Mrs.
FLORENCE SULLIVAN (JULIA O'NEILL), Second Cabin Passenger
[No Picture Provided]
Julia was born in Roscarbery, County Cork, Ireland. After she
left Ireland for the United States, Julia worked for the Branders in
Long Island, New York for eight years. Julia described the
Branders and "the nicest old couple God brought together and left
childless." Having no children, the Branders considered Julia as
one of the family and often took her with them on vacations. When
Julia met Florence "Flor" Sullivan from County Kerry, Ireland, and fell
in love with him, the Branders found Flor a job at the fashionable
Stuyvesant Club in New York City. Julia would often visit the
club just to be with her fiancé.
The Branders died within three months of each other and left everything
to Julia. Julia and Flor were married and moved into the city.
Flor's father often wrote asking the couple to come back to
Ireland to manage the family farm, but enjoying their life in America,
they kept putting off
the trip. Flor's father eventually died and the Sullivans had to
go back to Ireland or lose the farm. Their furniture was put into
crates and loaded onto the Lusitania. As Flor and the
ship's purser, James McCubbin, were friends, McCubbin promised the
couple the best cabin and table in second class if they arrived early
enough. McCubbin placed the Sullivans in an end cabin next to the
saloon (first) class promenade and found them a table next to his in
the second cabin dining saloon. McCubbin also showed the
Sullivans the saloon class dining room and a place where they could
hide unnoticed to observe any concert of dance.
Julia Sullivan thought of sailing day as being like "a day at the
races." Flor, having seen several of the millionaires onboard at
the Stuyvesant Club, knew many of them by name. Julia pretended
that this trip on the Lusitania would be their second
honeymoon,
but she had no desire to leave a comfortable life in America to work on
a farm in Ireland.
The Sullivans and a new shipboard friend, Pat
Callan, visited the
saloon class smoking room and saw cardsharps there. They watched
a few games and Pat played a few. Flor said the Julia, "Look at
them. They're dressed to perfection and talking like senators
while
they're fleecing the other lads. Wouldn't I just like to get my
hands
on them!"
The Sullivans were invited to the ship's concert on the night of 6 May
to perform by Staff Captain Anderson, but they declined. Anderson
had "scoured the ship for performers to amuse the rich passengers."
In any case, the Sullivans still attended the concert to see the
show. Julia commented to her husband, "This is as good as the
Metropolitan any day." She also "applauded enthusiastically"
after another passenger's rendition of "When I Leave this World
Behind." When Staff Captain Anderson made an appearance at the
concert, the audience, including the Sullivans, broke into a chorus of
"For He's a Jolly Good Fellow." As Julia later recalled, "We
hadn't a note in us, but we could screech with the best of
them."
After the concert, the Sullivans and Pat went to the saloon class
smoking room. Julia saw a fight break out between two card
players.
Julia turned to Flor and said, "Gentleman or rowdy, they're all
the
same when you rouse them."
The whole smoking room was now focused on the fight and other players
jumped from their seats. Staff Captain Anderson hurried in and
the players were now not only arguing with each other but also with
Anderson. Anderson finally laid down the law, saying, "Gentlemen,
I must ask you to leave the lounge. If you call my cabin tomorrow
afternoon
I shall do my best to judge your dispute."
Some players then continued their games, others left. The
Sullivans knew that Ireland would be visible the next morning and so
Julia persuaded Flor and Pat to rise at dawn and witness first
landfall. Pat promised to recite the poem "A Dream of Ireland."
Friday morning, 7 May, was so cold and foggy that after spending a few
minutes on deck Julia, Flor, and Pat decided to go to breakfast
instead. They would come back on deck later.
When the fog parted Ireland came into view, Julia grabbed Flor's arm
and said excitedly, "Flor, in no time we'll be passing Piper's Hill!"
Flor suggested that they ask Purser McCubbin if they could borrow
his binoculars. Julia then used the binoculars to scan the coast
and saw Glandore, Roscarbery Bay, and Piper's Hill. Then Julia
remembered
a poem from her childhood and recited it.
Parkmore and Parkeen,
Laggawn and Lisheen, The Reask, the
Ray and the Carrig;
The Medow, the Mock,
The Field of the Rock,
The Garden, the Close and the
Haggard.
"Have you and air for it?" Flor teased.
"You know well, Flor, that none of us could sing. But we were
great dancers."
Julia and Flor passed the binoculars back and forth. Julia was
gazing through the binoculars as the Lusitania passed the Seven
Heads. Although disappointed that the ship would not be calling
at Queenstown, she was so excited that Flor tugged on her jacket to
calm her down. As he tugged her jacket, there came "the most
dreadful explosion the world has ever heard[,]" shaking the ship so
that the Lusitania was "rolling . . . from side to side."
Julia clung on to Flor, afraid that she would lose her balance.
They soon heard the stewards telling passengers to gather their
valuables before getting in the lifeboats. They left the
promenade deck and struggled through the crowded corridors to reach
their stateroom. Their door was jammed so Flor kicked it open.
Flor then pulled their trunk from underneath his berth, cut it
open with his pocketknife, and pulled out the envelope that held their
shares and their savings.
"At least we'll have our money." Julia said.
Flor stuffed the money into his pocket and Julia pinned the envelope
with their shares inside of her lifejacket. Reaching the Boat
Deck portside, they saw Pat Callan waving his arms to get their
attention. He was saving room in a lifeboat for them that was
already swung out. Pat and Flor jumped in, but Julia refused.
She moved back into the crowd and pleaded to her husband that he
must stay with her. Flor jumped
out of the boat, and pushing through the crowd trying to get into the
boat
he reached Julia and said to her, "I'm mad at you."
Flor tried to pull her back to the boat but Julia refused to budge.
As the lifeboat was being lowered the Lusitania lurched
again and the lifeboat dropped by the bow, its occupants "spilling like
apples into the water" (Hickey/Smith, 217). Pat Callan was killed.
Leaving the crowd, Flor pulled the money out of his hip pocket and
stuffed it into Julia's bodice. He kissed her and said, "Here
Julia, you can swim. You'll need this by and by."
Julia was stunned by Flor's words. She shot back, "Nonsense,
Flor. Come on. We'll get away from his crowd. We'll
find
a place we can jump from."
The couple moved uneasily to the starboard side and saw the sea lapping
on the deck. Julia saw people throwing anything nearby that could
float into the water to use as rafts. She also saw a "little man"
at this time, still trying to trick rich people who may be desperate
out
of their money.
Holding hands, Julia and Flor Sullivan jumped, landing feet first.
"Hold on to me." Julia called to Flor.
Flor grabbed onto Julia's lifejacket as she swam them clear of the
ship. The disturbance caused by the water closing over the ship
ripped
them apart and not long afterward she lost consciousness.
Julia Sullivan was picked up by the naval patrol boat Heron.
As she required immediate medical treatment the Heron
landed in Kinsale instead of Queenstown. When she awoke, she
asked a priest in the hospital what happened to her husband. He
told her that there was no Florence Sullivan in the hospital, but told
her not to give up
hope as there were several more survivors in Queenstown. "I'll
get
in touch with them and let you know," he reassured her, "Get some sleep
now, and put your trust in the Mother of God."
That evening the priest whispered to Julia, "Your husband is alive and
well! He's been told you are here. When you join him in
Cork put your heads together and plan some way of giving thanks to God
for your deliverance."
Julia gave her bank notes to a little girl who had lost her parents,
brothers, and sisters in the disaster. Arriving at the Sullivan
farm in Clounlea, Kilgarvan, County Kerry, the Sullivans held several
Masses for "all the souls that went down on the Lusitania."
On 7 September 1915, a leather case was that had been a part of her
luggage was delivered to her. The case had washed ashore.
All of her valuables, £324 10s. 0d. were recovered.
The Sullivans had three children, one daughter and two younger sons.
Their daughter became a nurse but died when a bomb fell on her
hospital in the early days of World War II. Julia thought, "Maybe
the Germans wanted to finish from the sky what they had failed to do
from the sea." Flor died not too long afterwards, and Julia
raised her two sons alone on the remote mountainous farm.
Julia's later interviews, as reported in Hickey/Smith, indicated a
presence of an outdoor swimming pool on the ship. Although the
White Star Liner Adriatic, which debuted in May 1907, was the
first to introduce an ocean-going, albeit indoor, pool, the Lusitania,
which debuted four months later, does not indicate one on her deck
plans. Furthermore, no Channel-servicing North Atlantic liner had
an outdoor swimming pool until the French Line's Normandie of
1935.
References:
Ballard, Dr. Robert D. with Spencer Dunmore. Exploring the Lusitania.
Warner Books, Inc., 1995.
Hickey, Des and Gus Smith. Seven Days to Disaster.
G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1981.
Preston, Diana. Lusitania: An Epic
Tragedy. Berkley Books, 2002.
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