When the RMS Lusitania was launched in 1906, she was the largest, fastest, most luxurious, most spacious and most comfortable ship afloat and the first ship able to cross the Atlantic Ocean in under five days.
When she arrived in New York harbor at the end of the first leg of her maiden voyage in 1907, this is the greeting she received:
".....In New York, hundreds of thousands of people gathered on the bank of the River Hudson from Battery Park to pier 56.
"All New York's police had been called out to control the crowd.
"100 horse drawn cabs had been queuing from the start of the day ready to take away passengers."
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| In New York Harbor |
With elevators, en-suite facilities, electric lighting and heat, she was heralded for the extraordinary design of her interiors and for the stress the staff were taught to place on emulating high hotel standards onboard - emphasizing both service and comfort.
With 550 First Class (or Saloon) Cabins, 500 Second Class Cabins and 1,300 Third Class (or Steerage) Cabins, the passenger accommodations aboard the Lusitania were unquestionably the most spacious and beautiful of their time.
When our grandfather, Gillie, lost his 49 year old widowed mother in 1904, he found himself relocated to Carrickmacross in County Monahan to live with his legal guardians: Ida and Edmund Galwey-Foley.
Ida was his first cousin and Gillie had grown up among her four sons and two daughters in County Clare.
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| Ida Burke-Browne Galwey-Foley (1868-1940) |
Edmund was a bank manager for the National Bank of Ireland which meant that the family was required to move to a different town whenever he was transferred.
He'd been at the Carrickmacross branch since 1896 (and would stay there until he retired in 1914.
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| Edmund Galwey-Foley (1852-1922) |
At the time, it was customary for the Bank to provide housing for its managers and families.
These Bank Houses were usually very fashionable and big enough to accomodate large Irish families along with the requisite 2 or 3 live-in servants.
In Carrickmacross, the Galwey-Foleys lived at 31 Main Street.
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| Living Quarters are above the Bank
Although the Bank moved to this building after Edmund had retired, the manager's family lived above.
According to the Irish Census in 1901, there were 11 members of the Galwey-Foley household living together in the Bank House.
This included two live-in servants.
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Louisa Burke-Browne, Ida's baby sister, would be the mother of Venerable Edel Quinn and is Tom McCormick's grandmother.
You may read more about our cousin: Vernable Edel Quinn in this post published last May.
As we might imagine, the Bank House on Carrickmacross’ Main Street must have been a very large home to accommodate so many people.
For Gillie, the move to Carickmacross immediately after losing his mother must have been a difficult transition.
He and his mother had already moved from Ennistymon in the country to the capital city of Dublin about 4 years earlier.
In 1901, they were living as lodgers at 52, Upper Leeson Street in the very posh Rathgar section of Dublin.
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| 52, Upper Leeson Street |
When his mother passed away in August, no one even thought to notify Gillie's school, Terenure College, that he would not be returning for classes.
For more detail about their time in Dublin, please check out this post from last June -
He was 18 years old when he arrived in Carrickmacross.
Did he work?
Where did he attend college?
We do not yet have the answers to these questions.
At any rate, we do know that he and his cousin, Tom Galwey-Foley, remained friends throughout their lives and, according to the US 1910 Census, Tom emigrated to America in 1906.
In Carrickmacross, perhaps they discussed the prospect of emigrating.
I had heard from my father that, one day, Ida had assembled all five boys together and TOLD them what profession she had expected each boy to pursue.
For Percy: Diplomacy
For Tom: Banking
For Edmund: Banking
For Gillie: Law
It was at that moment when Tom & Gillie decided: "I don't think so!"
Whatever the case, sometime after Tom had left home, Gillie made the decision in 1908 to leave Ireland and to emigrate to America.
But, he did not sail to New York in steerage, like most Irish immigrants.
Gillie purchased a Second Class ticket aboard the RSM Lusitania leaving from Liverpool on December 8, 1908.
His ticket cost about £28.
Here is that Ship's Manifest:
As you can see, Gillie has listed his occupation as "student" .... which makes me wonder if he were still attending school before he left Ireland. Or perhaps, he’d recently graduated?
He had left Terenure College in 1904 when his mother had died....... he did not graduate from that school and a "college" in Ireland is not a university but a secondary school. He was only 18 in 1904.
Percy Galwey-Foley (Uncle Tom Foley’s brother) went to Blackrock in Dublin but I'd never heard that Gillie had gone there, too. And I doubt very much that he would have ever returned to Dublin.
Second Class passengers on ocean liners usually came from the Professional classes: attorneys, teachers, doctors, etc.
On the Lusitania, Second Class accomodations were far superior to even First Class on other vessels.
Staterooms were furnished with white enamel and mahogany furniture which was upholstered in "moquette" (a thick pile fabric).
A Second Class Cabin featured two sets of bunks.
Two wash basins with running water were situated between them.
Two wash basins with running water were situated between them.
There might also be a small sofa, a chair, an armoire and space to stow a small trunk.
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| Second Class Cabin aboard RSM Lusitania
In those days, people traveled with far more baggage than we do today. But on a ship, space was always limited so all luggage was customarily tagged before embarking indicating "wanted" or "not wanted". "Not wanted" would then be sent to the hold until arrival at its destination.
Bed curtains on ships of this period were for far more than simply decorative purposes.
They served to offer some privacy in the cabin.
They helped keep the heat in and the chill out, because, outside of the public rooms, central heating was rare.
The weather in the North Atlantic is notoriously unpleasant most of the year. Passengers embarking on a transatlantic voyage were well advised to pack warm clothes and long underwear, even in summer.
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The Second Class dining room echoed the layout of First Class but was more simplistic in its styling.
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| Second Class Dining Room RSM Lusitania
Decorative plaster was used to cover support braces and that gave the room a pleasant, pillared look.
An open well over the center of the room made it feel much larger than it actually was.
Although not as lavish as the meals served in First Class, here is an example of a Lusitania lunch served to those in Second Class.
Diners began their meal with Puree Soubise.
The fish course was Salmon Trout with Dutch Sauce.
For the main course, diners could choose from Steak and Kidney Pudding, Braised Veal with Lemon Sauce, Roast Turkey with Bread Sauce, Ox Tongue with Carrots.
The choice of sides included boiled rice, puree of turnips and boiled potatoes.
Cold boiled ham was also on offer.
Dessert followed and diners could select from Damson Tart, ‘Gelee Cunard’, Macaroon Toten, Saxon Pudding and ice cream.
Cheese was then served and tea and coffee were available throughout and after the meal.
With full stomachs, the Second Class passenger might retire to the Second Class Lounge which was located at the stern of the ship.
The Lounge was the main gathering place for Second Class passengers
Measuring 40' x 42', it was furnished with mahogany settees, chairs and tables set on a rose carpet.
The center of the Lounge was positioned at the topmost section of the Second Cabin staircase and was crowned with a skylight. There was a Smoking Room which was reserved for Second Class men. It was decorated with mahogany panelling, blue tinted sliding windows, white plasterwork ceilings and a dome. On one wall was a mosaic of a river scene in Brittany.  So, Gillie had purchased his Second Class ticket leaving from Liverpool to New York City. Although there were other routes to Liverpool, the majority of emigrants traveled via Dublin's Kingstown port (now renamed Dun Laoghaire). He probably took the train from Carickmacross to Dublin.
From Dublin, mail, livestock and cargo ships offered deck passage across the Irish Sea, a notoriously fickle stretch of water, to Liverpool.
By 1896, the shortest sea crossing took under 3 hours. In foul weather, the journey could be twice as long.
Very few who arrived in Liverpool could go directly to a waiting ship. But, maybe sailing on the Lusitania made these arrangements easier.
Otherwise, passengers were met on arrival by representatives of the ship and taken to boarding houses and hostels that were either affiliated or owned by the steamship lines.
Passengers and their luggage were collected from their accommodation on the day of departure (or the evening before, depending on tides) and taken to the quay where they either boarded their ship or were carried by boat to their ship waiting in the estuary.
For Gillie sailing on the Lusitania, the journey to Ellis Island was an opulent and luxurious experience. But, considering the upheaval of his life, I will bet he must have been filled with anxiety during the voyage.
It could have been worse, of course....
On December 13, 1908, as the ship entered New York harbor, and the Statue of Liberty came into view, Gillie, along with his fellow passengers, probably felt less trepidation and more simple excitement.
For most, the journey to Ellis Island still had a few hours to run.
The steamship would dock at either the Hudson or East River piers to disembark its First and Second Class passengers.
The better-off simply passed through Customs at the pier and were free to go.
Above is Gillie's Debarkation Manifest Document.
First off ~ Leaving Ireland, he listed his occupation as "student". Perhaps he was still attending school before he left. His guardians seemed to have stressed education to their children ~ even their daughters ~ so they might have insisted that he continue.
Now, however, he claims to be a "grocer".
But notice that the passenger listed directly above him is also a "grocer".
Maybe, the two men formed some bond en voyage and Gillie decided that being a grocer was a more adult or serious occupation than being a mere student.
Don't know .....
Then ~ he lists his last address in Ireland as: "Miss Reilly, 18 Hume Street, Dublin".
Hmmmmmm
At the time, his cousin, Percy Galwey-Foley, had just graduated from Blackrock College in Dublin and had gotten a job with the Diplomatic Service.
He was living as a boarder at that address with his fellow diplomat clerks.
I like to think that while in Dublin to catch his boat to Liverpool, Gillie might have stopped to see Percy and to visit his mother's grave at Glasnevin Cemetery to say good bye.
Then, he might have spent the night with Percy at 18 Hume Street.
What were Gillie's plans once he got off the ship in New York?
He claims to be going to Brooklyn....
Wonder where he did go ..... how long did it take to find a place to live on his own...... to find a job.... how did this rich, protected, naive, lonely country kid manage during those first years in the busiest, largest city in the New World?
He never much talked about it ..... so we do not really know .....
THE LAST VOYAGE OF RSM LUSITANIA
Despite a published warning from the German authorities that appeared in U.S. newspapers the morning of her departure, the Lusitania carried a healthy complement of American passengers when she departed New York for Liverpool on May 1, 1915,
By this time, several British merchant ships had already been sunk by German subs, but the famous liner's speed still seemed to be her best guarantee of safety.
However, certainly her captain and crew should have been on high alert.
As the Lusitania neared the end of her crossing, a German U-boat sank three British ships in the waters south of Ireland.
This was the sea lane through which she was about to sail. The Captain received repeated warnings that U-boats were active on his intended course.
Yet on May 7, as the Lusitania entered the most dangerous part of her passage, Captain William Turner actually slowed down, apparently worried by patchy fog.
When U-20, under the command of Kapitänleutnant Walther Schwieger, found a huge four-stacker in its sights just south of Queenstown, Ireland, she was able to kill the Lusitania with a single torpedo which penetrated her hull, just below the waterline.
The initial explosion set off a violent secondary blast.
The ship sank in 18 minutes, with a loss of 195 of the 1,959 on board, including 123 Americans.
Captain Turner was washed clear of the bridge as the ship sank, and survived after spending more than three hours in the water.
The loss of the Lusitania provoked great outrage in the United States and helped create the climate of public opinion that would later allow America to join the war.
It also marked the end of any delusions that the "civilized" manners of 19th century warfare could survive into the 20th.
Since I first learned that the RSM Lusitania was the ocean liner which brought our grandfather to America, this ship has become very special to me.
I remain surprised that no one in our family had ever mentioned that the Lusitania was a part of our history.
I wonder if Grandpa had even told them!
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EPILOGUE
History gives a nation its bearing on what it is and how its people are affected by what has happened in the past.
Its kings and queens, its wars - with victories and defeats - these all mold a nation’s culture into the way it views itself in the present.
In the same way, a family history presents how a family has survived and come to terms with the great social and cultural experiences of the ages.
We hope these stories will give each member of our family a foundation and, in some small way, explain how we came to be what we are today.
Hopefully, through these vignettes, our future generations will gain a knowledge of the energy and dynamism, the loves and hates, the errors and mistakes, the victories and failures, the struggles and successes that make us what we are.
Our family history presents a fascinating read - and, hopefully, some lessons to be learned in the process.
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