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Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt I [Text] Vanderbilt’s Heroic End

Virginia Choi — Wed, 07 May 2014 21:41:26 +0000

NYT, Current History, The European War, Volume II, Number 3, June, 1915

VANDERBILT’S HEROIC END.

[Special Cable to THE NEW YORK TIMES.]

LONDON, May 9.—Two survivors of the Lusitania disaster have given testimony that Alfred G. Vanderbilt died heroically; that he went to death to save the life of a woman.

Thomas Slidell, a friend of Mr. Vanderbilt, who lives at the Knickerbocker Club in New York, and was traveling with him, told of the sacrifice first. Then tonight Norman Ratcliffe, who lives in Gillingham, Kent, and was returning from Japan, offered verification. Mr. Ratcliffe was rescued, after clinging to a box in the sea for three hours. With him was a steward of the Lusitania. He said:

This steward told me he had seen Mr. Vanderbilt on the Lusitania’s deck, shortly after the ship was struck, with a lifebelt about his body. When the ship gave every indication that it would sink within a few minutes, the steward said, Mr. Vanderbilt took off his lifebelt and gave it to a woman who passed him on the deck, trembling with fear of the fate she expected to meet.

The steward said Mr. Vanderbilt turned back, as though to look for another belt, and he saw him no more.

NYT, Current History, The European War, Volume II, Number 3, June, 1915

Telling of his last moments on the ship and his last sight of Mr. Vanderbilt, Mr. Slidell said:

I saw Alfred G. Vanderbilt only a few minutes before I left the ship. He was standing with a lifebelt in his hand. A woman came up to him, and I saw him place the belt around the woman. He had none for himself, and I know that he could not swim.

Only the day before we had been talking of a day and a dawn some years ago when we went down the bay at New York in his yacht and waited to welcome and dip our flag to the Lusitania on her maiden voyage. We saw the first and last of her. Vanderbilt, who had given largely to the Red Cross, was returning to England in order to offer a fleet of wagons and himself as driver to the Red Cross Society, for he said he felt every day that he was not doing enough.

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[Text] Vanderbilt’s Heroic End appeared first on Witnify.

Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt I [Text] Actress on Heroic Passengers on RMS Lusitania

Virginia Choi — Wed, 07 May 2014 19:26:34 +0000

NYT, Current History, The European War, Volume II, Number 3, June, 1915

CHARLES FROHMAN’S DEATH.

[Special Cable to THE NEW YORK TIMES.]

LONDON, May 10.—A highly interesting story was told tonight by Rita Jolivet, the actress, who stood calmly chatting with Charles Frohman and Alfred G. Vanderbilt during the last tense moments before the Lusitania sank. The three of them, together with G.L.S. Vernon, Miss Jolivet’s brother-in-law, and Mr. Scott, who had come all the way from Japan to enlist, joined hands and stood waiting to face death together. Miss Jolivet said:

We stood talking about the Germans and the rumor which had gained currency that a man, obviously of German origin, had been arrested for tampering with the wireless. The story was that the man had been discovered at 1 o’clock in the morning a day or two before doing something to the wireless apparatus and had been immediately imprisoned. I did not see the man arrested, so I am not sure about the story’s truth, but there were good grounds for believing it.

We determined not to enter the boats, and just a minute or two before the end Mr. Frohman said with a smile: “Why fear death? It is the most beautiful adventure that life gives us.”

Mr. Scott fetched three lifebelts, one for Mr. Vanderbilt, one for Mr. Frohman, and one for my brother-in-law.

NYT, Current History, The European War, Volume II, Number 3, June, 1915

He said he was not going to wear one himself, and my brother-in-law also refused to put his on. I hear that Mr. Vanderbilt gave his to a lady, Mrs. Scott. I helped to put a lifebelt on Mr. Frohman. My brother-in-law took hold of my hand and I grasped the hand of Mr. Frohman, who, as you know, was lame. Mr. Scott took hold of his other hand, and Mr. Vanderbilt joined the row, too. We had made up our minds to die together.

Then Mr. Frohman, in a perfectly calm voice, said: “They’ve done for us; we had better get out.” He knew that his beautiful adventure was about to begin. He had hardly spoken when, with a tremendous roar, a great wave swept along the deck and we were all divided in a moment. I have not seen any of those brave men alive since. Mr. Frohman, Mr. Vanderbilt, and my brother-in-law were drowned. When Mr. Frohman’s body was recovered there was the most beautiful and peaceful smile upon his lips.

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[Text] Actress on Heroic Passengers on RMS Lusitania appeared first on Witnify.

RMS Lusitania Survivors of the Lusitania Share Their Memories

Witnify — Tue, 06 May 2014 16:31:45 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMUTdq1VStw

Survivors of the German attack on the RMS Lusitania recall the torpedo that struck the ship and explain what happened in the aftermath of the disaster.

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Survivors of the Lusitania Share Their Memories appeared first on Witnify.