlebar, and Patrick Coyne (24), also from Kilboyne. Both Patricks were from the same village and were obviously mates who set off into the great big world of work and adventure together aboard one of the finest passenger liners that had ever been built in the early 1900s.

Four firemen, all from the Castlebar area, perished – Patrick Hopkins (25), Tawnyshane, Castlebar, Patrick Kearney (25), also from Tawnyshane, Patrick Campbell (35), Fisherhill, Turlough, and Jeremiah Sweeney (23), Cloontubrid, Turlough.

The seventh crewman from the Castlebar area to lose his life was Patrick Kearney (Carney) from Errew.

However, one crewman who did survive was Patrick Moran (24) from Errew. Patrick was working in the Liverpool dockyards when he joined the crew of the ill-fated vessel.

In 1966, Patrick told his story to John McHale of The Connaught Telegraph and what a glorious, graphic, recollection it turned out to be.

Early in 1915, Patrick signed up on the majestic liner as a £4/10 shillings a month fireman. He was attracted by the glamour of world travel, the better working conditions, the higher rates of pay.

In his bunk, after a gruelling four shift feeding boilers, Patrick heard a dull thud.

Fifty-one years later, he told his interviewer that he was knocked out of his bunk by the power of the German torepdo exploding.

“As the water swirled round his knees, the whole insides of the ship appeared to be going up into the air, debris rocketing up as high as 50 feet.

“In the passageway, people were choking with the fumes of cordite and swirling dust.

“Beside Patrick a woman yelled, 'My God, get me out of here’.

“The water was rising fast and the sea licked at the terrified passengers struggling to climb up the twisted ladders,” The Connaught Telegraph report continued.

Patrick managed to grab a lifebelt and get to the main deck. He ended up in the water and was eventually plucked from the sea, one of the luckier ones.

Patrick Moran died in 1966, two years after outlining in chilling detail the events of May 7, 1915, the day the mighty vessel went down.

His descendants still live in the Castlebar area.