George Steele was born in Durham City, County Durham, England, in 1879, the son of William and Elizabeth Scorer Steele (née Hall). His father was a coal miner, and George was the youngest of eight children. His mother died in 1888.
On completing his education, George became a merchant seaman, and in 1904, he married Lily Smith in South Shields, County Durham. The couple had one child, a daughter named Elizabeth, born in 1905, and for the early years of their married life, George and his family resided with his wife’s parents, before moving to their own home at 102, George's Road, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Northumberland, England.
George had qualified as a second mate on foreign going steam ships in 1906 and as a first mate in 1908, before qualifying as a ship’s master in 1911. In 1915, he had been the Chief Mate of the Newcastle steamer Welsh Prince, but had left the vessel at New York, in the United States of America, to return to the north east of England.
As a consequence, he booked a third class ticket on the May sailing of the Lusitania from New York to Liverpool and joined her at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York port, on the morning of 1st May 1915, in time for her scheduled 10 o’clock departure. This was then delayed until just after mid-day, as the liner had to take on board passengers, cargo and crew from the Anchor Liner Cameronia which the British Admiralty had requisitioned for use as a troop ship at the end of April.
Then, just six days out of New York, on the afternoon of 7th May, the Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk off the southern coast of Ireland by the German submarine U-20 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Walter Schwieger.
George Steele was lucky enough to survive the sinking and having been rescued from the sea, he was landed at Queenstown, where he was able to send his wife a telegram to say that he was safe. Cunard then gave him a boat and rail ticket to Leeds in Yorkshire and travelling expenses of £0-6s-0d., (£0.30p.), which eventually enabled him to get home to Newcastle. He was aged 35 years at the time, although his age on the official passenger manifest was recorded as being 29 years.
In the summer of 1915, he successfully applied to The Lusitania Relief Fund administered by The Lord Mayor of Liverpool and other local business dignitaries, for financial assistance in relation to the losses he had incurred in the sinking, and on 2nd June, he was awarded the sum of £10-0s-0d to replace clothing which had gone down with the ship.
By this time, he had secured the position of Third Officer on the Cunard liner S.S. Caria.
George Steele continued to serve on merchant ships, and then, on the 30th March 1941, he was serving as the First Officer on board the s.s. Eastlea, which was reported lost with the loss of all 37 crew on board. Surviving records seem to indicate that the vessel had been torpedoed by the German submarine, U-106, on the 24th March while approximately 130 miles west-northwest of San Antonia, Cape Verde Islands. As his remains were never recovered, and therefore he has no known grave, his name is inscribed on Panel 36 of the Tower Hill Memorial in London.
Administration of his estate was granted to his wife at Newcastle-upon-Tyne on the 20th November 1941, and his estate was valued at £169-17s.-0d. (£169.85p.). At this time, the family home was at 19. Swinbourne Gardens, Monkseaton, Whitley Bay, Northumberland.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, UK Merchant Seaman Deaths 1939 – 1953, 1881 Census of England & Wales, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, UK and Ireland Masters and Mates Certificates 1850 – 1927, UK World War I and World War II Shipping and Seamen Rolls of Honour 1914 – 1945, Liverpool Record Office, Newcastle Daily Chronicle, Newcastle Journal, Probate Records, UniLiv.D92/1/1, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.