image credit: Paul Latimer/Halifax Evening Mail, 11 May 1915.
Alfred Clarke, 55, owned A. R. Clarke and Co. of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which made leather linings, vests, and moccasins. He was a British subject, married, and had a son and daughter.
On the last voyage of the Lusitania, his ticket was 13105 and he stayed in cabin D-3. On the day of the disaster, Clarke “was on the top deck about 2 o’clock on Friday afternoon when [he] suddenly heard a crash and splinters flew around.”
He tried to get down to his D deck cabin, but was couldn’t at the time because of all the people coming up the stairs. He watched the crew ready the lifeboats and decided to try again for his lifejacket in his cabin. Clarke finally made it and he found it “utterly dark.” When he closed the door, it was stuck due to the angle of the ship. He finally escaped and made it back on deck. he had failed to get a belt until a man gave him one on deck.
Clarke encountered a tablemate from the dining saloon and encouraged him to get into one of the last lifeboats. The man refused and Clarke jumped into one of the boats. No sooner did he do that, the ship went down and he found himself in the water. He was picked up by a collapsible that was helmed by Charles Lauriat. The Wanderer (Peel 12) came to pick up the thirty-three on the raft.
Alfred Russell Clarke died in a hosptial in London, England on 20 June 1915.
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Paul Latimer
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