Isaac “Ike” Jackson was born on the 15th December 1880, in Lodz, Poland, although at the time of his birth, it was a city in Imperial Russia. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Solomon Jackson, and his father was a silk weaver. When Isaac’s mother died, his father re-married, before the family emigrated to the United States of America and settled in Paterson, Passaic County, New Jersey in 1904. Although there are few records that can be found and identified that pertain to Isaac, it appears that he didn’t accompany his family to New Jersey, but instead went to London, only joining the rest of his family in 1910. By now, Isaac and his brothers and sister were also working in the silk industry. He had at least three brothers – Harry, Jacob and Isidore, and a sister named Rebecca. He also had a half-brother, George, as a result of his father’s second marriage. The family were of the Jewish faith.
The family established a silk manufacturing business at 50. Washington Street, Paterson, and in the spring of 1915, Isaac Jackson found it necessary to travel to England, in the course of the business, and consequently booked second cabin passage from New York to Liverpool on the Lusitania.
He was on board the vessel when she left New York harbour on the early afternoon of 1st May 1915 and he survived the sinking three days later, with the liner off the coast of southern Ireland and only hours away from her Liverpool destination. He was rescued from the sea and landed at Queenstown, where he gave an interview about his experiences to the press, which was later published in many newspapers internationally.
The Times for Monday 10th May 1915 also printed a version, which stated: -
During the morning the boats had all been swung out ready for lowering and owing to the heavy list, it was impossible to get those boats on the port side in a position for lowering. Many of the crew and passengers stood in the collapsible boats underneath and tried to push the lifeboats out over the side, but they were too heavy, so they gave it up and climbed into the boats to await events. Mr. Jackson continued: -
“An officer at once ordered us out of them, shouting to us that there was no danger. So we got out and stood talking and waiting until the ship went down. I think that as she had ceased to heel over beyond a certain point, the officers thought she would keep afloat. She sank quite suddenly.
Those who were standing on deck tried to hold together, but when we were in the water I had to break away from a man who was dragging me down by the wrist. I was picked up by a lifeboat which was so crowded that the oars could nor be used.
The passengers were wonderfully calm, women as well as men. There was very little screaming until the last cry as the ship sank. She was struck about 10 minutes after 2 o’clock and all the survivors with watches tell me that their watches stopped at half-past 2.”
After being landed at Queenstown he was able to make it to England.
Shortly after his arrival in London, he wrote a letter to his brother, Harry, telling him of his experience. The letter was published in the 25th May edition of
The News, one of the local newspapers in Paterson. Isaac Jackson wrote: -
“Dear brother Harry: - I am very glad to be able to tell you that I am still alive and well, excepting for a slight cold which I contracted through trying to drink up the Atlantic Ocean. I hope you received my cable telling you that I was saved. Now I am going to tell you how it all happened, that is as far as I am concerned.
“On Friday at about 2:15p.m., as I was having lunch, I felt a great shock and a terrific explosion. It seemed to be right under my seat, and the ship listed on one side so much, that I thought she was going to turn over before I would be able to go on deck. All the passengers got up from their seats, and I made my way on deck, which was rather difficult, owing to the slanting position of the ship. I had to go slowly, as there were a lot of people in front of me, but there was no pushing or disorder. I came up on deck, and the deck was already full of people, all trying to get into lifeboats. I had no lifebelt on and was considering whether to go to my cabin to get one, but concluded that there was not time enough now to reach the boat deck.
“I had to go up another flight of stairs and the ship was in such a slanting position that it was almost impossible, there was such a lot of people on them. So I climbed up on the ladder of the mast, picking up a lifebelt on my way up, which someone in their hurry left hanging on one of the rungs of the ladder, and I believe that saved my life.
“When I reached the boat deck, I put the lifebelt on good and tight and then helped to try and launch one of the boats, but we could not do so, why, I will explain. You see, when we came near England, they got the lifeboats ready and they were all swung over the side of the ship, so when the ship keeled over on one side, naturally the boats on the other side swung in again on the deck and no matter how hard we tried we could not push it over the side. You see when I reached the deck I was on the high side of the ship. Well, seeing that we could not do anything by pushing, a number of us got in the boat and tried to get her out by pulling on the ropes. Just then one of the officers called out that we were safe and to get out of the boats. I got out because I saw there was no use staying in there, and simply walked about, at the same time I saw to it that my belt was on tight.
“There was a young Jewish man on board, Samuel Friedman, by name, with whom I was very friendly, and as I walked about I put my arm around his neck and tried to comfort him. All the time the ship kept on sinking, and I began to get frightened, so I got into another boat that was hanging over the deck. I felt the ship sinking fast, and was just going to jump overboard, when the ship gave a lurch and sank.
“I was dragged down with the suction, it seemed to me about a mile. As I was going down I felt somebody clutching me, and my right wrist was gripped by somebody, but I managed to break loose. And in what seemed to me a long time I rose to the surface. I looked about me and there were a few lifeboats with people in them and a lot of wreckage floating around. There was what looked to me like a man floating around near me. I tried to pull myself up, but was too weak. Just then one of the boats with people in it drifted by me, and I begged them to take me in before they left. They did so, and I got ashore safely. …
Samuel Friedman, the second class passenger he had befriended, was not as fortunate as Mr. Jackson, and after the
Lusitania sank, he was never seen again.
Later when he applied for a grant from The Lusitania Relief Fund, which was administered by The Lord Mayor of Liverpool, Isaac Jackson gave his English address as 16, Arthur Street, London W.C.. This fund had been set up by The Lord Mayor and other notable people from the local business world to provide financial relief to those second and third class passengers who had suffered as a result of the sinking. It was thought that saloon passengers would have sufficient financial security not to need any help.
He boarded the S.S. Philadelphia in Liverpool on the 26th May, to return to his family in Paterson, and soon after this, he began using the forename “John”. He later married a woman named Goldie, but it is thought that they had no children. In 1934, he gave an interview on the nineteenth anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania, telling of his experience that day, which appeared in a number of newspapers circulating in Paterson, repeating more or less what he had written in his letter to his brother, Harry, in 1915. At the time of being interviewed, he was residing at 97. Twelfth Avenue, Paterson, and was operating a small broad silk manufacturing plant at 181. River Street.
Even though Isaac Jackson was born in Imperial Russia, his nationality was stated to be British, therefore it is possible that prior to 1910, he had become a British subject.
1910 U.S. Federal Census, 1920 U.S. Federal Census, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, UK Outgoing Passenger Lists 1890 – 1960, Cunard Records, U.S. World War I Draft Registration Cards 1917 – 1918, Liverpool Record Office, The Morning Call, The News, The Paterson Evening News, New York Times, The Times, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.