Titanic Survivors of Lifeboats One, Two and Three

Work in Progress

There were Twenty Lifeboats aboard the Titanic on that fateful journey that ended so disastrously. The ship was built with all the most up to date safety measures however there were only enough lifeboats to carry a fraction of the passengers and crew should the unthinkable happen which did happen.

Had the twenty lifeboats been used as intended they could have carried 1,178 of the 2,224 on board. The total number of survivors on the night of 14-15 April 1912 was only 706.

The aim of this group of projects is to list those survivors linked to the lifeboat they were rescued in so that we can get a clearer picture of who experienced that nightmare together and what their reactions were under such severe stress and fear.

This project will list those survivors who were in Lifeboats One, Two, and Three and attempt to describe the unthinkable nightmare they would have experienced, though mere words will be inadequate.

Order of Lifeboat Launches

1. Boat 7 (starboard)
2. Boat 5 (starboard)
3. Boat 3 (starboard)
4. Boat 8 (port)
5. Boat 1 (starboard)
6. Boat 6 (port)
7. Boat 16 (port)
8. Boat 14 (port)
9. Boat 12 (port)
10. Boat 9 (starboard)
11. Boat 11 (starboard)
12. Boat 13 (starboard)
13. Boat 15 (starboard)
14. Boat 2 (port)
15. Boat 10 (port)
16. Boat 4 (port)
17. Collapsible Boat C (starboard)
18. Collapsible Boat D (port)
19. Collapsible Boat B (port)
20. Collapsible Boat A (starboard)

Lilfeboat One

Lifeboat One was the Fourth Boat launched at about 1:05 am and was one of two "emergency" cutter boats for the use of crew in the case of an emergency such as a man overboard. Titanic Number One was kept on the Starboard side of the Titanic swung out in readiness for the emergencies of it's main purpose.

It turned out to be contraversial and gained the name 'the Money Boat' following rumours that Sir Cosmo may have bribed the Crew members on board to not rescue people left swimming after the ship went down. According to the British Wreck Commissioner's Inquiry Report : Account of the Saving and Rescue of those who Survived: "The very gross charge against Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon that, having got into No. 1 boat, he bribed the men in it to row away from the drowning people, is unfounded.
The report, however, admonished the occupants of Boat 1 for not making a concerted effort to rescue survivors from the water."

Occupants

• Collins, Mr. Samuel 35 Engine Fireman[d]
• Duff-Gordon, Sir Cosmo Edmund 49 First Class 5th Baronet[e] Scottish landowner and popular sportsman who was a skilled fencer, competing in the 1906 Olympic Games in Athens (where the British team won the Silver Medal) and serving on the committee for the 1908 London Olympics.
• Duff Gordon, Lucy Christiana, Lady 48 First Class Née Sutherland; famous couturier known as Lucile, founder of and chief designer for Lucile Ltd, the first global couture house and one of the most prestigious women's fashion labels from the late 1890s to the early 1920s.
• Francatelli, Miss Laura Mabel 31 First Class Lucy Duff Gordon's secretary[c]
• Hendrickson, Mr. Charles George 29 Engine Leading fireman[d]
• Horsewill, Mr. Albert Edward James 33 Deck Able seaman
• Pusey, Mr. Robert William 24 Engine Fireman[d]
• Salomon, Mr. Abraham "Abram" Lincoln 43 First Class Owner of a wholesale stationery business in New York.
• Sheath, Mr. Fredrick 20 Engine Coal trimmer
• Stengel, Mr. Charles Emil Henry 54 First Class Leather manufacturer from Newark, N. J.
• Taylor, Mr. George 24 Engine Stoker; signed on under his brother's name: "James Taylor"
• George Thomas Macdonald Symons 24 Deck Lookout; placed in charge of No. 1

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Lifeboat Two

Lifeboat Two was, like lifeboat One the "emergency" cutter for the Port Side. It was lowered at approximately 1:45 am having initially been occupied by 25 people however 2nd Officer Lightoller charged with overseeing the loading of boats on the Port side was interpreting Captain Smith's orders to put the "women and children in and lower away" as women and children only to be allowed in the lifeboats whereas his counterpart on the Starboard side, First Officer Murdoch was loading women and children first, thus allowing a greater chance of survival to men on the Starboard side. He was obviously shocked to find a number of men amongst the 25
occupants and pointing his gun shouted "Get out of there, you damned cowards! I'd like to see every one of you overboard!" The men scarpered unaware that the gun was not loaded and boat two was lowered with 17 people on board despite a capacity of 40. Despite previously pleading with Smith to allow their husbands to accompany them when, following the sinking of the Titanic, Boxall suggested returning to rescue people from the water the women refused.

Occupants

• principally women
• one male Third Class passenger
• Fourth Officer Boxhall was given charge of the boat
• Frank Osman

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Lifeboat Three

There were difficulties in lowering Boat 3 as the pulleys were jambed by the ropes time and again causing the boat to lower in fits and starts but it eventually reached the surface safely with about 32 people on board with Able bodied seaman George Moore put in charge by Murdoch. This being a Starboard boat some men were allowed on once the women had boarded.

Occupants:

• George Moore, able-bodied seaman put in charge of boat
• Charlotte Drake Cardeza, a Philadelphia heiress who also brought into the boat her son and two servants
• Henry S. Harper, owner of a New York City publishing firm also brought into the boat his wife, Myra, pekinese dog Sun Yat Sen and servant
• The Speddens, wealthy family from Tuxedo Park, New York
• Clara Hays, wife of wealthy Canadian Charles Melville Hays
• Harry Anderson, a Wall Street stockbroker
• Eleven Crewmen

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