Robert Logan was born in Ayr, Ayrshire, Scotland, in June 1913, the son of James and Ruth Logan (née McCorry). His father had been a professional soldier, serving with The Gordon Highlanders, before his marriage, and then a postman at Ayr Post Office.
In October 1913, his father had travelled to Paterson, New Jersey, in the United States of America, in search of work, and Robert and his mother joined him in December 1913.
In August 1914, on the outbreak of the Great War, Robert Logan’s father, who was still a British Army reservist, decided to return home to serve his country, and in the spring of 1915, his mother decided to take him to Scotland for the duration of the war. As a result, they were both booked as third class passengers on the Lusitania and boarded the vessel before she sailed out of the North River, just after mid-day, on 1st May 1915.
When the liner was torpedoed and sunk, six days later, although his mother survived, little Robert was killed. It is probable that he was in the nursery at the time, as were so many other babies who were killed as their mothers had left them there while they ate lunch at the second sitting and the nurses who were looking after then were unable to cope with rescuing them all. Robert Logan was just a month away from his second birthday!
His body was recovered from the sea fairly soon afterwards, however, and having been landed at Queenstown, it was taken to the temporary mortuary set up in the yard of the Cunard office at Lynch's Quay, where it was given the reference number 42.
Once it had been positively identified, it was buried in The Old Church Cemetery, just outside the town, in Mass Grave C, 1st Row, Upper Tier, on 10th May 1915. It was on this day that most of the dead from the sinking were buried, following a long funeral procession which began outside the Cunard office at Lynch‘s Quay on the waterfront.
As there was no property on Robert Logan's body to help identify him, it is likely that this sad and grisly task was performed by his mother, who had also been landed at the town, as a survivor! It is also likely that Ruth Logan attended his funeral.
In November 1919, his parents welcomed their second son, who they named Robert in memory of their first-born. Unfortunately, the brother he never met was killed in an air crash in June 1944 while serving a Lieutenant with the United States Marine Corps Reserve. He was aged just 24 years.
North Carolina Death Certificates 1909 – 1976, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, Kilmarnock Herald, Kilmarnock Standard, The Scotsman, Liverpool Record Office, PRO BT 100/345, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.