Miss KATE "KITTY"
McDONNELL, Second Cabin Passenger
[No Picture Provided]
Kate McDonnell, 25, was the daughter of Eugene McDonnell of 25
Prosperity Square, Cork City, Ireland. Kate had blue eyes and was
5' 4" tall. In April 1911, she and a friend May Barrett emigrated to the United States
on the White Star Liner Majestic.
Their address in New York City was 263 9th Avenue. In the spring
of 1915 they took a holiday together to go back to Ireland and booked
passage on the Lusitania.
On Friday, 7 May, Kate and May had just finished lunch and were sitting
in the second cabin dining saloon when they heard two crashing
sounds. Kate and May made for the stairs, but the crowd got in
their way. The ship then stopped moving and Kate and May got up
to the boat deck where the sailors were working at the falls.
There was no panic at the time. May went to get lifebelts for
Kate and herself, but a man told them, "If you go into the cabin again,
you will never get up again."
The man went down and came back with lifebelts for the two women who
put them on. At this time the list to starboard was so strong
that they lost their footing. Kate and May scrambled to the side
of the ship, mumbled a prayer, and jumped. Kate and May were
separated in the water.
When the ship sank, Kate floated, dazed, in the water for some
time. Some reports said nearly an hour, others three and a
half. A boat then passed her and she heard someone say, "Oh, the
poor girl is dead." As the boat began to pull away, she mustered
nough strength to raise her hand. That caught the attention of
those on the boat and they came back and pulled her out of the
water. It was almost midnight by the time her rescue vessel got
into Queenstown.
Kate's friend May had also survived and Kate was reunited with her
father, very much relieved that her "poor dead girl" had come back to
life. Two weeks later, the All-for-Ireland Club passed a "sincere
vote of congratulation" to both May and Kate.
In some newspapers Kate's last name was misprinted as "McDonald."
Contributors:
Senan Molony
References:
Cork Free Press, 10
May 1915, p. 5.
New York Times, 10 May
1915, page 2.
"All-for-Ireland Club Vote of Condolence to Lusitania Survivor," Cork Free Press, 21 May
1915, p. 5.
Molony, Senan. Lusitania: An Irish Tragedy.
Mercier Press, 2004.
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