"I never realized how hard the parting would be."

Cunard's Commodore Sir James Charles was a charmingly affable mariner whose name became synonymous with the RMS Aquitania during much of the 1920s. A seaman of the highest caliber, future-Commodore Robert G. Thelwell summarized him as "the most remarkable man I served under in my life at sea." As Sir James neared his retirement in 1928, however, he began to have a premonition that he would die at sea. He even went so far as to buy a burial plot before his last voyage aboard "The Ship Beautiful."

As Aquitania neared Europe in mid-July 1928, the Commodore was heard to murmur, "I never realized how hard the parting would be" to his staff captain. Sir James was convinced of his imminent death.

Thelwell, a junior officer on that voyage, describes what happened at Cherbourg, France on July 15, 1928:

[Sir James] was obviously unwell but refused the pleas of his officers and the doctor to leave the bridge. He docked the ship but immediately had a severe internal hæmorrhage. On the short passage from Cherbourg he became worse and he was carried down the gangway unconscious at Southampton with only a few hours to live. He was a truly modest man. His headstone in the churchyard of the little village of Netley Marsh in the New Forest bears only his name and the dates of his birth and death.

It seems that the Commodore's premonition was indeed correct. Is there something about the sea that warns its servants of their coming deaths? This surely ranks as an interesting instance in the long - and sometimes bizarre - history of ocean travel.

References: Commodore Robert G. Thelwell, I Captained the Big Ships (London: Arthur Barker Limited, 1961), 36-37.

The Death of Second Officer Stark

Voyage 119 West of the Queen Mary saw a tragically fatal accident - this time involving one of the ship's elite deck officers.

It was in the later part of September 1949 as the ship steamed towards New York. Senior Second Officer William Stark was coming off duty and popped into the deck officers' wardroom to relax a bit and have a drink.

He settled in and told the steward that he wanted some gin and lime juice. The other man - not the officers' usual steward - went back to the pantry and complied. Unfamiliar with the setup, however, he didn't know that the unmarked gin bottle he pulled was actually filled with tetrachloride: used for cleaning rags and the like.

The steward returned and gave Second Officer Stark his drink. Unfortunately, Stark's cold prevented him from smelling tetrachloride's distinct "sweetness." He threw it back and knew right away that something was not right. Stark didn't think the situation was too serious and is said to have laughed about it to his colleagues; chances are that he never knew what he had drunk.

His condition grew worse as the hours dragged on, however, and he died a few days later on September 22, 1949.

The Last Survivor of the Lusitania Dies

Audrey Lawson-Johnston (née Warren Pearl), the last known survivor of the RMS Lusitania, died earlier today at the age of 95. The First World War was in full swing, and the famous Cunarder was just a few miles from the Irish coast when she was torpedoed by the U-20 on May 7, 1915: Lusitania sank in just 18 minutes.

Mrs. Lawson-Johnston's family was traveling to Great Britain when the disaster occurred. Her parents and brother survived, while her two sisters did not unfortunately. At only 3 months, there would have been no chance for the infant Audrey to survive on her own. She was saved, however, by nanny Alice Lines. The two women would remain close until the latter's death in 1997 at the age of 100. With Mrs. Lawson-Johnston dies the last living link to that long ago, wartime disaster.


References: "Last know Lusitania survivor, 95, dies." BBC News, January 11, 2011, under "UK," http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-12161194 (accessed January 11, 2011).