Noting the past with a letter from doomed liner Lusitania

A LETTER from a Lusitania crew member in which he spoke of his relief that there were no German submarines around has sold for £2,000 (€2,275).

The sale came just as Cobh marked the 103rd anniversary of the sinking of the liner off the Co. Cork coast in 1915.

In the letter, engineer William Affleck Anderson wrote from New York: ‘We arrived here safely after a pretty rough passage. We didn’t sight any submarines or anything of the sort, so we didn’t have any excitement.’

Unfortunately, his luck didn’t hold; on a subsequent trip from New York to Liverpool, a German submarine sunk the liner, killing 1,198 people, including Mr Anderson.

The letter sold for £2,000 in England last week, and was described by auctioneer Andrew Aldridge as a ‘truly museum-quality’ specimen.

The sale of the artefact took place just days before history lovers gathered in Cobh on Sunday, 103 years after the great liner was struck by a torpedo fired by a German submarine.

Nine-year-old Ella Britton took part in the commemoration at the town’s Old Church Cemetery, along with other members of the Cobh Animation Team.

They then participated in a parade led by a colour party from the Organisation of National Ex-Servicemen and Women and other maritime and historical groups.