Ajunnar Nikander was born in Helsinki, Finland, in 1891, the son of Mr. Nikander and Mrs. Wilhelmina Nikander. He was a stone mason, by profession, and his home address in 1915 was at Docksgatan 8, Helsingford, Finland.
In October 1912, he had arrived in the United States of America, with the intention of working in New York City.
Nothing is known about him, except that by 1915, he had fallen foul of the authorities and was ordered to be deported.
Consequently, he was booked to return to Europe on the May sailing of the Lusitania from New York to Liverpool, and no doubt escorted to the liner by the authorities at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York harbour in time for her scheduled 10.00 a.m. sailing on 1st May 1915.
This sailing was then delayed until the afternoon as she had to embark passengers, crew and cargo from the S.S. Cameronia, which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war service as a troop ship. Ajunnar Nikander would have had his last glimpse of his would-be adopted country after mid-day as the Lusitania finally left port then and his failure to gain residency would ultimately be his death warrant, as just six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, he was killed as a result of the torpedoing and sinking of the vessel by the German submarine U-20. At that point in her voyage, she was within sight of the coast of southern Ireland and only hours away from her destination.
As Ajunnar Nikander’s body was never recovered from the sea and identified, he has no known grave. He was aged 24 years.
He was one of only two Finnish nationals on board the Lusitania at the time she was sunk. The other, fellow third class passenger Elli Waaranen was also killed as a result of the action.
New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv D92/2/429, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.