Avis Gertrude Dolphin (24 August 1902 in
Rotherham
Rotherham ( ) is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies at the confluence of the River Rother, South Yorkshire, River Rother, from which the town gets its name, and the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don. It is the largest settlement ...
,
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...
, England – 5 February 1996 in
Meirionydd
is a coastal and mountainous region of Wales. It has been a monarchy, kingdom, a , a districts of Wales, district and, as Merionethshire, a historic counties of Wales, county. It is currently a committee area within the county Gwynedd.
Kingdom
...
, Wales) was a survivor of the 7 May 1915
sinking of the RMS ''Lusitania'' after being torpedoed by an
Imperial German Navy
The Imperial German Navy or the ''Kaiserliche Marine'' (Imperial Navy) was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy (from 1867 the North German Federal Navy), which was mainly for ...
U-boat
U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...
during the
First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
.
Biography
Dolphin was on on her way to England, where she was to live with her grandparents and attend school, when she befriended author and professor
Ian Holbourn. She was in a second-class stateroom during the voyage. She had just eaten lunch and coffee was being served when the torpedo attack occurred. The resulting list was so sudden and violent that dishes crashed off the tables; but she recalled the scene as one of "absolute calm".
Holbourn was able to get Avis and the two nurses travelling with her into lifebelts, onto the deck, and into a lifeboat. However, the lifeboat capsized when two men attempted to jump into it. She was rescued from the ocean, but her two nurses, Sarah Smith and Hilda Ellis, were not. The bodies of Smith and Ellis were never recovered.
Following her recovery in
Queenstown, she regularly visited Holbourn, who was suffering from
exposure. She continued her friendship with Holbourn up until the end of his life in 1935. Dolphin even once suggested to Holbourn that books specifically written for girls were too boring. In response, Holbourn authored the bestseller ''The Child of the Moat, A Story for Girls, 1557 A.D.'' in 1916.
Personal life
Dolphin was introduced to journalist Thomas Foley during a visit to Holbourn's home, and the two wed in 1926. She lived the remainder of her life in
Snowdonia
Snowdonia, or Eryri (), is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in North Wales. It contains all 15 mountains in Wales Welsh 3000s, over 3000 feet high, including the country's highest, Snowdon (), which i ...
, Wales; dying of
natural causes
In many legal jurisdictions, the manner of death is a determination, typically made by the coroner, medical examiner, police, or similar officials, and recorded as a vital statistic. Within the United States and the United Kingdom, a distinc ...
in Meirionydd at the age of 93 on 5 February 1996.
In popular culture
For many years, Dolphin contributed her account of the sinking of ''Lusitania'' to several journalists and documentary crews. For example:
* She is a contributor to the ''
In Search of In Search of may refer to:
* ''In Search of...'' (TV series), an American documentary television series, on air 1977–1982, revived in 2002 and 2018.
* ''In Search of...'' (N.E.R.D. album), 2001
* ''In Search of...'' (Fu Manchu album), 1996
S ...
'' episode "Lusitania" (16 May 1981)
* She is credited as a contributor in the
National Geographic
''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...
documentary ''Last Voyage of the Lusitania'' (1994), though she wasn't interviewed on camera.
* Her younger self, about age 12, is depicted in a BBC movie of the ''Lusitania'' sinking: ''
Lusitania: Murder in the Atlantic'' (2007), in which she is played by Madeleine Garrood.
* Canadian author
Frieda Wishinsky published a children's book, titled ''Avis Dolphin'', in 2015, giving a fictionalized account of Dolphin's experience of the sinking.
References
Further reading
*
External links
* Internet Archive (please sign up to view sources and footnotes)
''Link''''Miss Avis Gertrude Dolphin''at rmslusitania.info
* ''The Child of the Moat, A Story for Girls. 1557 A.D.''
''Link''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dolphin, Avis
1902 births
1996 deaths
People from Rotherham
People from St. Thomas, Ontario
RMS Lusitania survivors