Nothing is known of Mitrofan Sobolewski except that it is believed he was born in Russia around 1885. Sometime before the Great War, he had emigrated to the United States of America and settled in Lyndora, Butler County, Pennsylvania. It is not known if he found work there, and if so, in what industry.
By the spring of 1915, however, he had decided to return to his native home, perhaps to enlist in the Imperial Russian Army and booked third class passage on the May sailing of the Lusitania on the first part of his journey home.
He travelled to New York City, and boarded the vessel at Pier 54 in New York harbour, on the morning of 1st May.
The liner’s departure was delayed until the early afternoon to embark crew, passengers and cargo from the requisitioned liner Cameronia and just before 12.30 p.m. she slipped into the North River and out into the Atlantic Ocean.
Six days later the liner was torpedoed and sunk by Kapitänleutnant Schwieger’s submarine U-20, within sight of the southern Irish coast and only hours away from her Liverpool destination.
Mitrofan Sobolewski was lucky enough to be counted among the survivors, and having been rescued from the sea, he was landed at Queenstown where, presumably, he continued on his journey to Russia. He was stated to have been aged 29 years.
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