Carlos, or Charles, Gauthier was born in Buenos Aires, in the Republic of Argentina in 1882 or 1883. Nothing is known about his family or early life, except that his father was probably French, and also named Charles, or Carlos. His family were living in Argentina at the time of Carlos’ birth, but by 1912, his father was living in Rotterdam, Holland, and by 1915, was living in Paris, France. It is not known if Carlos’ mother and siblings were travelling with his father as he moved around the world.
It is unknown when he arrived to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, but he had established himself as a merchant and commission agent in the city, and in 1912 and 1913 he had made trans-Atlantic voyages, returning to New York on the 2nd May 1912 on board the
Lusitania.
Although no record of any marriages have been discovered, Carlos travelled from Liverpool to New York in 1912, accompanied by a woman, who identified as his wife, named Marie. When he left Montreal in March 1915, he was accompanied by a woman named Mrs. Angeline M. Gauthier. It is possible that it was the same woman, as surviving passenger records have her place of birth recorded as being Lorient, France.
In the spring of 1915, his business interests meant that he had to travel to Europe again, and having left Montreal at the end of March, he crossed into the United States of America at Port Huron, Michigan, and on to Chicago, Illinois, where he had some business to attend to. On attending to his business matters there, he made his way to New York City where he booked second cabin passage on the May sailing of the
Lusitania, which was scheduled to leave New York for Liverpool at 10.00 a.m. on the morning of 1st May 1915.
He boarded the vessel at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York port in time for her morning departure, but then had to wait, along with the other passengers and crew, until the early afternoon before the liner actually sailed. The delay was caused because the liner had to load cargo and take on board passengers and crew from Anchor Liner the S.S.
Cameronia, which the British Admiralty had requisitioned as a troop ship at the end of April.
Six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, the Lusitania was torpedoed by the German submarine
U-20, twelve miles off The Old Head of Kinsale in southern Ireland and sank only eighteen minutes later. At that stage of her voyage, she was a mere twelve to fourteen hours away from her Liverpool destination.
Carlos Gauthier was killed as a result of this action by Kapitänleutnant Schwieger and his crew and as his body was never recovered from the sea and identified afterwards, he has no known grave. He was aged 32 years at the time of his death. He was the only Argentinean national on board the Lusitania on that fateful day!
New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, UK Incoming Passenger Lists 1878 – 1960, UK Outward Passenger Lists 1890 – 1960, Michigan Passenger and Crew Lists 1903 – 1965, U.S. Border Crossings from Canada to U.S. 1895 – 1960, Cunard Records, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv D92/2/420, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Stuart Williamson, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
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