Mina Chantry, 21, was a British citizen from Nelson, British Columbia, Canada. She, her husband Harold, and daughter Elizabeth traveled together aboard Lusitania’s last voyage. The entire family was lost.
Harold suffered from tuberculosis. During the sinking, a woman thought to be Mina, then holding Elizabeth, pleaded with saloon passenger Robert Timmis for help. Timmis, then standing with Ralph Moodie, thought they were third class passengers.
Timmis advised Mina to strap Elizabeth in front of her and began assisting her. Harold then asked Timmis worriedly, “Do you think they will live, sir?”
Timmis replied bluntly, “I think so, but you won’t.”
Passengers continued to crowd around them on the sinking ship. Many of them were speaking in what Timmis believed to be Russian. To calm them all down, Timmis held up his hand, nodded his head, and then repeated: “All right, all right!”
The people seemed to understand, and one even kissed Timmis’ hand.
Soon afterward, the order came to empty the boats and that the Lusitania was safe. The ship righted herself almost reassuringly as the water overrode the longitudinal watertight compartments in larger quantities than before.
Moodie took off his lifebelt and gave it to Mina, but before they could jump, the Lusitania then took her final plunge. The entire Chantry family was lost. Their bodies were either never recovered or never identified.
Contributors:
Michael Poirier
Judith Tavares
References:
Hoehling, A. A. and Mary Hoehling. The Last Voyage of the Lusitania. Madison Books, 1956.
What is the source on this story? I just checked the Hoehling book, but there is no mention of the Chantry family in the index.