Today we’re thinking of our great-great uncle George Gascoigne Marriott who died in New York on 9 May 1918. George was a steward on Cunard’s Carmania, used at that time for troop transportation, and he was amongst the first wave of those who died during the so-called “Spanish” flu pandemic. George lived in sight of Liverpool, overlooking the Mersey.
The Carmania sailed from the city on 19 April 1918 and arrived in New York on 28 April. George was taken to St Vincent’s Hospital there on 2 May and died a week later. The Carmania was a Cunard steam turbine ocean liner. Her maiden voyage was from Liverpool to New York on 2 December 1905. She had berths for 2,650 passengers.
During World War 1 she was converted and became an AMC (Armed Merchant Cruiser) engaging with (and sinking) the SMS Cap Trafalgar (also a converted ocean liner) in 1914. An odd coincidence is that the Cap Trafalgar was disguised as the Carmania at the time!
From July 1916 Carmania was a troop ship, taking mainly Canadians home from war in Europe. George Marriott had been invalided out of the war in late 1917 and his trip to New York was the first, sadly last, job of his new civilian life.
Ironically, the recent pandemic meant we had to postpone our plans to visit George’s grave, but we hope one day to see his final resting place near other Cunard employees in Bay View Cemetery, New Jersey.
The depiction of the modern Liverpool skyline and Mersey ferries is by local artist Collette Collinge.