Lifeboats of the Titanic (part 2)

Lifeboat tallyBoatAboard  BoatAboard  217  112  430  332  623  536  827  7281058  940124211501440135616531571B(30)A13D20C43Total:340Total:378

It was not until about 12:40 a.m., an hour after Titanic struck the iceberg at 11:40 p.m. on 14 April, that the first lifeboat was lowered into the sea. The boats were lowered in sequence, from the middle forward then aft, with First Officer William McMaster Murdoch, Third Officer Herbert Pitman and Fifth Officer Harold Lowe working on the starboard side, and Chief Officer Henry Tingle Wilde and Second Officer Charles Lightoller working on the port side, with the assistance of Captain Smith. The collapsible boats were dealt with last, as they could not be launched until the forward davits were clear.

Smith had ordered his officers to put the "women and children in and lower away". However, Murdoch and Lightoller interpreted the evacuation order differently: Murdoch as women and children first, while Lightoller as women and children only. Lightoller lowered lifeboats with empty seats if there were not any women and children waiting to board, while Murdoch only allowed a limited number of men to board if all the nearby women and children had already embarked. This had a significant effect on the survival rates of the men aboard Titanic, whose chances of survival came to depend on which side of the ship they tried to find lifeboat seats.

Two contemporary estimates were given for the number of occupants in each lifeboat, one by the British inquiry that followed the disaster, and one by survivor Archibald Gracie, who obtained accounts and data from other survivors. However, the figures given – 854 persons and 795 persons respectively – far exceed the confirmed number of 712 survivors, due to confusion and misreporting. Some occupants were transferred between boats before being picked up by RMS Carpathia. More recent research has helped to produce estimates of the number of occupants that are closer to the total number of survivors rescued by Carpathia.

"Boat 7 (starboard)"

Dorothy Gibson in a promotional photo for Saved From the Titanic (1912), wearing the clothes she wore the night of the sinking

Boat 7 was the first to be launched, at about 12:40 a.m., under the supervision of First Officer Murdoch, supported by Fifth Officer Lowe. It had a capacity of 65 persons but was lowered with only 28 aboard. The two officers had tried for some minutes to encourage passengers to board but they were reluctant to do so. Later testimony at the U.S. Senate inquiry into the disaster stated the ship's officers believed the lifeboats were at risk of buckling and breaking apart if they were lowered while fully loaded. They intended that once the boats reached the water they would pick up passengers from doors in the ship's side or would pick up passengers in the water. The first did not happen at all and the second only happened in one instance. In fact, the lifeboats had keels reinforced with steel beams to prevent buckling while in the davits (although most of the crew were not aware of this). Moreover, Harland & Wolff's Edward Wilding testified that the lifeboats had in fact been tested safely with the weight equivalent of 70 men. However, the results had not been passed on to the crew of Titanic. A significant degree of negligence in the training and continuing education of officers and crew in the White Star Line seems apparent, especially when noting the improper manner in which distress rockets were actually fired that night (regulations called for firing at one-minute intervals).

Among the occupants of Boat 7 were:

Dorothy Gibson, American silent film actress who starred in Saved from the Titanic (1912), the first motion picture produced about the disaster

Frederic Kimber Seward, prominent New York corporate lawyer

William T. Sloper, Connecticut banker, who was falsely accused of dressing as a woman to get into the lifeboat

Archie Jewell

Margaret Hays, New York heiress, who brought her Pomeranian, Bebe, with her

Alfred Nourney, who used the pseudonym Baron Alfred von Drachstedt

Dickinson Bishop, businessman (who was also falsely accused of dressing as a woman that night)

Antoinette Flegenheim, German socialite

John Pillsbury Snyder

The lifeboat was launched without its plug, causing water to leak into the bottom of the boat. As Gibson later put it, "this was remedied by volunteer contributions from the lingerie of the women and the garments of men." Those aboard had to sit for hours with their feet soaking in ice-cold water. When Titanic went down at 2:20 a.m., the noise of hundreds of people screaming for help was heard by the lifeboat's occupants, a sound that Gibson said would "remain in my memory until the day I die." Hogg wanted to turn back to pick up some of those in the water, but was shouted down by the boat's occupants. They drifted for some time until they came within reach of Boat 5. The officer in charge of the latter decided to transfer a number of survivors from his boat, which he thought was overcrowded, into No. 7. The two boats were lashed together for the rest of the night until they separated to meet the RMS Carpathia.

"Boat 5 (starboard)"

Murdoch and Lowe were safely joined by Third Officer Pitman and the White Star Line's chairman J. Bruce Ismay to help them lower Boat 5, which left at 12:43 a.m. The boat was loaded primarily with women and children. Most of those on deck were unaware of the seriousness of their situation and did not even attempt to board. John Jacob Astor, who was subsequently among the victims of the disaster, remarked: "We are safer on board the ship than in that little boat." Ismay disagreed; still wearing slippers and pajamas, he urged Pitman to begin loading the boat with women and children. Pitman retorted: "I await the Captain's orders," and went to the captain for the approval. Ismay returned a short time later to urge a stewardess to board, which she did. In the end, only 36 people boarded, including Pitman himself, on Murdoch's orders.Four year-old Washington Dodge Jr. was the first child to enter a lifeboat.

The occupants included:

Karl Behr, American tennis star and banker

Third Officer Herbert Pitman, put in charge of the boat by Murdoch.

Quartermaster Alfred John Olliver

The boat's progress down the side of the ship was slow and difficult. The pulleys were covered in fresh paint and the lowering ropes were stiff, causing them to stick repeatedly as the boat was lowered in jerks towards the water. One of those watching the boat being lowered, Dr. Washington Dodge, felt "overwhelmed with doubts" that he might be subjecting his wife and son to greater danger aboard the boat than if they had remained on Titanic. Ismay sought to spur those lowering the boat to greater urgency by calling out repeatedly: "Lower away!" This resulted in Lowe losing his temper: "If you'll get the hell out of the way, I'll be able to do something! You want me to lower away quickly? You'll have me drown the lot of them!" The humiliated Ismay retreated up the deck. In the end, the boat was launched safely.

After Titanic sank, several of those aboard lifeboat 5 were transferred to lifeboat 7, leaving about 30 on board by the time lifeboat 5 reached Carpathia. Herbert Pitman wanted to return to the scene of the sinking to pick up swimmers in the water and announced: "Now men, we will pull toward the wreck!" The women on board protested, one begging a steward: "Appeal to the officer not to go back! Why should we lose all our lives in a useless attempt to save others from the ship?" Pitman gave in to the protests, but was haunted by guilt for the rest of his life.

The occupants of the lifeboat endured a freezing night. Mrs. Dodge was particularly badly affected by the cold but was helped by Quartermaster Alfred Olliver, who gave her his socks: "I assure you, ma'am, they are perfectly clean. I just put them on this morning." At about 6:00 a.m., they were rescued by Carpathia.

"Boat 3 (starboard)"

Boat 3 was launched at 1:00 A.M. 38 people boarded Boat 3, with Able Seaman George Moore put in charge by Murdoch. The passengers included Henry S. Harper, who was accompanied by his valet-dragoman and Pekingese dog, Sun Yat Sen.

Railroad manager Charles Melville Hays saw his wife, Clara, into lifeboat number 3 and then retreated, making no attempt to board any of the remaining lifeboats.Margaret Brown later described the scene in an interview with The New York Times:

The whole thing was so formal that it was difficult for anyone to realise it was a tragedy. Men and women stood in little groups and talked. Some laughed as the boats went over the side. All the time the band was playing...I can see the men up on deck tucking in the women and smiling. It was a strange night. It all seemed like a play, like a dream that was being executed for entertainment. It did not seem real. Men would say "After you" as they made some woman comfortable and stepped back.

The occupants included:

Henry S. Harper, owner of a New York City publishing firm, who also brought into the boat his Pekinese dog Sun Yat Sen

Eleven crewmen were among the occupants of this boat. It suffered the same problems with lowering that lifeboat 7 had encountered, with the lifeboat descending in fits and starts as the lowering ropes repeatedly stuck in the pulleys, but eventually reached the water safely. After Titanic sank the lifeboat drifted, while the bored women passengers passed the time by arguing with each other over minor annoyances. The occupants had a long wait in freezing conditions and were not rescued until about 7.30 a.m. when Carpathia arrived.

"Boat 8 (port)"

Isidor and Ida Straus, who refused to board a lifeboat while there were younger people still waiting to board

Boat 8 was loaded with 28 people under the supervision of Second Officer Lightoller and launched at about 1:00 a.m., with Captain Smith and Chief Officer Wilde participating. Boat 8 was the first lifeboat on the port side to be lowered. Ida Straus, wife of New York merchant Isidor Straus, was asked to join a group of people preparing to board but refused, saying, "I will not be separated from my husband. As we have lived, so will we die – together." The 67-year-old Isidor likewise refused an offer to board on account of his age, saying: "I do not wish any distinction in my favor which is not granted to others." They were last seen alive on deck arm in arm. Major Archibald Butt – military aide to US President William Howard Taft – escorted Marie Young to the boat. Young was a former music teacher to the children of President Theodore Roosevelt and later recalled that Butt "wrapped blankets about me and tucked me in as carefully as if we were going on a motor ride." He wished her farewell and good luck, asking her to "remember me to the folks back home." Other single women were brought to the boats by men who had earlier offered their services to "unprotected ladies," as the conventions of the era dictated.

The occupants of Boat 8 numbered around 25 people, including:

Noëlle, Countess of Rothes, who took charge of the lifeboat's tiller and helped row

Marie Grice Young

Ella Holmes White

After Titanic sank, Jones suggested going back to save some of those in the water. Only three passengers agreed; the rest refused, fearing that the boat would be capsized by desperate swimmers. Jones acquiesced, but told them: "Ladies, if any of us are saved, remember I wanted to go back. I would rather drown with them than leave them." The passengers' conduct during the subsequent hours presented some striking contrasts. Lady Rothes – who had been one of the few passengers to support a rescue attempt – took charge of the tiller and put others to work at the oars. Her conduct was later complimented by Jones, who called her "more of a man than any we had aboard" and gave her the lifeboat's numeral 8, in a frame, as a keepsake. In fact, when Walter Lord, author of A Night to Remember, interviewed the Countess and Seaman Jones in 1954, he discovered their mutual admiration had led to a lifelong correspondence. By contrast, Ella White was so annoyed that the stewards in lifeboat number 8 were smoking cigarettes that she complained about it at the US Senate inquiry into the disaster; she was particularly indignant that one of the ship's crewmen had said to another during the night: "If you don't stop talking through that hole in your face, there will be one less in the boat!"

The occupants of Boat 8 spent the night rowing towards what they thought were the lights of a ship on the horizon, but turned around at daybreak when Carpathia actually arrived on the scene from the opposite direction. They had travelled further from the scene than any other lifeboat and had a long row back; it was not until 7:30 a.m. that they were picked up.

"Boat 1 (starboard)"

Main article: Titanic Lifeboat No. 1

The lowering of Boat 1 at 1:05 a.m. became one of the most controversial episodes in the aftermath of the disaster, both because the craft only contained 12 people and because of the alleged misconduct of two of its occupants, Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon and his wife, Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon, famous as the dress designer "Lucile" of London, Paris and New York. The boat was one of Titanic's two emergency cutters with a capacity of 40. Of the twelve people aboard, seven were crewmen and the remaining five were First Class passengers.

Its composition was not, however, a departure from Murdoch's interpretation of the "women and children first" directive. He had already allowed several married couples and single men to board lifeboats. Cosmo Duff Gordon had been standing on deck with his wife and her secretary, Miss Laura Mabel Francatelli, watching the launching of three other lifeboats when, as Boat 1 was being prepared, he asked Murdoch if his party could board. Murdoch assented and also allowed two Americans, Abram Salomon and Charles E. H. Stengel, to enter. He then instructed a group of six stokers to board, along with Lookout George Symons,whom he placed in charge of the boat. As the craft was lowered, Greaser Walter Hurst, watching the procedure from a lower deck, remarked to a crewmate: "If they are sending the boats away they might as well put some people in them."

Boat 1 had room for about another 28 passengers but did not return to rescue those in the water after Titanic sank. Fireman Charles Hendrickson claimed he told his boat mates: "It's up to us to go back and pick up anyone in the water" but found no support.At least three other crewmembers, as well as the Duff Gordons, Salomon and Stengel, denied hearing any suggestion to go back or opposing any proposition to do so. In the media later, the Duff Gordons in particular were widely criticised for what was interpreted as their callousness in the face of the disaster. For instance, as Titanic sank, Lucile reportedly commented to her secretary: "There is your beautiful nightdress gone." Fireman Pusey replied that she shouldn't worry about losing her belongings because she could buy more. Pusey mentioned that the crew had lost all their kit and that their pay stopped from the moment of the sinking. Sir Cosmo responded: "Very well, I will give you a fiver each to start a new kit!" Aboard the rescue ship Carpathia, he did as he promised, presenting each of the seven crewmen in his lifeboat a cheque for £5.

When this act was made public, it was interpreted by much of the press as a bribe to prevent the crew from returning to the scene of the sinking to rescue others. The British Board of Trade's official inquiry into the disaster investigated the allegation but found the charge of bribery to be false. Even so, the publicity injured Sir Cosmo's reputation. A photograph of the occupants of Boat 1 was taken aboard the Carpathia. Lucile had consented to a request from a Carpathia passenger, Dr. Frank Blackmarr, to take the image, but the sight of some of the crew posing in their lifejackets disturbed some fellow survivors who subsequently complained about the incident.

"Boat 6 (port)"

Margaret "Molly" Brown presenting Captain Arthur Rostron of the RMS Carpathia with a loving cup for saving the survivors of Titanic

Lightoller launched Boat 6 at 1:10; it was photographed as it approached Carpathia, revealing it to have had 29 people aboard, though it had a capacity of 65. Denver millionaire Margaret "Molly" Brown was among lifeboat number 6's most prominent occupants, along with Washington, D.C. writer and feminist Helen Churchill Candee, and English suffragettes Edith Bowerman and her mother Mrs. Edith Chibnall. Brown did not board voluntarily but was picked up by a crewman and dropped bodily into the boat as it was being lowered. Quartermaster Robert Hichens was placed in charge of the craft along with lookout Frederick Fleet. While being lowered, pleas from women in the boat for additional oarsmen forced Lightoller to solicit the crowd on deck for anyone who had sailing experience. Major Arthur Godfrey Peuchen of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club volunteered, shimmying down the falls (ropes) into the boat. Peuchen was the only adult male passenger whom Second Officer Lightoller permitted to board a lifeboat.

Relations among the occupants of Boat 6 were strained throughout the night. Hichens apparently resented Peuchen's presence, perhaps fearing the major would pull rank and take charge. The two men quarreled, and Hichens refused Peuchen's request that he assist him at the oars, since there was only one other man (Fleet) rowing.

When Titanic sank, Peuchen, Brown and others urged Hichens to return to rescue people struggling in the water. Hichens refused, even ordering the men at the oars to stop rowing altogether. "There's no use going back," he called out. "There's only a lot of stiffs out there," adding: "It's our lives now, not theirs." The cries for help soon died. Brown now asked Hichens to let the women row to help keep them warm. When he balked, Brown ignored him and started passing out oars anyway. He protested and swore at her, and at one point moved to physically stop her. She told him to stay put or she'd throw him overboard. Others joined in to back her up, telling Hichens to keep quiet. But he continued swearing, shocking a stoker (transferred from Boat 16) who finally asked him: "Don't you know you're talking to a lady?" Taking an oar herself, Brown organised the other women in shifts, two to an oar. When her heroic actions were published in the press, she became known as the "Unsinkable Molly Brown."Brown's leadership was supported by Helen Candee, who herself assisted in the rowing despite a broken ankle received when she fell into the boat while boarding.

After Titanic sank, lifeboat 6 eventually tied up with lifeboat 16. It was one of the last to reach Carpathia, coming alongside at 8:00 a.m. Mrs Elizabeth Rothschild had her Pomeranian with her in the lifeboat. Initially, crew members of the Carpathia refused to take the dog aboard, but Mrs. Rothschild wouldn't board the rescue ship without it. The Pomeranian was one of only three dogs to survive the disaster.

Elsie Edith Bowerman

Margaret Brown

Helen Churchill Candee

Frederick Fleet

Arthur Godfrey Peuchen

Mary Eloise Smith

"Boat 16 (port)"

Sixth Officer James Moody supervised the launching of Boat 16 at about 1:20 a.m. 40 people are believed to have been on board by the time it reached Carpathia; most of those aboard were said to be women and children from Second and Third Class. Master-at-arms Joseph Henry Bailey was put in charge of the lifeboat along with seamen Ernest Archer and James Forward.  Among the occupants was stewardess Violet Jessop who survived the accidents that befell all of the Olympic-class liners: the collision of Olympic with HMS Hawke in 1911, the sinking of Titanic in 1912, and that of Britannic in 1916.

Violet Constance Jessop

Margaret Mannion

Evelyn Marsden

Mrs. Elizabeth Leather

"Boat 14 (port)"

About 58 people were aboard Boat 14, with Wilde, Lightoller and Lowe supervising its launch.[61] By the time it was launched at about 1:30 a.m., Titanic was well down in the water and some passengers still aboard were beginning to panic. Lowe fired three shots from his revolver to warn off a crowd of passengers pressing up against the rails.As the boat was lowered, a young man climbed over the rails and tried to hide under the seats. Lowe ordered him to leave at gunpoint, first threatening to "Throw him over-board", then appealing to him to "be a man – we've got women and children to save." The passenger returned to the deck where he was left lying face-down to await his fate. Another male passenger, Daniel Buckley, managed to get into Boat 14 thanks to a female passenger who concealed him under her shawl.

The boat reached the water safely, with Lowe himself aboard to take charge. After Titanic sank he brought together Boats 10, 12, 14 and Collapsible D, and transferred Boat 14's passengers to the other lifeboats. Then, assembling a crew of volunteers, he took his boat back to the scene of the sinking to try and find survivors. Lifeboat #4 was the only other lifeboat to rescue people from the sea. By the time Lowe's boat reached the scene of the sinking, the sea was filled with the bodies of hundreds of people who had died of hypothermia. Four men (Steward Harold Phillimore, First Class passenger William Fisher Hoyt, Third Class passenger Fang Lang and a fourth unknown person, possibly Second Class passenger Emilio Ilario Giuseppe Portaluppi) were pulled from the sea but most were already dead or dying. Hoyt died in the boat, while the other three survived.

A few hours later Lowe rescued the survivors aboard Collapsible A, which was close to sinking, and brought them aboard lifeboat number 14. An experienced sailor, Lowe set up the lifeboat's mast and sail for better speed and maneuverability while searching for survivors, making it the only lifeboat to avail of sail power. The boat rendezvoused with Carpathia at about 7:15 a.m.

Among the survivors in Boat 14 were:

Eva Hart and her mother, Esther

Edith Eileen Brown

Harold Godfrey Lowe (in charge)

Charles Eugene Williams

"Boat 12 (port)"

Lightoller and Wilde lowered Boat 12 at 1:30 a.m. with about 30 people aboard. It was first manned only by Able Seaman Frederick Clench and was subsequently put in the charge of Able Seaman John Poigndestre. A male passenger jumped into the boat as it was lowered past B Deck. Difficulty was encountered in unhooking the boat from the falls, requiring Poigndestre to use a knife to cut through the ropes. Several passengers from other boats were transferred into Boat 12 after the sinking and it was heavily overloaded by the time it reached Carpathia with at least 69 people aboard. It was the last lifeboat to be picked up by Carpathia, at about 8:30 a.m.

"Boat 9 (starboard)"

Jacques Futrelle urged his wife to enter Boat 9 but did not find a lifeboat for himself and died in the sinking

The lowering of Boat 9 at 1:30 a.m. with about 56 aboard was supervised by Murdoch, possibly with Moody assisting. Boatswain's Mate Albert Hames was put in charge with Able Seaman George McGough at the tiller. Most passengers were women, with two or three men who entered when no more women came forward. One elderly woman refused to board, making a great fuss, and retreated below decks. May Futrelle, the wife of novelist Jacques Futrelle, was likewise initially reluctant to board; but after her husband told her, "For God's sake, go! It's your last chance! Go!", an officer forced her into the boat. The millionnaire Benjamin Guggenheim brought Léontine Aubart, his French mistress, and her maid, Emma Sägasser, to Boat 9 before retiring to his stateroom with his valet, Victor Giglio. Both men removed their life jackets and put on their evening clothes. Guggenheim told a steward, "We've dressed in our best, and are prepared to go down like gentlemen. There is grave doubt that the men will get off. I am willing to remain and play the man's game if there are not enough boats for more than the women and children. I won't die here like a beast. Tell my wife I played the game out straight and to the end. No women shall be left aboard this ship because Ben Guggenheim was a coward."

Kate Buss and her friend, Marion Wright, were standing with their shipboard acquaintances Douglas Norman and Dr. Alfred Pain, watching the boats being lowered, when a call came for "Any more ladies". The two men brought Buss and Wright to Boat 9, who beckoned Norman and Pain to join them. However, the men were barred from entering by crewmen on the deck. Horrified, Buss demanded to know why they had not been allowed aboard. Hames told her, "The officer gave the order to lower away, and if I didn't do so he might shoot me, and simply put someone else in charge, and your friends would still not be allowed to come." Norman and Pain both perished in the disaster.The boat was picked up by Carpathia several hours later, at about 6:15 a.m.

"Boat 11 (starboard)"

Boat 11 was lowered under Murdoch's supervision at 1:35 a.m. with Able Seaman Sidney Humphreys in charge. By now the lifeboats were being filled much closer to capacity, and Boat 11 is estimated to have carried about 70 people.One occupant, Steward James Witter, was knocked into the boat by a hysterical woman whom he was helping aboard as it was lowered. First Class passenger Edith Louise Rosenbaum, a Paris-based correspondent for Women's Wear Daily, brought along her toy pig, a music box that played the Maxixe and had been given to her as a good luck token by her mother. She was too frightened to enter the lifeboat, but when a crew member, mistaking her toy for a baby, tossed it in, she leaped in after it. The toy pig is now part of the collection of the National Maritime Museum in London. Second Class passenger Nellie Becker protested her way into lifeboat number 11, after an officer placed her son and younger daughter in the boat. She was initially prohibited from entering by Murdoch, who felt the boat was already too full, but eventually made her way aboard. In the chaos, however, her elder daughter Ruth was left behind and was instructed by Murdoch to head for lifeboat number 13.

On reaching the water, lifeboat number 11 was nearly swamped by a jet of water being pumped out from the ship to stem the flooding. Tempers flared among the crowded passengers, some of whom had to stand, as the boat was rowed away from the ship. Rosenbaum offered some levity by using her musical pig to entertain the children underfoot. The lifeboat was met by Carpathia at about 7:00 a.m.

Alice Catherine Cleaver

Edith Louise Rosenbaum

" Boat 13 (starboard)"

After being lowered into the sea, Boat 13 drifted under the descending Boat 15 (as depicted by Charles Dixon)

Boat 13 was partially filled from the Boat Deck and partially from A Deck after it had been lowered to that level when it was launched under the supervision of Murdoch and Moody at 1:40 a.m. Again, it was heavily occupied, with 65 people aboard and Leading Fireman Frederick Barrett in charge. The occupants were mainly Second and Third Class women and children. Among the men aboard was Lawrence Beesley, who subsequently wrote a popular book about the disaster. Dr. Washington Dodge was also aboard, having earlier seen his wife and young son aboard Boat 5. He owed his presence aboard the boat to the apparent guilty feelings of Steward F. Dent Ray, who had urged the Dodges to sail on Titanic in the first place. Just before Boat 13 was lowered, Ray bundled Dodge aboard. 12-year-old Second Class passenger Ruth Becker was placed in this boat by Moody after being prevented from entering the heavily overloaded lifeboat number 11 which her mother and two siblings had boarded. She was one of the few passengers who brought blankets from her stateroom into a boat, which were later used to keep the stokers, who were wearing sleeveless shirts, warm while rowing. Others did not want to board at all. A woman on deck became hysterical, crying, "Don't put me in that boat! I don't want to go in that boat! I've never been in an open boat in my life!" Ray told her, "You have got to go and you may as well keep quiet."

While it was being lowered the boat was nearly swamped by "an enormous stream of water, three or four feet in diameter" coming from the condenser exhaust which was being produced by the pumps, far below, trying to purge the water that was flooding into Titanic. The occupants had to push the boat clear using their oars and spars and reached the water safely. The wash from the exhaust caused the boat to drift directly under lifeboat number 15, which was being lowered almost simultaneously. Its lowering was halted just in time, with only a few feet to spare. The falls aboard lifeboat number 13 jammed and had to be cut free to allow the boat to get away safely from the side of Titanic. According to passenger Delia McDermott, she climbed out of the boat early on to recover her new hat. A few hours later the occupants saw Carpathia coming to their rescue and began rowing towards it to an accompaniment of the Philip P. Bliss hymn, "Pull for the Shore". They were picked up at about 6:30 a.m.

Frederick William Barrett (in charge)

George William Beauchamp

Lawrence Beesley

Daniel Buckley

Reginald Robinson Lee

Frederick Dent Ray

Ellen Shine

"Boat 15 (starboard)"

Murdoch and Moody oversaw the lowering of Boat 15 concurrently with Boat 13 and it reached the water only a minute later, at 1:41 a.m. Fireman Frank Dymond was put in charge of what was the most heavily loaded boat at launching, with about 65 people aboard. It was so heavily loaded that the gunwales were reported to be far down in the water; one female passenger later said that when she leaned against the gunwale her hair trailed in the water. The boat was one of the last to be recovered by Carpathia, at about 7:30 a.m.

Occupants of Boat 15 included:

Lillian Gertrud Asplund

Arthur John Priest

" Boat 2 (port) "

The lowering of Boat 2, the second of the two cutters, was overseen by Wilde and Smith at about 1:45 a.m. When Lightoller moved to the boat to get it ready for loading, he found that it was already filled with a large group of male passengers and crewmen. He ordered them out at gunpoint, telling them, "Get out of there, you damned cowards! I'd like to see every one of you overboard!" They fled, but had no way of knowing that his revolver was not loaded. Even at this late stage some boats were leaving with plenty of space aboard; Boat 2 appears to have been lowered with only 17 people aboard, out of a capacity of 40. The occupants were principally women, plus one male Third Class passenger, Anton Kink, who joined his wife and young daughter in the boat. Fourth Officer Boxhall was given charge of the boat.

When Titanic sank at 2:20 a.m., Boxhall suggested to the occupants that they should go back to pick people up from the water. However, they refused outright. Boxhall found this puzzling, as only a short time before the women had pleaded with Smith for their husbands to be allowed to accompany them, yet now they did not want to go back to save them (although actually only one woman, Mrs. Walter Douglas, had left a husband on board). The boat was the first to reach Carpathia, at 4:10 a.m.

The occupants of Boat 2 numbered around 18 people, including:

Joseph Groves Boxhall (in charge)

Louise Kink

Boat 10 (port)

Boat 10 was launched at about 1:50 A.M. with Able Seaman Edward Buley in charge. It appears to have had about 35 people aboard when it was launched. By this time Titanic was listing to port, making it increasingly difficult to launch lifeboats from that side of the ship, as the ship's list had created a gap of about 3 feet (0.9 m) between the deck and the sides of the port-side lifeboats. An attempt to board by a young French woman nearly ended in disaster when her jump into the lifeboat fell short and she dropped into the gap. She was caught by the ankle by Dining Room Steward, William Burke, and was pulled back on board the ship by a person on the deck. She made it into the lifeboat safely on her second attempt. Titanic was clearly not far from sinking and this realisation led to an increased urgency to load the lifeboat; children were rushed aboard, one baby literally being thrown in and caught by a female passenger. A male passenger, whom Lowe later described as a "crazed Italian", rushed to the rail as the boat was being lowered and jumped in. Neshan Krekorian, an Armenian passenger from third class, is said to have jumped into Boat 10 as it was being lowered. Among the people on Boat 10 was the youngest Titanic passenger, nine-week-old Millvina Dean, who was also the last remaining survivor.She accompanied her mother, Mrs. Etta Dean, and older brother, Bertram. Two of those aboard were later transferred to another lifeboat, and it had 55 aboard when it met Carpathia a few hours later.  It was the second to last lifeboat to be picked up, at 8:00 a.m. The occupants of Boat 10 numbered around 33 people, including:

Elizabeth Gladys 'Millvina' Dean

Masabumi Hosono

Barbara West

"Boat 4 (port)"

Launched concurrently with Boat 10, with 42 people aboard, the last of the wooden lifeboats was launched under the supervision of Lightoller at 1:50 a.m. with Quartermaster Walter Perkis put in charge. It was actually one of the first lifeboats to be lowered on Captain Smith's suggestion that passengers should be loaded from the Promenade Deck rather than the Boat Deck. However, the captain had forgotten that – unlike on his previous command, Titanic's sister ship Olympic – the forward half of the Promenade Deck was enclosed. Lightoller ordered that the windows on the Promenade Deck's enclosure were to be opened, and moved on to deal with the other lifeboats.The windows proved unexpectedly difficult to open and to add to the problems, the lifeboat got caught up on Titanic's sounding spar, which projected from the hull immediately below the boat. The spar had to be chopped off to allow the lifeboat to progress. A stack of deck chairs was used as a makeshift staircase to allow passengers to climb up and through the windows and into the boat.

Among the occupants was Madeleine Astor, the pregnant wife of the American millionaire John Jacob Astor. She had endured a long wait, shuttling back and forth between the Promenade and Boat Decks as plans for loading the boat were made and discarded. Now she boarded, accompanied by her maid and nurse, and helped by Astor, who asked Lightoller if he could join her. Lightoller refused, telling him, "No men are allowed in these boats until the women are loaded first." Astor told Madeleine, "The sea is calm. You'll be all right. You're in good hands. I'll meet you in the morning." He did not survive.

The Carters also reached Boat 4. William Carter helped his wife, Lucile, and daughter, also named Lucile, into the boat, but his son, Billy, had to leave his tan-and-black Airedale dog before he was allowed in the boat.

Of the seven members of the Ryerson party from First Class, only the five females were initially allowed to board, including Emily, her two daughters, Emily and Susan, the maid, and the governess. The son, John, was not allowed until his father Arthur stepped forward, proclaiming, "Of course, that boy goes with his mother. He is only 13." All survived except Arthur, who dutifully stayed behind.

Boat 4 appears to have had about 42 people aboard (about 40 women and children and two or three crew members) when it was lowered. As it had been ordered, Perkis steered the boat along the side of the ship in search for open gangways, since he had been told to take on board more passengers through them, but found no one. This way, the boat ended up near the davits of Boat 16 (which had been already launched), and two greasers, Thomas Ranger and Frederick William Scott, who were standing near them, climbed down the falls to Boat 4 (Scott fell into the water but was hauled aboard the lifeboat).The boat then rowed away from the ship in order to avoid suction. A third man, lamp trimmer Samuel Ernest Hemming, climbed down the falls of another lifeboat and swam over to Boat 4, which was about 200 yards away. Immediately after the sinking the boat rowed back to the wreckage to pick up more survivors (the only lifeboat to try immediately to do so).It picked up six or seven more men (trimmer Thomas Patrick Dillon, seaman William Henry Lyons, stewards Andrew Cunningham and Sidney Conrad Siebert, storekeeper Frank Winnold Prentice, and one or two more unidentified swimmers) from the water. Two (Siebert and Lyons) later died of exposure.The number of occupants later increased when other people were transferred from Boat 14 and Collapsible Boat D. By the time it reached Carpathia at 8:00 a.m. it had about 60 occupants including:

Madeleine Talmage Astor

Lucile Polk Carter

Emily Borie Ryerson

Marian Longstreth Thayer

Eleanor Widener

"Collapsible Boat C (starboard)"

Wilde and Murdoch oversaw the launch of the first of the collapsible Engelhardt lifeboats, with 44 people, which was retrieved from its stored position, the sides erected and the boat attached to the davits. The majority of the forward boats had gone by this time and most of the crowd on deck had moved aft as Titanic's bow dipped deeper into the water.The boat was rushed by a group of stewards and Third Class passengers who tried to climb aboard but were driven back by Purser McElroy, who fired two warning shots into the air, while Murdoch tried to hold the crowd back. Two First Class passengers, Hugh Woolner and Swedish industrialist Mauritz Håkan Björnström-Steffansson, came to the officers' assistance and dragged out two stewards who had made it into the lifeboat. With the assistance of Woolner and Steffanson, Murdoch and Wilde managed to load the lifeboat quickly but calmly. White Star Line chairman J. Bruce Ismay also assisted by rounding up women and children to bring them to Collapsible C. Captain Smith, who was observing events from the starboard bridge wing, ordered Quartermaster George Rowe to take command of the boat. After Wilde called repeatedly for women and children to enter, a number of men took up the remaining spaces in the lifeboat, including Ismay; his decision to save himself ultimately proved to be very controversial.

The boat was lowered into the water at 2:00 a.m., becoming the last starboard-side boat to be successfully launched. By now Titanic was listing heavily to port, and the boat collided with the ship's hull as it descended towards the water. Those aboard used their hands and oars to keep the boat clear of the side of the ship. As Titanic went down 20 minutes later, Ismay turned his back on the sinking ship, unable to bear the sight. It was the first of the collapsible lifeboats to reach Carpathia, at 5:45 a.m., and had about 43 people on board including:

Frank John William Goldsmith

Joseph Bruce Ismay

"Collapsible Boat D (port)"

Michel Marcel Navratil, right, and his brother Edmond, left, the "Titanic Orphans" from Collapsible Boat D

By the time Collapsible Boat D was launched at 2:05 a.m., there were still 1,500 people on board Titanic and only 47 seats in the lifeboat. Crew members formed a circle around the boat to ensure that only women and children could board. Two small boys were brought through the cordon by a man calling himself "Louis Hoffman". His real name was Michel Navratil; he was a Slovak tailor who had kidnapped his sons from his estranged wife and was taking them to the United States. He did not board the lifeboat and died when the ship sank. The identity of the children, who became known as the "Titanic Orphans", was a mystery for some time after the sinking and was only resolved when Navratil's wife recognized them from photographs that had been circulated around the world. Four year-old Michael Joseph Yusuf, who was earlier separated from his mother and sister, was placed in the lifeboat by crew members. The three boys were the last children to be rescued in a lifeboat. The elder of the brothers, Michel Marcel Navratil, was the last living male survivor of the disaster. First class passenger Archibald Gracie began escorting female passengers to the front of the ship. After spotting passengers Caroline Brown and Edith Evans together, he took them to the lifeboat - one on each arm. First Class passenger Edith Evans gave up her place in the lifeboat to Caroline Brown, who became the last passenger to enter a lifeboat from the davits. Evans tried to get in but fumbled as she couldn't reach over the gunwale, deciding to stay on the boat to wait and board another collapsible lifeboat. Evans became one of only four First Class women to perish in the disaster.[citation needed]

In the end, about 25 people were on board when it left the deck under the command of Quartermaster Arthur Bright.Two first class passengers, Hugh Woolner and Mauritz Håkan Björnström-Steffansson, jumped from A-Deck (which had started to flood) into the boat as it was being lowered, with Björnström-Stefansson landing upside down in the boat's bow and Woolner landing half-out, before being pulled aboard by the occupants. Another first class passenger, Frederick Maxfield Hoyt, who had previously put his wife in the boat, jumped in the water immediately after, and was hauled aboard by Woolner and Björnström-Steffansson. The number of people on board later increased when 13 survivors, including R. Norris Williams and Rhoda Abbott, were transferred from Collapsible Boat A. Carpathia picked up those aboard collapsible D at 7:15 a.m.

Mauritz Håkan Björnström-Steffansson

Irene Wallach Harris

Eleanor Ileen Johnson

Michel Marcel Navratil

"Collapsible Boat B (port)"

Collapsible Boat B, found adrift by the ship Mackay-Bennett during its mission to recover the bodies of those who died in the disaster

By 2:12 a.m., Lightoller, Moody and others were struggling to retrieve Collapsible Boats A and B from their places of storage on the roof of the officers' quarters. They rigged up makeshift ramps from oars and spars down which they slid the boats onto the Boat Deck. Unfortunately for all concerned, the boat broke through the ramp and landed upside-down on the deck. It reached the Boat Deck upside-down but there was no time to right it as Titanic began her final break-up and plunge to the seabed. Water swept across the Boat Deck, washing the upside-down lifeboat and many people into the sea. Wireless operator Harold Bride found himself trapped underneath the overturned hull. Titanic's increasing angle in the water and an opening expansion joint caused the stays supporting the forward funnel to snap and crash into the water, crushing swimmers in its path and pushing Collapsible B further away from the sinking ship. As Titanic went under, the lifeboat was left in the midst of hundreds of people swimming in the water. Several dozen people climbed onto its hull, including Lightoller, who then took charge of it. Also aboard were Jack Thayer (whose mother was saved with her maid in Boat #4, but whose father died), military historian Colonel Archibald Gracie, who later wrote a popular account of the disaster, and Chief Baker Charles Joughin. Bride managed to escape from the air pocket beneath the boat and made it onto the hull.

Those aboard Collapsible B suffered greatly during the night. The boat gradually sank lower into the water as the air pocket underneath it leaked away. The sea began to get up towards dawn, causing the boat to rock in the swell and lose more of its precious air. Lightoller organised the men on the hull to stand in two parallel rows on either side of the centreline, facing the bow, and got them to sway in unison to counteract the rocking motion caused by the swell. They were directly exposed to the freezing seawater, first up to their feet, then to their ankles and finally to their knees as the boat subsided in the water. For some, the ordeal proved too much and one by one they collapsed, fell into the water and died. The victims possibly included Jack Phillips, the first radio officer, and the third class passenger David Livshin, whose body was taken to the Carpathia on the following morning. About 30 men were left alive by the morning and were transferred into other lifeboats before being rescued by Carpathia.

Harold Bride

Edward Arthur Dorking

Archibald Gracie IV

Charles John Joughin

Charles Herbert Lightoller (took charge when he arrived)

Jack Thayer

" Collapsible Boat A (starboard) "

The Titanic Collapsible Boat A, on 13 May 1912.

Collapsible Boat A reached the deck the right way up and was being attached to the falls by Murdoch and Moody when it was washed off Titanic at 2:12 a.m. In the chaos, the canvas sides were not pulled up and the boat drifted away from the ship partially submerged and dangerously overloaded. Having given up her place in collapsible D, first class passenger Edith Evans was seen frantically running across the boat deck trying to board collapsible A, presumably because collapsible B was already overturned. She and some other women were able to climb in the boat (hoping to be floated off deck) but it became swamped shortly before being washed off deck. Many of the occupants climbed in from the water but many (at least seven or eight, including the first class passengers Thomson Beattie and Edith Evans, the third class passengers Arthur Keefe, Edvard Lindell and Gerda Lindell, and a couple of firemen) died of hypothermia or fell back into the sea. Only 13 people were left alive and the survivors were later transferred into Collapsible Boat D. Among them were first class passenger R. Norris Williams and Rhoda Abbott, who had lost her two young sons in the water, being the only female. Three bodies, including that of Mr. Beattie, were left in Collapsible A, which was allowed to drift off; they were not recovered until a month later, by RMS Oceanic, another White Star Line ship.

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