Kahroman Petrosian was born in Urmia, Persia, in 1888, of Armenian parentage.
In 1911, he had left home and having travelled across Europe and the Atlantic Ocean, he settled in New York State, in the United States of America, where he presumably found employment as a labourer.
In the spring of 1915, however, perhaps because he had heard of the Armenian Massacre, he decided to return, to check on his family.
Consequently, he booked third class passage on the May sailing of the Lusitania from New York to Liverpool for the major part of his journey home. With ticket number 86596, he boarded the liner at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York, on the morning of 1st May 1915, in time for her scheduled 10.00 a.m. departure. This was then delayed until the just after mid-day, as she had to load cargo and embark passengers and crew from the Anchor Lines vessel the S.S. Cameronia which the British Admiralty had requisitioned for war service as a troop ship at the end of the previous month.
Then, six days out of New York, on the early afternoon of 7th May, the Lusitania was
torpedoed by the German submarine U-20, off the coast of southern Ireland and sank shortly afterward., At that stage of her voyage, she was only about fourteen hours steaming time away from the safety of her home port.
Kahroman Petrosian was one of the lucky ones who survived the sinking and after having been rescued from the sea, he was landed at Queenstown. Once there, he presumably continued on to his intended destination.
He returned to the United States of America on the 13th January 1917, on board the s.s. Stockholm, accompanied by his younger brother, Kirkor. Whereas Kahroman was admitted, his brother was immediately deported.
Nothing further is known about him, except that he applied to become a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1931, when he was residing in Boston, Massachusetts. It is likely he anglicised his name at some stage, therefore making it very difficult to trace his life.
Cunard records state that his forename was Kahramen, and that he was born in 1899 in Imperial Russia, but these records appear erroneous.
New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, PRO BT 100/345, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.