| Richard Freeman Saloon Passenger Lost |
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 Image: Boston Globe/Carole Lindsay |
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| Born | Richard Rich Freeman, Jr. c. 1886 Massachusetts, United States |
| Died | 7 May 1915 (age 28) At sea |
| Age on Lusitania | 28 |
| Ticket number | 1300 |
| Cabin number | D 4 |
| Occupation | Mining engineer |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Residence | Boston, Massachusetts, United States |
Richard Freeman, Jr., 28, was a United States national from Boston, Massachusetts. He was on the Lusitania on his way to Siberia to work as a mining engineer. His ticket on the ship was 1300 and he stayed in cabin D-4. He was friends with James Houghton, Carlton Brodrick, and Scott Turner. Freeman was lost in the Lusitania disaster, when the ship torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20 on 7 May 1915. He was seen helping to lower the lifeboats and giving his lifebelt to a woman. His body was either not recovered or never identified.
Richard was the son of Richard R. Freeman and Mary M. Freeman, then 54 and 55 years of age. They were from Woolaston, Massachusetts, and the senior Mr. Freeman was one of Massachusetts’ most prominent golfers. Richard was the last in the male line of an old and honored family. He had two sisters, Elizabeth and Catherine, both unmarried, then aged 27 and 23 years respectively. Richard attended Harvard University, where he took high rank at college and met James Houghton sophomore year. Richard graduated from Harvard Engineering School.
His employers certify that he was capable, industrious, and resourceful. Richard was by profession a mining engineer. He had worked for a Michigan mining company where he was paid approximately $1,200 per year. He gave up that job to go to Russia to become an assistant mining engineer for a Russian company. All of his expenses would be paid and his salary would be “made satisfactory to him.”
For his journey to Russia, Freeman embarked on the Lusitania. James Houghton had not known that Freeman was also traveling on Lusitania and was delighted to see him aboard. Houghton arranged to have their meals together with Carlton Brodrick and Scott Turner for two days, where they would talk mostly about mining. Houghton recalled that he learned much from those conversations. Freeman and Houghton had tea together several times and walked the decks every night, talking of their friends and college days.
On 7 May 1915, the day of the sinking, Freeman was standing on the A-deck promenade with Marie Depage by the rail when he saw the periscope pop up and then disappear. He saw the torpedo and called to Marie Depage and they both watched the torpedo strike almost under them. The explosion covered them both with spray and soot. Houghton was in his cabin at the time and rushed up to A-deck to meet Freeman and Marie. Houghton recalled that Freeman was “immensely pleased” at having seen the torpedo and was laughing and joking about it and would tell anybody who asked about what had happened.
Houghton recalled that Freeman would dash away every so often when he saw some place where he could be useful. He helped lower one of the lifeboats and later was on the deck above the boat deck helping to disentangle ropes. He did not have a lifebelt on, but when they heard the order that no more lifeboats should be lowered, Houghton saw Freeman with a lifebelt, suggesting that he must have gone below to get his. Freeman walked over to a woman who was standing nearby and said “Haven’t you a lifebelt.” She answered “No” and he immediately gave her his told her she must take it. She protested but he started tying it about her laughing and joking that he was a good swimmer and the belt would get in his way. He then walked over to Houghton and Depage and passed a few jokes.
At that time, Marie Depage noticed that Freeman had wrapped a handkerchief about his hand and demanded to see it. He protested that it was nothing, but when he took off the handkerchief they saw that a dime-sized piece of skin had been torn from the palm of his hand by the flying wreckage of the torpedo. Marie scolded Freeman for using the dirty handkerchief, but he said he was too healthy to get any infection. Marie took her own handkerchief and bound up Freeman’s hand, all the while scolding him for being too careless. Freeman parted from Marie and Houghton again, and that was the last time Houghton saw Freeman. Freeman was lost in the disaster, but Houghton wrote the following to Freeman’s mother and father:
I am sure that it must be a continual source of comfort to you to know that Dick went like a man thinking only of others and giving his life that the women and children might be saved. If we all can, when our time comes, acquit ourselves as nobly and as fearlessly as he did, we will have nothing of which to complain.
Richard’s mother was profoundly affected by her son’s death to the point that her health was compromised. His sister Elizabeth, a college graduate, who was employed as a teacher of history in a private school, left her job to take care of her mother for a period of seven years, after which she resumed teaching. Mrs. Freeman’s doctor stated that her son’s death had made her “aged in every tissue and fiber of her being.”
The Mixed Claims Commission awarded Richard’s father and mother $10,000.00 for his death and an additional $560.20 for property lost.
Related pages
Richard Freeman at the Mixed Claims Commission
Contributors
Richard Bailey
Carole Lindsay
Michael Poirier
Judith Tavares
References
Mixed Claims Commission, Docket 464, page 433.
Here’s something curious related to the unrelated passengers Matthew FReeman and Richard Rich Freeman, Jr…an undated letter from Lusitania survivor James Tilley Houghton to Richard Rich Freeman of Wollaston, Mass. describing the last days/hours of Tilley’s Harvard classmate (and RRF’s son) Richard Rich Freeman, Jr. (forwarded to RRF’s wife on Cape Cod on July 14, 1915. It seems Marie Depage also bandaged his hand:
My dear Mr. Freeman,
My delay in writing is I know inexcusable and although my reason in no way excuses me still the fact that my nerves have been in such a condition since the catastrophe that I have actually been unable to write about it may to some extent modify the opinion you must have of me. I can give you my sympathy more wholeheartedly because I knew Dick ever since sophomore year in College and he being the only person on board whom I had known for any length of time I feel his loss more keenly than any of the others. I will start at the beginning of the trip for I’m sure that you want to know everything that happened throughout the entire voyage even though the reading of it will cause you additional pain.
When I boarded the boat about a quarter to ten I was delighted to find that he was going across and during the two hours delay we stood on the deck talking most of the time, he telling me of his plans and I congratulating him upon having such a fine trip ahead of him. I asked him to let me sit at his table for my own party was pretty well scattered for they could not get a table so as to be all together. He and Broderick and Turner and I then went down and got seated at the same table. We had a most delightful time for two days at the end of which my party got rearranged and I had to go over to their table. We had a fine time at meals however for those two days although the conversation was mostly on mining topics I enjoyed it immensely and felt that I was acquiring a great deal of information on that subject. After leaving the table I didn’t see quite as much of Dick but several times we had tea together and almost every night we would walk about the deck together talking of our friends and of the days when we were at Cambridge together. On the day we were torpedoed I was in my stateroom when we were struck and when I came on deck I found him shortly after finding Mme Defage, who was a member of my party. It seems he had been standing near Mme Defage by the rail and had suddenly seen the periscope pop up then almost instantly disappear and immediately the torpedo started he called to Mme Defage and they both watched the torpedo coming and it struck almost under them. They were both covered with spray and soot. He was immensely pleased at having pleased at having seen it and was laughing and joking about it and recounting the experience to anybody who asked about it. I saw him several times from then on but he would dash away every few minutes when he saw some place where he could be useful. I saw him helping lower one of the boats and later I saw him upon the top deck (the deck above the boat deck) disentangling ropes. He must have gone down and got his life preserver for when the order had been given that no more lifeboats should be powered and we were all standing about waiting for the next emergency to arise he suddenly appeared with one. He walked over to a woman who was standing near us and said “Haven’t you a lifebelt.” She answered “No” and he immediately lifted his off and told her she must take it. She protested but he wouldn’t hear a word of it but started tying it about her laughing and joking all the time saying that he was a good swimmer and the belt was in his way etc. He then came over to us and we joked a moment or two. I suppose it seems strange to you that under such tragic circumstances there should have been so much joking and it seems strange to me now and the only way I can explain it is that we were all under a terrific strain and by making witty or silly remarks we could at once cheer up those about us and relieve our own feelings. Mme Defage noticed that he had a handkerchief about his hand and demanded to see it. He protested that it was nothing but on taking off the handkerchief we found that a piece of skin about the size of a dime had been torn from the palm of his hand by the flying wreckage of the torpedo. She scolded him for putting on the dirty handkerchief but he said he was too healthy to get any infection but she took her own handkerchief and bound it up scolding him all the while for being too careless. The wound didn’t amount to anything but it must have smarted a little. I suppose under ordinary circumstances nobody would have paid any attention to it but as it was it gave us all something else to think about and was welcomed as such. After that I again lost track of him until the ship started on her final plunge down. I saw him holding down the ropes which were stretched across the space where the lifeboats had been for some women to get across. Shortly after that, in fact immediately Mme Defage and I jumped over the side into the water which at that time had risen almost to our feet. As I sank I was struck by some wreckage but came to almost immediately. As I was whirled about in the whirlpool created by the sinking ship I escaped death by an inch at least a dozen times. There was the most astounding [amount] of wreckage being whirled about and I am certain that all the others were struck by some of it. I like to think that this is what happened for when I go, I would ask nothing better than such a speedy and painless death. I know that this has been a perfectly terrible blow to you and Mrs. Freeman but I am sure that it must be a continual source of comfort to you to know that Dick went like a man thinking only of others and giving his life that the women and children might be saved. If we all can, when our time comes, acquit ourselves as nobly and as fearlessly as he did, we will have nothing of which to complain. I know there must be thousands of questions you want to ask me and I shall try to get to Boston in the near future. I shall let you know well in advance and shall consider it a great favor to do anything in the world to alleviate your sorrow. With my most heartfelt sympathy to both you and Mrs. Freeman I am your most sincerely
James T. Houghton
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interested in any interest in the CT Houghton letter above
It was a magnificent letter. Harvard has their yearbook photos on file
Note: Richard’s younger sister Catherine soon married Chester Nimitz, a young US Navy officer who had already published (1912) about the use of submarines in naval warfare. Toward the end of his career (1946) Nimitz wrote a deposition for German Admiral Doenitz regarding his use of unlimited submarine warfare. Nimitz indicated he had employed the same practice in his prosecution of the war in the Pacific; his deposition is thought to have saved Doenitz from execution.