Lusitania commemorations update – 15 April 2015
As the Lusitania sinking centennial approaches, more Lusitania commemorations have come to my attention:
More details on month-long activities organized by the Aurora Historical Society, including the Lusitania dinner on Thursday, 7 May 2015.
Peel, Isle of Man – home of the rescue vessel Wanderer (Peel 11) – Sunday, 3 May 2015
New York City – Thursday, 7 May 2015
Washington, D.C. – Thursday, 7 May 2015
Long Beach, California – Aboard RMS Queen Mary – Saturday, 2 May 2015 – Aboard the inter- and postwar flagship of the Cunard Line (a descendant of the Lusitania from the same family tree, if you will), now retired as a floating museum and hotel.
New and updated biographies
Deck Crew biographies A (Staff Captain Anderson) through M (Leslie Morton) have been updated. Working on the rest and still revising many of them. These biographies are made possible through Peter Kelly and an arrangement with the Merseyside Maritime Museum, as its exhibit, Lusitania: Life, Loss, and Legacy includes interactive displays and biographies that Peter has researched and written.
Also new: Handel Hawkins, cellist
I know I have a backlog of corrections and new biographies that I hope to publish before the centennial, and I’m putting as much of my spare time as I can to get them online.
My grand uncle Harry Garnet Bullen died on the Lucitania. Records show he was British. No. He was born in Cork and his sisters were Ruby and Pearl Bullen. He emigrated to Canada where he was involved in banking. His wife was killed in a motor accident in April 1915 and he was coming home. Legend has it that he was in a life boat when a woman (and child) appeared and he went back on board to give them his seat and so perished. He grew up in Bullen Bay where she sank off the head of Kinsale. Pearl died in 1949 but my grandmother – Ruby – told me this. She died in the 1980’s