Andrew McKindrey (sometimes reported as McKendry or McKinley) was a native of Newry, County Down, Ireland. He survived the Lusitania sinking.
When reporters asked Andrew how he survived the Lusitania disaster, he survived replied that he did not know but, “I owe my life to learning how to swim on ‘the track line’ [Fathom Line] in Newry when I was a boy”.
After floating for a time, Andrew grabbed a piece of wreckage, then succeeded in reaching and entering a collapsible boat.
As with most survivors, he landed in Queenstown (now Cobh, Ireland). Andrew recalled that the saddest part of the ordeal was going through the various morgues looking around the city for a friend and shipmate on the outward and homeward voyages. Andrew could not find him and assumed that his friend had perished.
References:
Boyle, Fabian. “Sinn Fein and Nationalists Clashed Over Conscription.” Newry Memoirs. Web. 15 February 2012. <http://www.newrymemoirs.com/stories_pages/conscription1914_1.html>.
Carroll, Anthony. “Lusitania’s Local Victims.” The Newry Journal. Web. 15 February 2012. <http://www.newryjournal.co.uk/content/view/1559/31/>.
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