Samuel Max Kubelik was born in Riga, now the capital of Latvia, but then a city in Imperial Russia, in 1883, the son of Fishel and Fannie Leah Kubelik (née Abramson).
At some stage, however, he immigrated to Canada and was granted British nationality. He set up home in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and married Ethel Estelle Hyman in Montreal on the 20th December 1911. The couple had one son – Gordon Eric Kubelik, who was born in 1912. Max, as he was known, was an estate agent and financier, and was of the Jewish faith.
In the spring of 1915, he decided to travel to Europe on business and consequently booked second cabin passage on the Lusitania to cross the Atlantic. Leaving Montreal at the end of April 1915, he joined the vessel at the Cunard berth in New York, in time for her delayed departure, on the early afternoon of 1st May. This delay was caused because the Lusitania had to take on board passengers, crew and cargo from the Anchor Liner Cameronia which the British Admiralty had requisitioned for use as a troop ship. Then, six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, the Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20 off the southern coast of Ireland and only hours away from her Liverpool destination.
Max Kubelik was killed as a result of this action. He was aged 34 years.
Although his body was never recovered and identified, on the morning after the sinking, Captain Elliot, the skipper of the Osprey, a steamer from the fishing village of Baltimore, fished a notebook out of the wreckage floating in the sea. Inside it were some papers and photographs which proved it had belonged to Samuel Kubelik.
Amongst the papers were letters of introduction to several English firms from the Quebec firm of Messrs. Hitchmon and Co., who were fish merchants. Apparently, Samuel Kubelik's father-in-law was a member of the firm!
The notebook was handed over to a local customs official, who forwarded it to Cunard's office in Queenstown. Eventually, it was returned to Mrs. Kubelik in Montreal on the 2nd August 1915, through Cunard‘s New York Office.
His widow lodged a claim with the Canadian Commission seeking compensation of $750 in cash he had in his possession when he boarded the Lusitania, and $1,000 for the loss of his baggage and jewellery. She also sought compensation for herself and her son for the loss of his life. In August 1927, the Commission awarded her the full sum of $1,750 for the loss of his money, baggage, and jewellery, and in addition, awarded his widow $6,000 in compensation for the loss of her husband, and their son, Gordon Eric, was awarded $5,000 for the loss of his father.
The official passenger list for the final voyage of the Lusitania, record Max Kubelik’s name as Kuebellick, but this was erroneous, and his marriage record, and the records of the Canadian Commission record his correct name of Kubelik.
Quebec Canada Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection) 1621 – 1968, Cunard Records, Canadian Claims Case No. 893, Cork Examiner, PRO BT 100/345., UniLiv.D92/1/6, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.