Descendants praise ‘long-lasting Lusitania tribute’

The descendant of a survivor of the Lusitania tragedy has praised a community for honouring everyone on board the doomed liner through a stunning bronze sculpture and memorial garden.

John Kiger, from Atlanta, was among about 30 descendants of Lusitania survivors who travelled from the US to the Old of Kinsale in Co Cork to attend the unveiling of the sculpture in a new Lusitania Memorial Garden yesterday — the 102nd anniversary of the tragedy.

Mr Kiger’s great-grandfather, businessman Albert Jackson Byington, was among the 760-plus survivors plucked from the Atlantic by local boats and brought to shore at Cobh.