Titanic Survivors of Lifeboats Thirteen, Fourteen, and Fifteen

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 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)

Lifeboat Thirteen

Boat 13 was loaded under the direction of Murdooch and Moody,partly from the boat deck and partly from deck A as it was lowered past so Leading Fireman Frederick Barrett was in charge of a heavily laden boat with about 65 people, mainly Second and Third Class women and children, aboard.
Whilst being lowered boat 13 narrowly missed "an enormous stream of water, three or four feet in diameter" (Dodge, Washington; Lindsey Nair (15 April 2012). "Survivors share lifeboat; descendants share local ties". The Roanoke Times. Retrieved 2 May 2012.) caused by the pumps in the bowels of the Titanic extracting floodwater through the condenser exhaust. Having successfully pushed themselves clear of this with their oars and spars to reach the water safely they found themselves directly under the descending boat 15 as a result of the wash from the condenser exhaust! They managed to stop lowering boat 15 just in time with just a matter of feet to go. Boat 13 had a third difficulty when its falls jammed and had to be cut to allow the boat to escape the Titanic. The Stokers must have thankful to 12 year old Ruth Becker who was one of the few to have brought blankets from her staterooms as these were used by the stokers who had sleeveless shirts, while they rowed.

When the Carpathia was spotted a few hours later they rowed towards her singing "Pull for the Shore, Sailor." and were rescued at about 6:30 am.

Occupants

• Leading Fireman Frederick Barrett
• Lawrence Beesley
• Dr. Washington Dodge
• Ruth Becker 12 years old with family in boat 11
• Able Seaman Robert John Hopkins
• Reginald Robinson Lee
• Jonathan Thorley
• Philip Francis Bigott
• Percy Ball Plate Steward Unconfirmed but possibly boat 13

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Lifeboat Fourteen

Boat 14 was supervised on loading by Wilde, LIghtoller and Lowe and was ultimately taken charge of by Lowe himself. At this late stage the Titanic was listing badly to port and this being a portside boat made things perilous and desperate. Men were trying to board ahead of women in some cases, for example one young man climbed over the rails and hid under the seats. Lowe threatened him at gunpoint to leave having first threatened to "Throw him over-board",he scolded him to "be a man – we've got women and children to save." Another man, Daniel Buckley, managed to succeed by hiding under a woman's shawl.

After the sinking of the Titanic Lowe gathered together Boats 10, 12, 14 and Collapsible D, transferred many of those aboard Boat 14 to the other lifeboats and made a rescue attempt on boat 14 with Edward John Buley however he was too late, arriving to find the floating bodies of those passengers who had died of hypothermia. He managed to save four men' the steward Harold Phillimore, the first class passenger William Fisher Hoyt, the third class passenger Fang Lang and a fourth unknown person, possibly the second class passenger Emilio Ilario Giuseppe Portaluppi. Hoyt died in the boat, while the other three survived to be rescued by the Carpathia along with the survivors of collapsible boat A whom Lowe had rescued as the collapsible had been close to sinking.

Occupants

• Fifth Officer Harold Lowe
• Esther Hart
• Eva Hart
• Daniel Buckley
• Fang Lang
• Emilio Ilario Giuseppe Portaluppi
• steward Harold
• William Fisher Hoyt [perished prior to rescue by Carpathia]
• Edward John Buley Transferred from Boat 10
• Frank Oliver Evans Transferred from Boat 10
• Joseph George Scarrott

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Lifeboat Fifteen

Boat 15's loading was overseen by Murdoch and Moody on the Starboard side and was lowered concurrently with boat 13. As Boat 13 drifted under boat 15 it was halted just in time to avoid further disaster and ultimately touched the water surface just a minute later than boat 13 under the charge of Fireman Frank Dyamond. Aboard were 65 people making it the most heavily loaded lifeboat its gunwhales reportedly being low down in the water. Boat 15 was amongst the last to be rescued by the Carpathia at about 7:30 am.

Occupants

• Fireman Frank Dyamond.
• Alfred Frank Evans Lookout jointly in charge of boat 15

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