Mr. Con Hayes:

All Irish people on the Lusitaniawere classified as British at the time. There was a significant number of them. There were people from all over the country on board as passengers or crew. Many of the crew were from Liverpool and Ireland or of Irish extraction. The Irish connection was very strong, as was the American connection, although the latter may be a little over-emphasised. There were 70 Russians on the vessel, for example. Between crew and passengers, there were 36 nationalities on board. Approximately 70% of the total complement was Irish, English, Scottish or Welsh.

On custodianship, the formal handing-over of the Lusitania took place on 7 May of this year. We signed the donation agreement with Mr. Gregg Bemis on that date.