Katerina “Kate” Bermel was born in Szepfalu, Hungary in 1887, the daughter of Nicholas and Elizabeth Bermel (née Herman). She emigrated to the United States of America in 1905, settling in New York City where she found work as a waitress in a hotel.
Also working in the hotel was David March Spendley, who came from Sunderland, in County Durham, England, and on the 31st January 1914, they were married in Manhattan, New York.
According to a letter written to Graham Maddocks in October 1996 by David Spendley's great, great, niece, Mrs. Lorna Scott, after the marriage, the couple decided to travel to Sunderland so that David Spendley could introduce his new wife to his family. As a result, they travelled to New York, where Kate Spendley booked passage across the Atlantic on the Lusitania as a third class passenger, with ticket number 1709. It is also possible that David Spendley wished to enlist in the Army in England.
Whether their original intention was for both of them to travel as passengers, cannot be ascertained after all these years, but perhaps to make the crossing cheaper, David Spendley signed on as a member of the crew on 30th April, the day before the liner left the North River for the last time.
At this stage of the war, many passenger liners found themselves short of crew members for the return trip to Great Britain as crew often ‘jumped ship’ in America to avoid the possible rigours of military service back in Britain. Thus, there were usually crew places available on the voyage back to Great Britain. David Spendley’s job on board was that of a waiter, in the Stewards’ Department, a profession he may well have already followed on land, as there is some suggestion from the family that he had once worked in a large hotel in New York.
The liner’s sailing was actually delayed until the early afternoon of 1st May, as she had to embark passengers, crew and cargo from the Anchor Liner Cameronia, which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war service as a troop ship and the Lusitania finally left port just after mid-day. Just six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20. At that point, she was off The Old Head of Kinsale in southern Ireland and only 250 miles hours away from her Liverpool home port and destination.
Parted for the duration of the voyage, the husband and wife were parted for ever, when the ship went down, for although Kate Spendley survived the sinking, her husband was killed and no trace of him was ever seen and identified again. He was aged 29 years and she was 28.
Having been rescued from the sea, Kate Spendley was landed at Queenstown and eventually was able to make her way to her late husband's family home at 26. High Street West, Sunderland, Durham. According to Lorna Scott: -
His wife .... survived and my grandmother remembered the family meeting her on Sunderland station - a lost soul in an assortment of ill-fitting clothes. She eventually returned to live in Canada.
In fact, Kate Spendley did not return to Canada. On the 4th March 1916, she boarded the American Lines St. Paul and returned to New York. In August 1915, she received the balance of wages owed to her husband in respect of his engagement on the Lusitania’s last voyage, which was reckoned until the 8th May 1915, 24 hours after the great ship had foundered. In addition, The Liverpool and London War Risks Insurance Association Limited granted her an annual pension of £32-7s-1d. (£32.35½p.), payable at the rate of £2-14s-0d. (£2.70p.) per month.
On arrival in New York, Kate went to live with her sister at 342. Dearborn Street, Buffalo, in the north of New York State. On the 14th October 1918, she married Otto Karl Meisner, who had emigrated from Germany, and was working as a painter and decorator. The couple set up home in Rochester, New York, and had a son, Carl Otto, who was born in 1919.
Kate Meisner died in Rochester, New York, on the 22nd March 1945, aged 58 years.
New York Marriage Index 1866 – 1937, New York County Marriages 1907 – 1936, New York Death Index 1880 – 1956, 1910 U.S. Federal Census, 1925 New York State Census, UK Outward Passenger Lists 1890 – 1960, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, PRO BT 100/345, PRO BT 334, UniLiv. D92/2/150, UniLiv. PR 13/24, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Lorna Scott, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.