Patrick Coyne was born in Annagh, Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland, on the 13th January 1896, the son of Michael and Mary Coyne (née Flanagan). His father was a farmer, who died while Patrick was a child, and in 1911, the family home was at Buncam East, Castlebar, Co. Mayo. He was one of at least ten children in the family.
While still a teenager, Patrick left his home and went looking for work in England. By 1915, he was lodging at 88. Marsh Lane, Liverpool, Lancashire.
He signed on as a trimmer in the Engineering Department on board the Lusitania at Liverpool, for what would be the liner’s last ever voyage to America and reported for duty at 8 a.m. on the 17th April, the day she left the River Mersey. As a trimmer, his monthly rate of pay was £6-0s-0d. and upon engagement, he was given an advance on his pay of £1-0s-0d.
Having successfully completed the voyage to New York, he was still serving on board in the Engineering Department when the vessel set out on the return journey on the 1st May 1915. Patrick Coyne was killed when the ship was sunk on the 7th May when struck by a torpedo launched from the German submarine U-20. He was aged 19 years, although when he signed on for the voyage, he gave his age as being 24 years!
His body was not one of those which was recovered and identified afterwards, and he is commemorated on the Mercantile Marine Memorial at Tower Hill, London, even though he is recorded as being Patrick Coyle, which was the name recorded in the Cunard files.
Register of Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1901 Census of Ireland, 1911 Census of Ireland, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Birkenhead News, PRO BT 334, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated –17th January 2023.