John Henry Lowrie Haase was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, England, on the 12th September 1884, the son of Andrew and Hannah Maria Haase (née Lowrie). His father, who was born in Germany, was a ship’s steward, and John was the youngest of three children.
The family proved difficult to trace due to the fact that his father, who later became a tobacconist, changed his name to “Charles”, and the family used the names “Haase”, “Hayes”, and “Heys”!
Having qualified as a sea-going engineer, he first served in the Houston Line steamer Heliades, from June 1906 to May 1907 as Fourth and Third Engineer, respectively. He then served in the S.S. Lord Stanley as Third Engineer until May 1909 after which he ‘swallowed the anchor’ and remained on shore to study for his Second Class Board of Trade Engineers certificate. Having obtained this, he then joined the firm of Messrs. Macvicar Marshall to serve on their vessel the S.S. Franklyn until August 1912. This was followed by a period as Second Refrigerating Engineer on the S.S. Macewen, owned by Messrs. Cayzer Irvine & Company Ltd., where he remained until July 1913. After this, he passed his First Class Board of Trade certificate and joined The Cunard Steamship Company. He first served on the Laconia and then the Ascania and eventually joined the crew of the Lusitania.
He was serving on the latter vessel on the 14th August 1914 when he married Jeanetta Brown Purves in Liverpool, and to mark the occasion, the bride and groom were presented with an ornamental marble clock, by his colleagues. They set up home at 10, Leicester Road, Bootle, Lancashire.
On the 12th April 1915, John Hayes engaged, once more, as Junior Fifth Engineer on board the Lusitania and joined the vessel three days later on the morning of the 17th April, before she left Liverpool Pierhead for the last time. His monthly rate of pay for this engagement was £11-10s.-0d. (£11.50p.).
Having arrived safely in New York, he had his last glimpse of America when the liner began her return trip on the early afternoon of the 1st May. She had been scheduled to sail that morning, but was delayed to embark passengers, some crew and cargo from the liner S.S. Cameronia, which had been requisitioned at the end of April by the British Admiralty for service as a troopship.
Engineer Hayes was killed just six days later, when the Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20, only 250 miles away from her home port and just twelve miles off the coast of southern Ireland. He was aged 30 years.
His body was never found and identified afterwards, and consequently, his name is embossed on the Mercantile Marine War Memorial at Tower Hill, London. He is also commemorated on the municipal war memorial in Stanley Road, Bootle, Merseyside. His name is not on one of the bronze panels on the main memorial, however, but on a semi-circular wall around it, where later additions are displayed.
His name was also engraved on a brass plaque belonging to The Liverpool Branch of The Marine Engineers’ Association which used to be in The Britannia Rooms in The Cunard Building in Liverpool. Underneath the badge of the association was engraved: -
ROLL OF HONOUR
LIVERPOOL BRANCH
A TRIBUTE TO THE MEMORY OF
THE MEMBERS, WHO LOST THEIR LIVES
THROUGH ENEMY ACTION IN THE
GREAT WAR. 1914 - 1919
and then followed the names of the 226 former members.
The memorial is not in the building today, however and its present whereabouts, if it has survived, are not known.
Administration of his estate was granted to his widow, Jeanetta, at Liverpool on the 10th July 1915 and his effects amounted to £127-0s.-0d. She doubtless also received the balance of wages owing to him in respect of his last voyage on the Lusitania, which was sent to the family in August of the same year. It was in respect of his service from the 17th April until the 8th May 1915 - 24 hours after the liner had foundered. The Liverpool and London War Risks Insurance Association Limited also granted a yearly pension to Jeanetta Hayes to compensate her for the loss of her husband which amounted to £66-11s.-8d. (£66.58½p.) which was payable at the rate of £5-11s.-0d. (£5.55p.) per month.
Less than three weeks after his death, on the 27th May 1915, Jeanetta Hayes gave birth to their only child, a daughter she named Jeanette, who never got to meet her father!
Register of Births, Marriages, and Deaths, Liverpool England Church of England Baptisms 1813 – 1919, 1891 Census of England, 1901 Census of England, 1911 Census of England, 1921 Census of England, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Marine Engineers’ Journal, Probate Records, UniLiv D92/11, UniLiv. PR 13/24, PRO BT 100/345, PRO BT 334, PRO BT 351/1/60429, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, George Donnison, Gill Swift, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 3rd January 2024.