It was 1914 and William Mounsey’s wife, Fanny Sewell, took the Empress of Ireland to visit her family in England. The ship sank and Fanny’s body could not be found.
Heartbroken, but determined, Mr. Mounsey and his daughter began searching for their wife and mother. They fervently believed that she may have survived the sinking.
They travelled through Canada and sent out word across seas that Fanny had to be somewhere.
Then, in 1915, Mr. Mounsey received word that a woman in a poorhouse located in Liverpool had been muttering about a sinking ship and the city of Chicago where Mounsey’s family had a business. The woman was described as being demented, and Mr. Mounsey had to find out if this woman was his wife.
Mounsey and his daughter decided to make the trip to England, and, in spite of the war (WWI), they got onto the Lusitania.
When the torpedo struck the Lusitania, Mr. Mounsey was in the lounge. He daughter, Sarah, ran to find him, and together they tried to escape the sinking ship.
Sarah had managed to secure a lifebelt, but before the same security could be found for her father, the Lusitania exploded. Sarah survived, but her father had been lost to the sea.
The tragedy did not stop Sarah from traveling to Liverpool, however, upon seeing the unnamed woman, Sarah came to understand the truth. Her mother had died in the sinking of the Empress of Ireland and she lost her father in the great Lusitania tragedy. Neither of her parents’ remains were ever recovered. [Source 1 and 2]
