Mr Eugene Patrick Daly

The Cork Examiner, 13th April, 1912
(Courtesy: Tad Fitch, USA)

Mr Eugene Patrick Daly, 29, from Athlone, County Westmeath, Ireland, was travelling to New York City. He boarded the Titanic at Queenstown (ticket number 382651, £7, 15s).

Daly played "Erin's Lament" on his uilleann (elbow) pipes (a traditional Irish instrument) for his fellow steerage passengers, as the Titanic steamed away from Queenstown, bound for the new world. He would later file a claim for $50 for their loss. Similar pipes, possibly Daly's, were recently salvaged from the wreck.

During the voyage he took care of Maggie Daly and Bertha Mulvihill, both also from Athlone.

After the collision Daly helped the two women to the boat deck and to board lifeboat 15.

Daly's description of subsequnet events made for sensational headlines in newspapers hungry for dramatic accounts of the sinking.

...an officer pointed a revolver and said if any man tried to get in he would shoot him on the spot. I saw the officer shot two men dead because they tried to get into the boat. Afterwards there was another shot, and I saw the officer himself lying on the deck. They told me he shot himself, but I did not see him.

Daly claimed to have leapt overboard, and to have reached and clung to "an upturned collapsible raft," probably Collapsible B.

In later years he said that only the thickness of his overcoat kept him alive in the freezing water and that whenever he travelled he took this lucky coat with him (1).

Daly arrived penniless in New York as he described in an article for the Evening World (see articles). The article also described the experience of able bodied seaman Robert Hopkins.

He testified before the limitation of liability hearings in 1915 (see articles).

Eugene Daly, made several trips back to Ireland to visit relatives. He died on 31 October, 1965 and is buried in am unmarked grave at St. Raymond's Cemetery in the Bronx.

Documents
Letter to Dr. Frank Blackmarr
Limitation of Liability Hearings: Claim Form

Articles
Evening World, 22nd April, 1912, Two Survivors Call on Mayor to Ask Relief
Daily Sketch, 4th May, 1912, Man Who Was Pulled Back
New York Times. 26th June, 1915, Says Ismay Ruled in Titanic's Boats
East Galway Democrat, 11th May, 1912

Sources
Southern Star, Skibbereen, Co. Cork, February 7, 1998
Daily Telegraph, 4th May, 1912
Washington Post, 22nd April, 1912
Noel Ray (1999) List of Passengers who Boarded RMS Titanic at Queenstown, April 11, 1912. The Irish Titanic Historical Society
Contract Ticket List, White Star Line 1912 (National Archives, New York; NRAN-21-SDNYCIVCAS-55[279])

References
Dave Bryceson (1997) The Titanic Disaster: As Reported in the British National Press April-July 1912. Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN-1-85260-579-0
John P. Eaton & Charles A. Haas (1994) Titanic: Triumph & Tragedy, 2nd ed. Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1 85260 493 X
Don Lynch & Ken Marschall (1992) Titanic: An Illustrated History. London, Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0 340 56271 4

Acknowledgements
Peter Engberg-Karlström, Sweden
Michael A. Findlay, USA
Tad Fitch, USA
James T. Harper, USA
Leslie Mallory
Noel Ray, Ireland

Travelling Companions
Miss Bridget Elizabeth Mulvihill friend
Miss Margaret Marcella "Maggie" Daly friend