Ewstafey Deickey is believed to have been born in Imperial Russia in 1881. Some time, probably before the Great War, he had left there and having crossed the Atlantic Ocean to the United States of America he settled in New York City, New York, where he found employment, as a labourer.
In the spring of 1915, however, he decided to return home, possibly because of the critical situation of his country’s forces against those of the Central Powers on the eastern front.
As a result, for the first part of his journey home, he booked third class passage on the May sailing of the
Lusitania which was scheduled to leave New York for Liverpool on the morning of 1st May 1915. He boarded the liner at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York, in time for the liner’s scheduled 10.00 a.m. departure, but then had to wait until the early afternoon of that day for her to sail, as she had to load cargo and embark passengers and crew from Anchor Liner
Cameronia which the British Admiralty had requisitioned for war service as a troop ship.
Six days later, in the early afternoon of 7th May, the Lusitania was torpedoed off the coast of southern Ireland, within sight of The Old Head of Kinsale by the German submarine
U-20 and sank in just 18 minutes. At that stage of her voyage, she was only about fourteen hours steaming time away from the safety of her home port.
Altogether there were 68 Russian nationals who sailed as passengers on the
Lusitania and of these, 39 were killed and 29 survived the sinking. Unfortunately, Ewstafey Deickey was one of those who lost his life as a result of the action. He was aged 34 at the time of his death.
As his body was never recovered and identified afterwards, he has no known grave.
Cunard Records, PRO BT 100/345, Deaths at Sea 1871 - 1968.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.