Lists had been posted on the ship allocating crew members to particular lifeboat stations, but few appeared to have read them or to have known what they were supposed to do. Most of the crew were, in any case, not seamen, and even some of those had no prior experience of rowing a boat. They were now faced with the complex task of coordinating the lowering of 20 boats carrying a possible total of 1, people 70 feet 21 m down the sides of the ship.
Bonsall, a historian of the disaster, has commented that the evacuation was so badly organised that "even if they had the number [of] lifeboats they needed, it is impossible to see how they could have launched them" given the lack of time and poor leadership.
It was not until am, an hour after Titanic struck the iceberg at pm on 14 April, that the first lifeboat was lowered into the sea. 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". Lightoller lowered lifeboats with empty seats if there were no women and children waiting to board, while Murdoch allowed a limited number of men to board if all the nearby women and children had 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 — persons and persons respectively — far exceed the confirmed number of survivors, due to confusion and misreporting.
Some of the occupants were transferred between boats before being picked up by the RMS Carpathia. Dorothy Gibson in a promotional photo for Saved From the Titanic , dressed in the same clothes that she wore the night of the sinking. Boat 7 was the first to be launched, at about am, under the supervision of First Officer Murdoch, supported by Fifth Officer Lowe. It had a capacity of 65 persons but was lowered with only about 28 aboard. They had 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.
However, the results had not been passed on to the crew of Titanic. The lifeboat was launched either without its plug or with the plug displaced somehow, causing water to gush into the bottom of the boat. As Dorothy Gibson later put it, "this was remedied by volunteer contributions from the lingerie of the women and the garments of men.
The officer in charge of the latter lifeboat decided to transfer a number of survivors from his boat, which he thought was overcrowded, into lifeboat 7. Bruce Ismay to help them lower Boat 5, which left at am. 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. Bruce Ismay , the chairman of the White Star Line, disagreed; still wearing slippers and pyjamas, he urged Pitman to begin loading the boat with women and children.
Pitman retorted: "I await the Captain's orders," [39] 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 41 people boarded, including Pitman himself, on Murdoch's orders. 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. You want me to lower away quickly? You'll have me drown the lot of them! 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 she reached the Carpathia. Why should we lose all our lives in a useless attempt to save others from the ship? The occupants of the lifeboat endured a freezing night. 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. Harper , who was accompanied by his valet, dragoman and Pekingese dog, Sun Yat Sen. As happened many times that night, male passengers helped their wives and children to board and then stood back, accepting that they would go down with the ship. Eleven crewmen were among the occupants of this boat.
Isador and Ida Straus, who refused to board a lifeboat while there were younger people still waiting to board. Boat 8 was loaded under the supervision of Second Officer Lightoller and launched at about am, with Captain Smith and Chief Officer Wilde also participating. Ida Straus was asked to join a group of people preparing to board but refused, saying: "I will not be separated from my husband [Isador Straus]. As we have lived, so will we die — together.
She later recalled that he "wrapped blankets about me and tucked me in as carefully as if we were going on a motor ride. The occupants of Boat 8 numbered around 25 people [30] and included:. After Titanic sank, Jones suggested going back to save some of those in the water.
Only three of the passengers agreed; the rest protested that they would be at risk of the boat being capsized by desperate swimmers.
Jones had no choice but to acquiesce, but told the complaining passengers: "Ladies, if any of us are saved, remember I wanted to go back. I would rather drown with them than leave them. The Countess of Rothes — who had been one of the few passengers to support going back to mount a rescue attempt — took charge of the tiller, putting the women to work on the oars.
The occupants of Boat 8 spent the night rowing towards what they thought were the lights of a ship on the horizon, but turned round at daybreak when the Carpathia arrived on the scene from the opposite direction. They had travelled further from the scene than any of the other lifeboats and had a long row back; [53] it was not until am that they were picked up. The lowering of Boat 1 at am [30] subsequently became one of the most controversial episodes of the disaster, both because it was lowered with just twelve people aboard and because of the behaviour of two of its occupants, Cosmo Duff-Gordon and his wife Lucile.
The boat was one of the two emergency cutters with a capacity of Its composition was a notable departure from Murdoch's "women and children first" directive.
Duff-Gordon had been standing with his wife and secretary watching Boat 3 being lowered. As Boat 1 was being prepared, he asked Murdoch if his party could board. Murdoch assented and also allowed two Americans, Abraham Solomon and C. Stengel, to enter. He also instructed a group of six stokers to board along with a lookout whom he put in charge of the boat. As it was being lowered with its twelve passengers, Greaser Walter Hurst remarked, "If they are sending the boats away they might as well put some people in them.
The boat had room for about another 30 people but, as with almost all of the others, its occupants showed no willingness to return to rescue those in the water after Titanic sank. Fireman Charles Hendrickson told them: "It's up to us to go back and pick up anyone in the water" but found no support. Sir Cosmo, seemingly irritated, retorted: "Very well, I will give you a fiver each to start a new kit! He was later accused of effectively bribing the crew not to return to the scene of the sinking and his reputation was all but ruined as a result.
Lightoller launched Boat 6 at ; it was photographed as it approached Carpathia , so it is known to have had 26 people aboard at that point. She did not board voluntarily but was picked up by a crewman and dropped bodily into the boat as it was being lowered.
Only one man, Quartermaster Robert Hitchens , was aboard so Lightoller appealed to the crowd still on deck for anyone who had sailing experience. Relations between those aboard were strained throughout the night. Hitchens apparently resented Peuchen's presence, perhaps fearing that the major would pull rank and take charge. The two men quarrelled and Hitchens refused Peuchen's request that he assist with the rowing, as there was only one other able-bodied man at the oars. With only two rowing, the boat could only make slow progress away from Titanic.
When Captain Smith ordered Hitchens to bring the boat alongside the gangway so that more passengers could board, Hitchens refused, telling the occupants: "No, we are not going back to the boat. It's our lives now, not theirs. When Titanic sank, Peuchen, Brown and several others urged Hitchens to turn around and rescue some of those in the water. Hitchens refused, ordering the men to stop rowing and telling the passengers: "There's no use going back, 'cause there's only a lot of stiffs there.
Brown asked Hitchens to let the women row to help keep them warm. When he refused, she threatened to throw him overboard. He protested and swore at her but was told to shut up, and a stoker told him: "Don't you know you're talking to a lady?
Boat 6 eventually found and tied up to Boat 16 after Titanic sank. It was one of the last to be rescued by the Carpathia , at am. Sixth Officer Moody supervised the launching of Boat 16 at about am. Around 52 people are believed to have been on board by the time it reached Carpathia ; [59] most of those aboard were said to be women and children from Second and Third Class.
About 40 people were aboard boat 14, with Wilde, Lightoller and Lowe supervising its launch. Lowe fired three shots from his revolver to warn off a crowd of passengers pressing up against the rails. Lowe ordered him to leave at gunpoint, first threatening to "blow your brains out", then appealing to him to "be a man — we've got women and children to save. Another male passenger, Daniel Buckley, managed to get into Boat 14 by concealing himself under a women's 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, transferred many of those aboard Boat 14 to the other lifeboats and took the boat back to the scene of the sinking to try to find survivors. This was the only rescue bid mounted that night, [62] and it came too late. 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.
A few individuals were pulled from the sea but most were already dead or dying. He was one of roughly 30 people who clambered on board lifeboat 'Collapsible A', securing one of the last places. However he later died of exposure alongside two firemen from the Titanic's engine room.
In a heart-wrenching coincidence, Mr Beattie was buried at sea on his mother's birthday after his body was discovered by the RMS Oceanic. Devoted: Gerda Lindell, left, died while trying to reach her husband, Edvard, right, on board lifeboat 'Collapsible A'. According to accounts from witnesses, Mr Lindell's hair turned grey before he succumbed to exposure.
Their bodies have never been found. The couple travelled to Southampton, securing their immigration papers less than a week before the Titanic set sail.
Records show they were due to continue their journey from New York to Hartford, Connecticut, where they are understood to have had a connection.
After the liner collided with the iceberg on April 14, , the couple met up with two fellow Swedes and together they struggled up the sloping deck. However it became too steep to climb and, holding hands, the friends slid down towards lifeboat 'Collapsible A' on the starboard side. He described how the heartbreak of losing his wife caused Mr Lindell's hair turned grey in less than 30 minutes. Mr Lindell died soon afterwards, clutching his wife's wedding ring as he took his last breaths.
Neither of the Lindells' bodies were ever discovered, although it is believed his body was buried at sea to lighten the load. The ring is now stored in a safety deposit box in Sweden, but is taken out for exhibitions around the world.
Passing liner: A log from the RMS Oceanic, which recovered a lifeboat from the Titanic nearly a month after the tragic sinking. Doomed voyage: The Titanic was the largest ship in the world when it set sail from Southampton to New York in Collapsible A is believed to be the last lifeboat to come off the Titanic, entering the water at around 2.
First Officer Murdoch and Sixth Officer Moody were trying to attach to the boat to ropes so that it could be lowered into the water when the deck became partially-submerged. The crew abandoned the task but the boat washed off the ship, offering one final lifeline to desperate survivors struggling in the freezing water. Between 12 and 20 people are believed to have hauled themselves over the side of the dinghy, including Mr Beattie and Mr Lindell.
Harris, a first class passenger, thought there were 19 people in it, others estimated up to 30 and seaman Lucas thought there were 44 in it. Estimates vary quite a bit, thus. There is a photograph of the boat approaching the Carpathia, and there are about 30 people visible; including about ten received from boat 14 earlier in the night and also Mr. Woolner, who jumped into the boat from a lower deck as well as Frederick Hoyt, who had escorted his wife to the craft and then calculated where the boat would row and thought that if he jumped and swam in that direction, they would pick him up.
Above: Titanic collapsible lifeboat D approaching the rescue ship Carpathia. How many people could the lifeboats carry? How many life jackets were on the Titanic? Back to top. Titanic Lifeboats — Order Of Launch am — Lifeboat 7 starboard am — Lifeboat 5 starboard am — Lifeboat 3 starboard and lifeboat 8 port am — Lifeboat 1 starboard am — Lifeboat 6 port am — Lifeboat 16 port am — Lifeboat 14 port am — Lifeboat 12 port and lifeboat 9 starboard am — Lifeboat 11 starboard am — Lifeboat 13 starboard am — Lifeboat 15 starboard am — Lifeboat 2 port am — Lifeboat 10 port and lifeboat 4 port am — Collapsible lifeboat C starboard — with J Bruce Ismay on board am — Collapsible lifeboat D port am — Collapsible lifeboats B port and A starboard are washed out to sea.
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