The Lusitania Camisole is one of the many objects featured in our new First World War Galleries. It was worn by Mrs Margaret Gwyer, a survivor of the sinking of RMS Lusitania passenger ship, which was torpedoed by the German navy on 7 May 1915.
Mrs Gwyer fell into the water from a lifeboat and was sucked into one of the sinking ship's funnels. However, the explosion of one of the ship's boilers blew her back to the surface, where she was picked up and later reunited with her husband. She kept the oil-stained camisole as a reminder of her ordeal.
|
