Mayhem awaits fireman emerging from belly of ship

A fireman from Robert’s Cove in Co Cork had finished a four-hour shift in the coal bunkers deep in the Lusitania as she travelled along the calm sea that May morning, writes Ray Ryan

It was 25-year-old Charlie Scannell’s second trip on the great liner, but even after a refreshing wash and a tasty meal he still had a strange foreboding of disaster.

He returned to his bunk in a room which he occupied with 16 others but could not sleep properly. He had a feeling something was going to happen.