Anne “Annie” Ruane was born in Carraun, Tubbercurry, County Sligo, Ireland, in early February 1884, the daughter of Patrick and Bridget Ruane (née Kilmartin). Her father was a farmer and Annie was the second eldest of eight children.
Although no civil record of her birth can be found, suggesting her birth was never officially registered by her parents with the authorities, she was baptized into the Catholic Church on the 7th February 1884. It was customary in Ireland to have infants baptized into the Catholic Church within days of their birth, given the high rate of infant mortality at that time, therefore it is likely that Annie was born a day or two before her baptism.
In her earlier teenage years, Annie worked as a domestic servant, and then, in April
1909, she boarded the Campania at Queenstown, and immigrated to the united States of America. Her destination was the home of her cousin, Joe Durkin, who lived in Chicago, Illinois.
By the spring of 1915, however, she had decided to make the journey to her home in Ireland, either to return permanently, or perhaps enjoy a holiday, and as a result, had booked third class passage - being allocated ticket number 161990 - on the May sailing of the Lusitania from New York to Liverpool.
She would have arrived at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York port on the morning of 1st May 1915 - probably having left Chicago some days before. She probably also boarded the liner before 10.00 a.m., which was her scheduled time of departure, only to find that the sailing had been delayed. This delay came about because the Lusitania had to wait to embark cargo, passengers and some of the crew from the Anchor Lines vessel Cameronia which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for use as a troop ship at the end of April.
The Cunarder finally left New York for the last time on her 202nd trans-Atlantic voyage at 12.27 p.m. and following a fairly eventless voyage, made landfall off the southern coast of Ireland on the morning of 7th May. Then, at about 2.10 p.m., the Lusitania was torpedoed off the Old Head of Kinsale, by the German submarine U-20 and sank within 18 minutes.
Annie Ruane was lucky enough to be one of some 130 third class passengers who survived this action and having been rescued from the sea, was landed at Queenstown, where she made it back to her home in County Sligo. She was aged 31 years at the time of the sinking.
Annie Ruane gave a brief account of her experience which appeared in the 13th May 1915 edition of the Irish Independent. It stated: -
In the terrible scramble for life, she says, she was thrown into the water but clung to a raft, which other men and several women were clinging. She was two hours in the water before being rescued. ‘It was like a horrible nightmare’, She declares.
The men throughout behaved heroically in making way for the women and children going to the boats. Miss Ruane sustained some injury to her face. She lost all her belongings.
In published passenger and survivor lists, as well as some newspaper reports in the days following the sinking, Annie Ruane’s surname appears as Rowan or Rowen. In her correspondence with the Cunard Steamship Company following her survival, she signs her name as Annie Rowan, but Ruane was her correct name.
Annie Ruane never returned to the Chicago, and on the 14th March 1916, she married a local farmer, Bernard Durcan, in her local Catholic Church at Tourlestrane, near Tubbercurry. The couple lived on Bernard Durcan’s family farm in the nearby townland of Gorterslin, where they raised their family.
Annie Durcan died at her home on the 9th April 1963, aged 79 years.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Ireland Select Catholic Birth and Baptism Registers 1763 – 1917, Ireland Select Catholic Marriage Registers 1778 – 1942, 1901 Census of Ireland, 1911 Census of Ireland, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, Irish Independent, Western Mail, UniLiv D92/2/293, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.