Alfred Vanderbilt: Millionaire Hero of the Lusitania

As the ocean liner sunk, a young man who couldn’t swim chose to save others rather than himself.

Painting of the Lusitania speeding past the Fastnet lighthouse, probably outward bound for New York on her maiden voyage, 1907, by Norman Wilkinson. Public Domain

When the passenger ship Lusitania was hit by a torpedo, followed by a second explosion, chaos ensued. Hundreds of passengers rushed toward lifeboats. Some didn’t.

Millionaire and sportsman Alfred Vanderbilt (1877–1915) used the final moments before the ship sank not to save himself, but to rescue women and children.