Herbert Kenneth Johnson was born a British subject in 1891. In early 1915, he was living in New York City in the United States of America, but in the spring of that year, he decided to travel to Britain, to enlist in the British Army. Consequently, he booked third class passage on the May sailing of the Lusitania for the voyage from New York to Liverpool and was allocated ticket number 1803.
Little else is known about him except that he would have boarded the liner at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York on the morning of 1st May 1915, in time for her scheduled 10.00 a.m. departure. He would then have had to have waited until 12.27 p.m. before she actually left the port, because she had to load cargo and take on board passengers and some crew members from the Anchor Liner S.S.
Cameronia which the British Admiralty had unexpectedly requisitioned for use as a troop ship. Also on board, but with ticket number 1803, was a John Johnson, aged 27 years, who may well have been a relative and possibly a brother. It is known that he was travelling in the company of a number of other men intent on enlisting, among them Thomas Dhenin, who was travelling with his wife and children, Arthur Shepperson, Alex McCallum, and William Muirhead.
Then, 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 Old Head of Kinsale in southern Ireland. At that stage of her voyage, she was only about twelve to fourteen hours steaming time away from the safety of her home port.
Herbert Johnson survived this action, however although John Johnson was lost and having been rescued from the sea and landed at Queenstown, it is presumed that he eventually reached his original intended destination. He was aged 24 years at the time of the sinking.
Thomas Dhenin, Arthur Shepperson, and William Muirhead also survived, but Alex McCallum and Thomas Dhenin’s wife and children perished.
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Copyright © Peter Kelly.