Mr.
GEORGE A. KESSLER, Saloon Class Passenger
[No Picture Provided]
George Kessler, the Champagne King, owned a wine import company called
George A. Kessler and Co. at 20 Beaver Street, New York City, United
States. He was married to Cora Parsons Kessler, and he also had a
brother-in-law named Samuel Roberts in the same city. In England,
Kessler had a house on the Thames
River at Bourne End. He often gave extravagant parties which
would
convert the Savoy into Venice or the North Pole.
On the Lusitania his cabin was A-23, which had cost $380.
Kessler often kept company with Fred and Mabel Pearsons.
Kessler was carrying with him two million dollars in stocks and
bonds, as he was a firm believer in keeping possessions within plain
sight. He told Purser James
McCubbin that it was "[m]uch safer this way."
On Sunday, 2 May, Kessler had seen the crew's lifeboat drill and asked
Purser James McCubbin, "It's all well drilling your drew, but why don't
you drill your passengers?"
McCubbin referred Kessler to Captain
Turner, and on Monday Kessler came to visit Turner in his day room
to ask about preparations made due to the "torpedo scare."
"Then I have a suggestion," Kessler said, "I think it would be an
excellent idea if each passenger was given a ticket listing the number
of the boat he should make for, in case, you know, anything untoward
happens."
Turner only gave the impression of being annoyed and replied firmly,
"The company has already considered such a suggestion, Mr. Kessler.
It was made to them after the Titanic disaster, but they
considered
it would not be practicable."
Kessler was not satisfied with Turner's answer and did not hesitate to
say so. Turner only responded with, "But Mr. Kessler, you must
understand that I could not possibly act on your advice unless I had
received authority."
A Marconigram arrived for Kessler on Wednesday, 5 May, stating thus:
"HAVE URGENT INSTRUCTIONS FROM NEW YORK TO SEE YOU IMMEDIATELY
KINDLY WIRE BY MARCONI NAME YOUR HOTEL LONDON SO THAT I CAN CALL ON YOU
ON ARRIVAL." Of course, as a wartime precaution, the Lusitania
only allowed passengers to receive messages, not to send them.
On Thursday 6 May, Kessler threw his own party in his cabin. In
attendance were Georgina Morell, Fred Gauntlett, Samuel Knox, Albert
Hopkins, Charles Lauriat, Theodate Pope, Edwin Friend, Isaac Lehmann, and Fred and Mabel Pearsons. Staff
Captain Anderson stopped by and George Kessler asked Anderson the
reason why Turner still had not introduced a lifeboat drill for the
passengers.
"Can you explain it?" Kessler asked Anderson.
"That is the Captain's decision." was all Anderson could say.
On the afternoon of 7 May, Kessler went to the smoking room for a game
of bridge. He had also bought the number 480 in the pool for
£20. Fred Pearsons and Charles
Klein
were also in the room, talking about church organs. Klein asked
Kessler, "Didn't you know that Fred and I are the Aeolian Company's
best customers?"
After the torpedo hit, Kessler went outside to find the deck "crowded
with passengers and wondering what was the matter." On the
starboard Boat Deck, he helped women into the lifeboats with Robert Timmis and Ralph
Moodie while smoking a cigar. Kessler did not really believe
that the ship was going to sink and told Timmis that he was only
helping the women "in a spirit of convention[.]"
When it became obvious that the ship was sinking, Kessler got into
a lifeboat only to be thrown out. Kessler believed that even with
his lifejacket, he sank twenty feet before rising to the surface.
George Kessler was then pulled into a collapsible and saw the Lusitania
slip beneath the waves. Startled, he at once blurted, "My God --
the Lusitania's gone!"
His collapsible, in the meantime, was not the most seaworthy of craft.
Even with its complement of eight men, six of them stokers, the
boat was half-filled with water. The men bailed as fast as they
could but could not prevent the craft from sinking underneath them.
The
crowd clamoring to get inside the boat climbed to fifty men and women.
They managed to right the craft, only to have it sink from
underneath them as they tried to bail it out again. Kessler lost
track of how many times this happened. He vowed that if he
survived, he would dedicate himself to helping victims of war.
Kessler was taken aboard the Bluebell. After his
collapsible had capsized and bailed out at least seven times only three
managed to
swim back at the very end. Nine others in the boat were long
since
dead.
While hospitalized in England, Kessler met Sir Arthur Pearson, a blind
English newspaper publisher. Pearson told Kessler about St.
Dunstan's, a center Pearson started for men who were blinded by the
war. After Kessler was reunited with his wife Cora in France, he
decided that he would help those soldiers who had been blinded by the
war. On 11 November 1915, George and Cora Kessler organized the
British, French, Belgian Permanent Blind Relief War Fund in Paris,
France. Leaving the European operations to French veteran Georges
Raverat, the Kesslers returned to the United States where they met
Helen Adams Keller, who gave them her full support. The Permanent
War Relief Fund's main office opened in Paris in 1918, and the American
office opened the following year as the Permanent Blind Relief War Fund
for Soldiers and Sailors of the Allies. Cora Kessler and Helen
Keller were founding trustees. The Kesslers and Keller continued
their fundraising efforts, and they established training programs for
Allied soldiers and sailors blinded in combat.
On 13 September 1920, Kessler died of an enlarged liver in Paris.
His estate received,
posthumously, $35 000 to compensate for four hours in the water, shock,
and contusions. William Cromwell succeeded Kessler in the
Permanent Blind Relief War Fund for Soldiers and Sailors of the
Allies. The Fund expanded to start serving civilians in 1925 and
became the American Braille Press for War and Civilian Blind. The
organization became the world's leading Braille press. European
efforts were temporarily brought to a standstill in World War II when
the Nazi requisitioned the Paris headquarters. When the Nazis
were melting down all metal for munitions, Raverat and his associates
hid the zinc plates needed to print Braille books until the liberation
of Paris in 1944.
Helen Keller continued to be actively involved in the cause, writing
books, lecturing, and appearing before state, national, and
international forums until her death in 1968.
Studies in the 1970s linking blindness with nutrition led the
organization to expand focus to blindness prevention and treatment
programs. The organization Kessler founded is known today as
Helen Keller International (also known as Helen Keller Worldwide),
working with scientists and doctors to save the sight and lives of the
disadvantaged and combat the causes of blindness.
On 11 September 2001, Helen Keller International's headquarters at 90
West Street, New York, New York were destroyed when the World Trade
Center towers collapsed in the terror attacks on the United
States. Archives of Helen Keller's letters, books, and
photographs were lost, as well as telephone, email, fax capabilities
and their electronic history and database. Fortunately, none of
their employees were hurt, but the organization was suddenly homeless.
Helen Keller International moved into 352 Park Avenue South in New York
on 22 October 2001. Amazingly, no international programs were
interrupted because of the terror attacks.
Related Links:
Helen Keller International
Contributors:
Michael Poirier
References:
Helen Keller International - History. Online. <http://www.hki.org/about_hkw/history.html>
Hickey, Des and Gus
Smith. Seven Days to Disaster. G. P. Putnam's Sons,
1981.
Hoehling, A. A. and Mary Hoehling. The Last Voyage of the Lusitania.
Madison Books, 1956.
"When the Aid Group is the Victim: Helen Keller Worldwide, A
Comeback Story." InterAction.org
Library. Online. <http://www.interaction.org/library/detail.php?id=897>
Preston, Diana. Lusitania: An Epic Tragedy.
Berkeley Books, 2002.
Vision 2020 - Helen Keller Worldwide. Online. <http://www.v2020.org/members/helenkeller.asp>
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