Mr.
ARCHIBALD DOUGLAS DONALD, Second Cabin Passenger
[No Picture Provided]
Archibald Donald, called Archie by his friends, was a Scotch-Canadian
in his early twenties at the time of the Lusitania's sailing.
He had been a structural engineer working for the Truscon-Steel
Company in
Boston, Massachusetts, United States. He was enroute to officers'
training at Edinburgh University, Scotland.
Onboard the Lusitania, Archie Donald shared a room with John
Wilson, his roommate at Cambridge, and George Bilbrough. The
ventilation
system was not up to par, so Donald spent most of his time playing
bridge.
Occasionally he would stop to eat, walk the decks, and socialize.
His group would begin dealing every morning at 10, take an
afternoon
intermission "to be with the ladies" and then continue the cards into
the
wee hours of the night. Donald's bridge partners included Wilson,
Bilbrough, and Reverend Herbert L. Gwyer.
On the day of the disaster, Archie Donald was finishing lunch in the
company of Reverend Gwyer, the reverend's wife Margaret, and Lorna
Pavey.
Lorna was eating a grapefruit when the torpedo hit. To
Donald,
there was no sound of an explosion, only a shattering of glass as if
someone
had fallen through a "glass house."
Everyone in the dining room knew what had happened and got up from
their seats. Soon afterwards the lights went out. Minor
screams and people stumbling in the darkness ensued. Reverend
Gwyer put his hand on Donald's shoulder and suggested in a calm voice,
"Let us quieten the
people."
The two men moved to the door of the dining saloon and yelled at the
top of their voices that everything was going to be all right and there
was no need for panic. Donald and Gwyer didn't really believe
what
they were saying, but the crowd calmed down and filed out of the room
quickly
and orderly, like a "regiment of soldiers."
Meanwhile, the list of the ship was worsening and china and tableware
slid off the table and crashed onto the ground.
One woman fainted as she passed Archie. Her husband was with her
so he took her by the shoulders and Donald by the feet to carrying her
up the stairs. Coming out on deck, Donald saw stokers and cooks
emerging from below. He also heard the boat falls running though
the davits.
Donald saw a fireman swan dive into the water, outlandishly graceful
at such an extraordinary time. He then turned to see a lifeboat
smash to pieces in the water and figured that the ropes were too short.
Donald saw several heads bobbing in the water. He also
noticed the fireman swim astern and be lost from sight. Perhaps
the "best policy" was to leave the ship as soon as possible.
Nearby was an empty beer box with two handles. He grabbed it, now
possessing his own life preserver. As Donald hurried up the
companionway, he saw Dr. Ralph Mecredy wearing a lifebelt and holding
another in his hand.
"Where did you get the lifebelts?" Archie asked.
"Down in the cabins." Mecredy explained. The lifebelts in
the storage locker on deck were all exhausted. Mecredy also
related that water was coming in through the porthole in his cabin.
Archie continued down to his cabin in the darkness. He searched
the lockers on both sides and found the lifebelts gone. He
continued to search his disheveled cabin and finally found one last
belt. He then hurried up to the portside Boat Deck, realizing
that if he didn't get out soon enough he'd be walking on the walls.
On deck, he noticed Norman Stones telling his wife Hilda to strip down
to her stockings before he could fasten a lifebelt on her. Norman
Stones then began ripping off the canvas off a collapsible boat, an
action
that should have happened long before. Donald went over to help
him.
Looking over the port side, Donald realized how high they were
above
the water. He turned to see a lifeboat being lowered, bumping
against
the ship's rivets on its way down.
Donald then headed to the first class section and helped load a boat,
fending off stokers who were rushing for it. Donald shouted, "The
women
must be put in first!"
Twenty or so women were loaded into the boat and the seamen started to
lower. The aft fall wasn't going fast enough and someone cut the
ropes that were holding it back. It was too late. The
lifeboat
went bow-first, perpendicular, throwing its complement into the sea.
Those in the water were now crawling up a rope netting on the
side of the ship, instinctively struggling to get back on the sinking
liner. Donald
recognized one in the water as stewardess May Bird. Donald
glanced
back on deck to see Elbert
and Alice Hubbard,
holding hands, and refusing to be helped.
With the lifeboats threatening to crash inboard, Archie Donald called
for a steward to help him tie his lifebelt. Donald then proceeded
to
stuff his money, about forty dollars, into his sock. He was about
to
take off his shoes, but he realized that time was running out. He
jumped the remaining twelve feet into the water.
After the initial shock of being in the water, he felt the lifebelt
hold his head and chest high, giving him the illusion of skimming over
the water. Now all he wanted to do was get away from the ship
that had been
his home for the past six days. A nearby collapsible held a group
of men weakly singing "Tipperary."
Donald then turned around to see the Lusitania's four
propellers sticking out of the water. A passing lifeboat (#11?)
placed their oars against the forward, lower propeller and pushed
themselves away from the
ship. What followed was a massive "explosion and rattling of all
loose
material leaving her deck" as the ship prepared for its final plunge.
Donald feared that the masts and wires of the ship would hit him.
The stay ropes missed him by about fifteen feet. The
millpond-calm water was now pitched into turmoil and Donald felt
himself shot up by a three foot
wave and then pulled down. Donald swam against the current and
when
he surfaced and 8 inch by 8 inch post and a 2 by 6 inch plank shot up
alongside
him. Had they been any closer Donald would have been decapitated.
Not bearing any grudge against the flotsam, he reached for the
lumber and held on.
A pile of collapsible boats drifted by and Donald swam for them.
He was helped aboard one by his roommate George Bilbrough.
They were
soon joined by Angela Pappadopoulo, Olive North, and Thirza Winter.
Thirza, despite the gashes on her head and back was well as being
thinly-clad,
went to give artificial respiration to others and saved several lives.
To Donald she was one of the bravest women he had ever seen.
Their collapsible was damaged in the bow and after gathering
thirty-four survivors they were afraid to take on more lest they be
swamped. Almost no one knew how to row or steer. Another
kept complaining about his bonds. He annoyed everyone so much
that Donald took an oar and hit the man on the head. Afterwards
the man only sulked. Donald
set course for the lighthouse on the Old Head of Kinsale, some twelve
miles
distant. He wondered if they could ever reach it.
Reaching Queenstown, the sight of husbands looking for wives and
fathers looking for children was too much to bear. Donald stayed
up until
4 a.m. searching the dead and looking for his friends.
Archie Donald was one of among several survivors who corresponded with
Adolph and Mary Hoehling for the book, The Last Voyage of the Lusitania,
published in 1956. He is also reported to have continued
corresponce with another Lusitania survivor, Grace French, until his death. Archie
passed away in Pasadena, California in 1959.
Contributors:
Margaret F. Winslow
References:
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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