Margaret ‘Maggie’ Galligan was born in Ardlogher, County Cavan, Ireland on the 29th July 1893, the daughter of Bernard and Mary Galligan (née Lee). She was unmarried.
On the 25th September 1910, she arrived in New York City, in the United States of America, on board the
s.s. California, having embarked in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Initially, she resided with her married sister, Mrs. Kate Kohler, at 310. East 25th Street, in New York City, but later moved in with her aunt – her mother’s sister, Miss Bridget Lee. She found work as a domestic servant.
In the spring of 1915, Maggie and her aunt decided to return home for a holiday, and therefore booked tickets from New York on the Anchor Liner S.S. Cameronia.
Then at the end of April, the British Admiralty requisitioned her for war service as a troop ship, and transferred her passengers, some crew and cargo to the
Lusitania. Margaret Galligan and her aunt therefore joined the vessel as second cabin passengers on the morning of 1st May 1915 at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York. The
Lusitania then left port just after mid-day and six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine
U-20 off the southern coast of Ireland and only hours away from her Liverpool home port.
Both niece and aunt managed to survive this action, and after being rescued from the sea and landed at Queenstown, they both eventually made it back to their Cavan homes.
While there, they gave an interview which appeared in the Anglo-Celt newspaper on Saturday, 15th May. The article stated: -
SAVED FROM LUSITANIA
CAVAN PASSENGERS’ EXPERIENCE
Among the 777 passengers of the Cunard liner Lusitania who were saved out of a total of 1,960, after the great vessel had been torpedoed by a German submarine off Kinsale Head on Friday last, are two Co. Cavan ladies who were interviewed by an Anglo-Celt representative on Tuesday, at the residence of Mr. Francis Smith, Killycannon, Cavan, a brother-in-law of Miss Bridget Lee, who said she was accompanied on the trip by her niece, Miss Maggie Galligan, formerly of Ardlogher.
She had been a resident of New York for 25 years, during which time she had crossed the Atlantic several times. Miss Galligan went to the United States about 5 years ago.
They had their passages booked on the Carmania [actually Cameronia], but were with a large number of other Irish people transferred to the ill-fated Lusitania at the last moment, the Anchor Line boats having been requisitioned by the British Government to convey troops from Canada for the front.
Miss Lee, who looked none the worse of the terrible ordeal through which she had passed, continuing, said that she was at lunch when the first shock was felt, the general topic at the table being the submarines. Everyone rushed out of the dining room, but the stewards and waiters assured them that there was no cause for uneasiness. Miss lee and her niece then returned to their seats, and when the second shock came it was with difficulty that they made their way out.
They were supplied with lifebelts, as owing to the suddenness of the attack, there was a delay in the launching of the lifeboats. The scene was a terrible one. She and her niece clasped each other’s arms, and then suddenly the vessel went down, and they went with it, praying fervently to God for mercy.
She could not tell anything that happened then, but she next found herself, still clasping her niece, on the surface of the water, and seeing a deckchair floating, they caught hold of it, as did a gentleman who was also in the water. In this terrifying state they held on for two hours, desperately clinging to the frail support, until they were picked up by a lifeboat in which there were twenty other passengers.
They were then transferred to a tug-boat and taken to Queenstown, where they remained until Monday morning. Miss Lee said the spectacle of dead bodies floating on all sides was one never to be forgotten. She added that the only Cavan people she had come into personal contact with on the boat were a lady from Cootehill district, and Mr. Ernest Moore, of Lisdarn, who was returning home after a two year sojourn in the United States.
The woman from Cootehill district was probably Miss Susan Coleman, who also survived. Unfortunately, Ernest Moore was not amongst the survivors. The article continues: -
She had been speaking to Mr. Moore on the morning of the disaster, and that was the last she saw of him. She was most anxious to know if he had been saved. The Cootehill lady was amongst the survivors, Miss Lee having met her in Queenstown before leaving. All their luggage was lost. Had they been allowed to sail in the Anchor Line steamship in which they booked, they would have been saved their desperate ordeal.
Not long after her return, Maggie Galligan made a claim for compensation for loss of her clothing, to The Lusitania Relief Fund. This fund had been set up in Liverpool, soon after the liner had gone down, by the Lord Mayor of Liverpool and other local businessmen, to provide financial compensation for second and third class passengers who had suffered loss as a result of the sinking. It was presumed at the time that saloon passengers would not need any financial help! Both Maggie Galligan and her aunt were granted the sum of £3-0s-0d by the awards committee to replace clothing lost in the sinking.
On the 25th November 1916, Maggie Galligan returned to New York on board the
s.s. St. Louis, and sometime afterwards entered the Dominican Sisters of the Sick Poor, taking the name Sr. Mary Amata. She became a nurse and worked in hospitals in New York City and Denver, Colorado.
Sr. Mary Amata ended her days nursing cancer patients in Calvary Hospital, New York City. She died in Mariandale, Ossining, New York, on the 26th December 1973, aged 80 years.
Some extant Cunard records also spell Miss Galligan's surname Gallighan.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1901 Census of Ireland, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, New York State and Federal Naturalization Records 1794 – 1943, Anglo-Celt, Gettysburg Times, Liverpool Record Office, New York Times, PRO BT 100/345, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.