Neil Robertson (1876 – 1955), 39, was a British subject and Scottish national working as an able-bodied seaman in the deck crew of the last voyage of the Lusitania. Robertson survived the sinking when Lusitania was torpedoed by the German submarine U-20 on 7 May 1915, and rescued many from the water by pulling them into a damaged collapsible lifeboat. Robertson retired from the sea to open a hotel in Scotland and died at age 79 in 1955.
Biography
Neil Robertson was born in Govan, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland in 1876. In 1915, he lived at 146, Bedford Road, Bootle, Lancashire, England, with his wife, Nina.
He was a professional mercantile marine seaman and he engaged as Ship’s Carpenter in the Deck Department on board the Lusitania at Liverpool, on 12 April 1915 at a monthly rate of pay of £9-5s-0d., (£9.25p.). He then reported for duty on the morning of the 17, before the liner left Liverpool for the last ever time on her crossing of the Atlantic Ocean to New York.
Having arrived there safely, he was on board on the early afternoon of 1 May when the liner began her delayed return crossing to Liverpool. She was scheduled to leave the Cunard berth at Pier 54 at 10.00 a.m., but had waited to embark passengers, some crew and some of the cargo from the Anchor Lines vessel SS Cameronia, which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for use as a troop ship. Then, six days out of New York, on the early afternoon of 7th May, the Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20, within sight of the coast of southern Ireland and probably only about twelve to fourteen hours steaming time away from the safety of her home port.
Carpenter Robertson survived the sinking. He was landed at Queenstown (present-day Cobh), Ireland, from where he eventually made it back to his Bootle home. Back in Liverpool, he went to the Cunard offices in Water Street, where he was officially discharged from the Lusitania’s last voyage and given the balance of wages owing to him, which amounted to £9-5s-0d., (£9.25p.). This represented payment for his service from 17 April until 8 May 1915; 24 hours after the liner had gone down.
On 15th June 1915, he was called to Central in Westminster, in London to give evidence concerning the sinking of the liner to the official enquiry held under the chairmanship of Lord Mersey. He gave evidence on the third day.
Saloon passenger Robert Timmis, a British cotton broker living in Gainesville, Texas, United States, credits Robertson for his survival. On a signed photograph of Timmis dated and posted from London on 21 June 1915, now in the collection of the The National Galleries and Museums on Merseyside, Timmis wrote the following dedication:
To Neil Robertson, Carpenter Lusitania who took me into a damaged collapsible Lusitania lifeboat about two hours after ship had been torpedoed May 7.1915. I being in the water without a life belt. He acted as a good seaman + a brave man.
Robert Timmis’ story was told many times immediately after the Lusitania’s sinking and for a long time afterwards, but none of the accounts mention Carpenter Robertson’s part in his survival, although there can be no doubt that it was significant.
In an interview with one of Robertson’s nephews, Ian Walker, in 1999, Mr. Walker told Peter Kelly that his uncle was like many of his race – tall and red haired and had helped to rescue others after the sinking, apart from Robert Timmis. However, not long after the disaster, he suffered a nervous breakdown as a result of his experiences and eventually left the sea to run a hotel in Scotland, which he bought apparently with money awarded to him by way of compensation.
In June 1923, Neil Robertson together with a Mr. R.O. Chisholm was granted a provisional specification for a patent by The Patent Office in London for a Steering course indicator for night and day use. It is not known whether this apparatus ever made the pair any money, but a fellow crew member on board the Lusitania‘s final voyage was Second Steward Robert D. Chisholm, and it is likely that this former shipmate was Neil Robertson’s fellow patentee.
Neil Robertson died in Ayr, Ayrshire, Scotland, on 3 June 1955, aged 79 years.
Links of interest
Neil Robertson at the Merseyside Maritime Museum
Contributors
Peter Kelly, Ireland
Ellie Moffat, UK
Michael Poirier, USA
Ian Walker
References
1901 Census of England and Wales
1911 Census of England and Wales
Cunard Records
NGMM DX/1478
PRO BT 100/345
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