Mr.
ERNEST SEDGEWICK COWPER, Second Cabin Passenger
Ernest Cowper
and Helen Smith in Queenstown.
image: New York Times, Sunday, 30 May 1915.
Ernest Cowper, 32, was a Toronto newspaperman who wrote for Jack
Canuck. His publisher, Richard Rogers,
was traveling with him (Not
Percy Rogers, as previously suggested). Cowper was on his way to
Europe to be a war correspondent.
Although he was traveling second cabin, he ofter crossed over to saloon
to interview Elbert Hubbard,
the "Sage of East Aurora." Hubbard called Cowper "Jack" after the
title of the publication Cowper was writing for and the two became fast
friends.
Hubbard told Cowper about his plan to recreate the voyage for his
magazine, The Philistine, by cabling his Lusitania
Diary from London. Ernest filled pages and pages of his
notebook with quotes from the sage, including Hubbard's thoughts on the
possibilty of the Lusitania being torpedoed, of which Hubbard
was sure would not happen. When pressed why Hubbard believed so,
the sage answered, "The Germans have done some darned bad things since
the war started, but I don't believe they're all that bad."
On Friday, 7 May, Cowper crossed into saloon to get one last interview
with Hubbard. His search was delayed by a conversation with his
publisher, Richard Rogers. They then saw a conning tower about
1000
yards off and streak of white foam heading towards the Lusitania.
During the sinking, a few women came rushing forward asking Cowper
what to do. He wasn't sure, so he asked the first uniformed
member
of the crew that he saw, whom he believed to be the doctor. The
man
just answered, "All I know is that we should get ready to leave -- now!"
If Cowper were still on the second class deck at this time, the man
that he saw could not have been the Lusitania's doctor, Dr.
James McDermott. At this time McDermott was in the saloon class
stairway telling people to keep calm.
The ship listed so heavily that Cowper saw a man in a lifebelt slide
across the deck on all fours. Just then, a six-year-old girl ran
towards him, pleading, "Please mister, will you take me with you?"
The girl, Helen Smith, had been separated from her parents.
Ernest took Helen to a corner of the second cabin promenade and
told her, "Wait here, Helen. I'll be right back. Then you
can come with me."
Ernest ran down two flights of stairs to his cabin to find a lifebelt
for Helen, but his room was in complete darkness and had to abandon his
search. He made his way back up to the promenade deck, empty
handed. He eventually found a lifebelt and found Helen right
where he had left
her. Helen was overjoyed, exclaiming, "You came back to me, just
like
you said you would!"
With Helen, Cowper passed Elbert and Alice Hubbard. Elbert said,
"Well,
Jack, they have got us. They are a damn sight worse than I ever thought
they
were.”
Cowper asked, "What are you going to do?"
Elbert shook his head. Alice just smiled and replied, "There does
not
seem to be anything to do."
Cowper was then taken by surprise when he saw Elbert and Alice retreat
into
a room on the Boat Deck and close the door behind them. Cowper
surmised
that the Hubbards planned to die together and did not want to be parted
in
the water.
A boat on the starboard side was ready to take Helen and Ernest even
though it was hanging from the ship with a very large gap in between.
Ernest
tossed Helen to Elizabeth Hampshire,
explaining, "She asked me to save
her. Says she can't find her mother and father or baby sister
Bessie,
but her grandparents'll be waiting in Liverpool."
Ernest then got in the boat himself and helped to push the boat away
from the side of the Lusitania as the boatswain cut through the
ropes with his knife.
In Queenstown, Ernest searched the town looking for Helen's parents.
He and Helen were both unaware that Helen's entire family had
been lost. Around the town, Helen chatted "gaily about
submarines, declaring that she had often seen them in moving pictures."
Cowper's story is in an article in The New York Times, Sunday,
9 May 1915. A year after the loss of the Lusitania,
Ernest wrote a tribute to Elbert Hubbard, which can be found online in
this outside link: <http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/2216/clsctexts/Hubbard_Lusitania.htm>
Contributors:
Michael Poirier
Judith Tavares
References:
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.
Preston, Diana. Lusitania: An Epic Tragedy.
Berkeley Books, 2002.
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