Robert Dyer, 47, was a United States national living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. He was by occupation an iron moulder. Dyer was a second cabin passenger on the Lusitania and survived when the ship was destroyed on 7 May 1915.
During the voyage, Dyer met a fellow passenger named Patrick Carroll (most likely actually Patrick Callan), from Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland. Dyer recalled that Carroll (Callan) looked like “a man who saw Heaven” when he saw the Irish coast. Dyer and Carroll (Callan) were in the second cabin dining room having beer when the torpedo struck the ship.
The crash knocked them off their feet and one of their friends exclaimed, “That’s these damnable German submarines, and I’ll bet they have done for us at last.”
Dyer later saw Carroll (Callan) floating in the water, dead. Dyer suffered from exposure and from shock. He also lost property which was valued at $1,200.00. The Mixed Claims Commission awarded Dyer $1,000.00 in damages and $1,200.00 in lost property.
Related pages
Robert Dyer at the Mixed Claims Commission
Contributors
Senan Molony, Ireland
References
Irish Independent. 10 May 1915, pg. 6.
Molony, Senan. Lusitania: An Irish Tragedy. Mercier Press, 2004.
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