Norman Ratcliff, 36, was a British national from Gillingham, Kent, England, returning home from Hong Kong via Japan, the United States, and Lusitania. Ratcliff entered lifeboat 14, which was lowered safely but filled with water. He was saved from the shipwreck.
Ratcliff frequently commuted to and from Hong Kong, then a British colony in China. He was returning to England via Japan and the United States. He left Japan aboard the ship Chiyo Maru, which also had aboard Lusitania passenger Captain Alick Scott. Chiyo Maru arrived in San Francisco, California, United States on 19 April 1915. Ratcliff traversed America and boarded Lusitania on 1 May 1915. His ticket number was 46115 and his cabin was B-45.
As the Lusitania was sinking, Ratcliff was on the port side when he saw lifeboat 14 being lowered and jumped in. However, the lifeboat leaked immediately upon landing in the water. Despite attempts of the people inside to bail out the lifeboat with hats and shoes, the lifeboat capsized, throwing everyone inside the lifeboat into the water.
After the Lusitania sank, Ratcliff clung to a piece of debris with two other men. One man was too fat to pull himself on top of the debris. The other man ‘too far gone’ from shock. The latter man eventually let go and sank.
Ratcliff clung onto a box in the sea for three hours before he was rescued. With him was a steward, likely Robert Chisholm, who told of Alfred Vanderbilt giving his own lifebelt to a woman (possibly Alice Middleton) and consequently Vanderbilt died.
Contributors:
Jim Kalafus, USA
Michael Poirier, USA
Judith Tavares
References:
Poirier, Michael. “The Tale of Boat Fourteen.”
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