George Clinton was born in South Shields, County Durham, England, in 1887. In 1915, he was living or lodging at 7, Kendrick Street, Seaforth, on the outskirts of Liverpool, Lancashire.
He was a professional Mercantile Marine seaman, and, on the 12th April 1915, he engaged as an able seaman in the Deck Department on board the Lusitania, at a monthly rate of pay of £5-10s.-0d. (£5.50p.). He reported for duty on board the liner on the early morning of the 17th April before she left Liverpool for the very last time. It was not the first time that he had served on the vessel.
Having completed the first leg of her voyage to New York, he was on board on the afternoon of the 7th May 1915, when she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine, U-20, within sight of the southern coast of Ireland and only 250 miles away from her Liverpool destination.
Having been rescued from the sea, he was landed at Queenstown from where he eventually made it back to his home. Some time after that, he was officially discharged from the Lusitania's final voyage and received the sum of £5-2s.-4d. (£5.12p.), which was the balance of pay owing to him in respect of his sea service from the 17th April 1915, until the 8th May, 24 hours after the liner had been sunk.
A photograph of him standing next to another crew survivor, Able Seaman Jack Roper, on the quayside at Queenstown, appeared in a weekly magazine called The Illustrated War News, not long after the sinking.
Cunard Records, Illustrated War News, PRO BT 100/345, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 9th January 2023.