Mrs.
CHARLES HENRY LUND (SARAH JANE MOUNSEY), Second Cabin Passenger
image:
Joy Stocking Hill Collection
Sarah Lund, née Mounsey, 28, was born in Blufton, Indiana to William Mounsey and Fanny Sewell.
Sarah was one of nine children. The Mounsey family moved to
Chicago, Illinois where the family opened Mounsey Movers.
In 1914, Fanny had the opportunity to visit her family in Keswick,
Cumberland, England. Fanny had been reluctant, but the persuasion
of a scenic trip through the St. Lawrence by a friend, Mrs. John
Fisher, convinced
her. She and Mrs. Fisher boarded the Canadian Pacific liner Empress
of Ireland as second class passengers. On 29 May the Empress
of Ireland was struck by the Norwegian collier Storstad and
the
Empress went down in 14 minutes. Both ladies were lost and
neither's body was recovered.
That year, Sarah married Charles Lund of
Wisconsin. Almost a year
later, the Mounsey family received word from England that a woman in a
Liverpool institution named "Kate Fitzgerald" was uttering the name
"Mounsey"
and had a fear of water. She was believed to be a survivor of the
Empress of Ireland disaster. Without a moments notice,
William,
Sarah, and Charles traveled to New York to take the Lusitania.
On the train to New York, they met Eunice
Kinch
and her son William Mostoe-Kinch
while passing through Cleveland. They, too, would be traveling
aboard
the Lusitania and the two parties became friends.
When the torpedo struck, Sarah was sitting on deck with Eunice Kinch.
Sarah was doused with debris and water. She ran to the lounge and
found her father and William Mostoe-Kinch, but not her husband Charles.
They crossed to the portside and entered a boat that had no plug. They
were
then told to get out of the boat and that the Lusitania would
not
sink.
Running over to the starboard side, Sarah was very frustrated and
scared and implored Robert
Timmis to get her a lifebelt. He gave her his own. She then
beckoned her father to follow her to the funnel deck when the ship sank
rapidly and an explosion threw them into the sea. Sarah came up and
floated for a number of hours when a lifeboat came by and a man pulled
her in. The man in the lifeboat was Robert Timmis who saved her twice
in one day.
Sarah spent time in the hospital in Queenstown, Ireland to recover.
Without her father and husband, both of whom had been lost, she
pressed on to Liverpool to seek out "Kate Fitzgerald." The woman
in the institution, however, turned out to be nothing like her mother.
William and Charles had died in a quest that "had been futile
from
the start."
After her recovery, continued on to England where she spent time with
both Sewell & Mounsey relatives. Charles Lund's body was
found eventually, and his remains returned to the United States.
William's body was never recovered.
Sarah eventually returned home and a little over a year afterwards she
married a man named Hornberger. She spent a good part of her
married life in California before returning to Chicago where she lived
the rest of her life. She occassionally gave interviews before
her
death in 1978. Sarah Mounsey Lund Hornberger was in her nineties.
Contributors:
Joy Stocking Hill
Michael Poirier
Juidth Tavares
References:
Hoehling, A. A. and Mary Hoehling. The Last
Voyage of the Lusitania. Madison Books, 1956.
Preston, Diana. Lusitania: An Epic Tragedy.
Berkley Books, 2002.
Zeni, David. Forgotten Empress. Goose Lane Editions,
1998.
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