NEW ZEALAND BOUND

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 76, 31 March 1939, Page 14

NEW ZEALAND BOUND

LUSITANIA SURVIVOR

"TRAVELLING HER HOBBY",

(By Air Mail, trom "The Post's" London Representative.) '

LONDON, March 6,

Flying to Australia en route to New Zealand by the Imperial Airways flying-boat Canopus is 75-year-old Mrs. A. B. Osborne, who is a survivor' of the Lusitania, torpedoed in 1915. Mrs. Osborne makes travelling her hobby, and she has covered most parts of the world. Arriving in Sydney on March 21 she. plans to continue to New Zealand on March 31 and to spend a month in the Dominion.

"I want to see the hot springs at Rotorua, Mount Cook, and the Fran* Josef Glacier," Mrs. Osborne said before she left England. "I have heard a lot about New Zealand, and I want to see it for myself."

Last year Mrs. Osborne flew to; Hong Kong and returned to England via Canada, where she lived for a period of 14 years. For the last 16 years London has been her headquarters. Twelve years ago she wanted to become a pilot, but she was talked out of it by her family. She did, however, make a flight from Croydon.

Mrs. Osborne has the most vivid recollections of her experiences in the Lusitania.

"I was travelling alone," she said, "since my husband was on active sei> vice. When the ship went down I was thrown into the sea, but a lifeboat, half-full of water, picked me up. An upturned lifeboat came. floating by and I was asked by an officer whether I would get on it with .17 others to relieve the congestion in the other boat. *

"We were on that upturned lifeboat from 1.20 p.m. until 6 p.m. I was not a bit nervous or frightenea. I got a much worse shock when I fell out, of bed recently while T was asleep and injured my arm. That did scare me."