Captain Alick Scott (1885 – 1915), 29, was an English officer aboard Lusitania who was returning from Asia, presumably to volunteer for the war effort. His ticket number for Lusitania was 171908 and he stayed in cabin B-8. During the Lusitania sinking, Scott stood with Charles Frohman, George Vernon, and Rita Jolivet on the port side boat deck near the verandah café until the ship sank from underneath them. Captain Scott did not survive the sinking.
Life
Alick Scott was born 17 July 1885. The family lived in Bath, England.
Scott has been reported variously as being on his way home from India, the Philippines, or the Straits Settlements (present-day Malaysia and Singapore), as his older brother Ralph was based there as part of the Malayan Civil Service. He would be crossing transpacific, and stopped over in Japan where his name is recorded in a war monument. He left Japan aboard the Chiyo Maru, a ship bound for San Francisco, California, United States, arriving in San Francisco on 19 April 1915. Also aboard Chiyo Maru was Lusitania passenger Norman Ratcliff.
From California, Scott made his way to New York to board Lusitania on 1 May 1915.
Lusitania
On 7 May 1915, Captain Alick Scott was on the port side boat deck with Charles Frohman and George Vernon when the torpedo struck. Frohman, then puffing a cigar, said, “This is going to be a close call.”
“Stay there!” Scott told them, “I’ll fetch some lifejackets.”
“Why not stay where you are, Captain Scott?” Frohman asked, “We shall have more chance by staying here than dashing off to the boats.”
Scott insisted. He left and then returned with two lifejackets, one for Frohman and another for Vernon. A terrified Rita Jolivet soon joined them on deck and George helped her put on her lifebelt. Frohman accepted Scott’s lifejacket reluctantly. Rita Jolivet recounted that as Scott was helping Frohman with his lifejacket, someone stole Scott’s lifejacket. Scott went below a second time for more lifebelts, but gave those away. Frohman, Vernon, and Jolivet all offered Scott their lifejackets, but Scott answered, “If I am going to die, it’s only for once.”
Frohman soon gave his lifejacket away to a woman. Holding his cigar, he remarked almost conversationally, “I didn’t think they would do it.”
The four agreed to stay together on the port side near the verandah café as the ship was sinking. When the ship lurched, Frohman told Rita to hang on to the railing and save her strength. To the end Charles Frohman was calm, paraphrasing James Barrie’s Peter Pan, “Why fear death? It is the most beautiful adventure in life.”
The water rose onto the boat deck and forcibly parted the group. Rita Jolivet was the only one of the four to survive. Captain Scott’s body was either not recovered or never identified.
Captain Scott’s name appears on a World War I memorial in Motomachi, Yokohama, Japan in the Gaijin Bochi (外人墓地，Foreigners’ Cemetery). He is listed thus:
Alick John SCOTT Volunteered Drowned in ‘Lusitania’ 6/5/16 [sic, wrong date] Off Ireland
Contributors
Jim Kalafus
Geoffrey Scott (great-nephew of Captain Alick Scott)
Judith Tavares
References:
“WW1 Memorial, Yokohama, Japan.” The Scottish War Memorial Projects. Web. 21 June 2011. < http://warmemscot.s4.bizhat.com/warmemscot-post-36610.html >
I am very pleased to have found this info re relation of mine – great uncle. Alick Scott was born 17 July1885 so was 30. The famil lived in Bath. It may be he was coming back from Straights setttlements as his older brother Ralph was based (Malayan Civil Service) – a guess only however. I have a copy of a piece from the Times referring to him and one other giving up their lif jackets. My thanks to Judith Tavares for information I had not previously known.
Thank you for visiting! I am glad that you found the information that you were looking for. I’ll be sure to integrate what you have posted into the content of the biography itself.
Does a photo of Captain Scott exist?