Silvio Bruno Giuseppe de Vescovi was born in Rome, Italy, in 1888. His father was a professor of medicine at the University of Rome, while his mother was the Baroness Elizabeth De Gleria of Trieste.
He was a physician and once qualified, he went to England to study at the School of Mines in Camborne, Cornwall. He found lodgings with the Weaver family at 9. Cross Street, Camborne.
In early 1913, he married Dora Bennetts in Camborne, and the couple set up home at Llewellyn House, Basset Street, Camborne, Cornwall.
Sometime after his marriage, having secured employment with a mining company, he travelled to Chile in South America to take up his position.
In the spring of 1915, he decided to return to Cornwall as a second cabin passenger on the May sailing of the Lusitania which was scheduled to sail from New York on 1st May 1915. Leaving Chile some time in April he arrived at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York harbour in time for her morning sailing on that date and but had to wait until the early afternoon for her to sail. This was because her departure was delayed while she loaded passengers’, crew and cargo from the Anchor Liner Cameronia, which had been taken up from trade to use as a troopship by the British Admiralty at the end of April.
Six days out of New York, on the afternoon of 7th May, the Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20 within sight of the southern Irish coast and only hours away from her Liverpool destination. Silvio de Vescovi managed to survive this sinking, however, and having been rescued from the sea, he was landed at Queenstown, after which he managed to get back to Camborne on the evening of Sunday 9th May. After his return, he gave an interview to a representative of local newspaper The West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser, which told of his experiences and stated: -
I was on deck when I heard a loud noise like a big thud, followed by an explosion. I ran towards the saloon, but so much water splashed up that I thought the ship had struck a mine. After the first torpedo, she listed to the starboard, but after the second torpedo, she started to sink rapidly.
There was no panic on board and women and children were given the first turn. There were quite forty babies on board. I was given a lifebelt and I ran to the bow where there was a rope hanging and I intended climbing down this. On reaching the place, I found several hanging onto the rope so I made a dive into the water.
Many passengers hearing two explosions assumed that Kapitänleutnant Schwieger in command of the U-20 had fired two torpedoes, although his log distinctly stated that he only fired one! It is also more likely that Dr. de Vescovi meant the stern of the boat and not the bow, as the bow of the Lusitania was under water almost immediately after she was struck! It is also known that several other survivors climbed down ropes hanging from the stern of the vessel. The account continued: -
I swam away from the ship but there was not a boat in sight. At the end of 20 minutes the Lusitania disappeared and I swam around for an hour. There were forty-eight of us together in the water but only ten of these were passengers. After two hours or more we were picked up by the Katherine, bound for Queenstown from Havana was landed at one o'clock the following morning.
The ship that picked up Mr. de Vescovi was in fact the Hopkins and Jones Liner Westborough of Cardiff, outward bound from Havana, Cuba, laden with sugar and diverted from Queenstown where she was going to re-coal. However, her master Captain E.L. Taylor had disguised her as a Greek steamer, naming her Katerina and
even flying a Greek flag, so that she might pass as a neutral ship!
Doctor de Vescovi also gave a similar account of his survival to a reporter from The Cornish Echo which was published on 14th May 1915.
Another second cabin passenger survivor, a Scot named David Dalrymple living in Hoboken, New Jersey, was also picked up by the Westborough/Katerina and later stated in Scottish newspaper The Evening Telegraph and Post: -
The work of taking them (survivors) aboard the vessel, which was a Greek steamer, was accomplished with difficulty, especially in the case of one of the crew of the Lusitania, who had suffered a terrible injury to his left arm. Indeed, the limb was held by a small piece of skin, which was severed by a doctor who was aboard the steamer which rescued them. The man must have been suffering agonising pain while on the boat, and yet he never murmured.
It is likely that this doctor was Silvio de Vescovi, especially as saloon passenger survivor Dr. H.L. Fisher stated in Midlands newspaper The Smethwick Telephone: -
This arm was amputated successfully with a butcher's knife by a little Italian surgeon.
Second cabin passengers James Haldane and Francis Lucas also recalled the seaman with his arm hanging by only a shred of skin.
In June 1917, Doctor de Vescovi’s wife contacted Cunard to obtain ratification of her husband’s presence and survival, on the Lusitania's last voyage, in order that he could make a claim through the Italian government for compensation for baggage and other property lost.
Nothing further is known about Silvio de Vescovi; except that he and his wife had children and that they lived at various times in Italy and Chile. His eldest son, Peter, studied medicine in London in the late 1930’s and practised for some period in Cornwall.
Silvio’s sister, Lucilla de Vescovi, founded “Countess Mara” in 1935, a company that manufactured high-end pictorial men’s neckties. The brand can still be found in high-end stores today and now produces belts, leather goods, neckwear, shirts and sportswear, amongst other products. It is believed that Silvio de Vescovi managed the company’s affairs in Chile for a number of years.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1911 Census of England & Wales, Florida Passenger Lists 1898 – 1963, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, Cornish Echo, Smethwick Telephone, The New Yorker, Telegraph and Post, West Briton & Cornwall Evening Advertiser, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv.D92/1/1, UniLiv D92/2/253, Graham Maddocks, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.