Letter written by LUSITANIA disaster survivor Walter Reinhold Storch to the sister of Mary Nicol.

The letter gives a detailed account of Mary Nicol's last moments on the LUSITANIA, torpedoed by a German u-boat on 7th May 1915. Walter Storch helped Miss Mary Nichol into a lifeboat but the boat soon filled with water. Miss Nichol admitted that she could not swim and was very frightened. The lifeboat capsized and caused confusion and during this he looked for Miss Nichol but saw the poor girl face down in the water, very still, with someone hanging on to her neck under the water. The letter goes on to recount the tragedy with the lifeboat capsizing and righting itself four times in all. Mary was ‘the life and soul of the ship’ and he recalls her sweet singing during the voyage.

Object Details

ID: AGC/S/27
Type: Letter
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Paget, Walter Stanley; Storch, Walter R.
Date made: 1915-06-21; 21 June 1915
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London. Purchased with the Assistance of American Friends of Royal Museums Greenwich.
Measurements: 1 folder, 6 pages
Parts: Letters - S (Manuscript)