Majlim Grigorian was born in Imperial Russia in 1878. Perhaps seeking his fortune in the new world, at some time before the Great War, he had emigrated to the United States of America, and settled in New York, N.Y., where he presumably found work.
In the spring of 1915, however, perhaps he became alarmed like many other Russian nationals in America, at the critical position of the Czarist forces in relation to the forces of the Central Powers on the eastern front sine the beginning of the Great War. Maybe mindful then of his patriotic duty, he booked third class passage on the
Lusitania’s May sailing for England, on the first part of a journey home.
He thus boarded the liner on the morning of 1st May 1915 at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York port, in time for her scheduled 10.00 a.m. sailing. This sailing was then delayed until the early afternoon as she had to load cargo and take on board passengers and crew from the S.S. Cameronia, which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war service as a troop ship, at the end of April. Six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, the
Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20,
within sight of the coast of southern Ireland and only hours away from her Liverpool home port and destination.
There were 68 Russian nationals on board at the time - 39 of whom perished and 29 who survived. Majlim Grigorian was fortunate enough to be amongst those who survived and having been rescued from the sea, he was landed at Queenstown, from where he probably took passage to the British mainland. Some Russian survivors later complained that they were badly treated in Queenstown by the authorities there and reported this to the Imperial Russian Ambassador in Liverpool, once they had arrived there.
It is not know whether or not Grigorian was one of these, or if he ever completed his journey to his homeland or indeed survived the war! He was aged 37 years at the time of the sinking.
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Copyright © Peter Kelly.