North , Olive , fl 1915-1930

Olive North (later Olive Hanson), was one of the 764 people who survived the sinking of the RMS LUSITANIA, 7 May 1915. The Lusitania, travelling from New York to LIverpool, was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20, off the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland. Olive arrived in Montreal on RMS Megantic, 16 June 1914, accompanied by her brother Frank, in order to visit her elder sister and family. Frank, a former soldier, was recalled at the out-break of war in 1914. Olive was returning to England aboard the Lusitania in 1915, ostensibly to marry her fiance, Percy Hanson, when the Lusitania was sunk. The wedding was postponed until August 1918. Olive, a non-swimmer was given a life-jacket by a steward. After several hours in the water, Olive was rescued from an upturned life boat by Captain John Sandham, the captain of the BROCK.