Lowe's Flotilla Unravelled

Sooner or later when reading about the Titanic, you come across the story of Harold Lowe and his flotilla of lifeboats, the tale that made Lowe the unchallenged hero of the tragedy.  The story, in a nutshell, is that after the Titanic sank, Lowe gathered together a group of lifeboats, then:

* distributed the passengers in his boat into the other lifeboats,

* took a scratch crew back to where the Titanic sank

*where he managed to save four survivors (but one died),

*then, finding an overloaded collapsible boat, he took it in tow

* before sailing to a lifeboat that was sinking and rescuing another 20 or so people in his own boat.

No matter how much I tried, I could never remember which boats tied to which boats and transferred whose passengers from which boat to which boat when. Finally I remembered the aphorism 'a timeline tells the tale' and here's that tale.

                        

                  The "flotilla' assembles

No. 12  John Poingdestre, AB, British Inquiry

2991. How far away from the "Titanic" were you?

- About 150 yards.

**********************

Collapsible D  Arthur Bright, Quartermaster,  Senate Inquiry

Mr. BRIGHT.  We were told to pull clear and get out of the suction; and I suppose we got out about 100 yards, or maybe a little more, away from the ship.

Hugh Woolner  Col. D  We got out three oars first, and shoved off from the side of the ship...I should think, we were 150 yards away, when the Titanic went down.

William Lucas British Inquiry

1562. How far off were you when she sank? - I suppose about 150 yards.

*************************

No. 4  Samuel Hemming, seaman, Senate Inquiry

10423. You swam out to this boat that you saw?  - Yes, sir.

10424. How far was it from the side of the Titanic?  - About 200 yards.

********************************************

No. 10 Edward Buley, AB, Senate Inquiry 

Senator FLETCHER. How far were you from the Titanic when she went down?

Mr. BULEY. About 250 yards.

*****************************************

No. 14 Miss Sara Compton quoted in Archibald Gracies' book 'The Truth About the Titanic'

Officer Lowe insisted on having the mast put up. He crawled forward and in a few moments the mast was raised and ready. He said this was necessary as no doubt with dawn there would be a breeze. Mr. Lowe wished to remain near the ship that he might have a chance to help someone after she sank. Some of the women protested and he replied: 'I don't like to leave her, but if you feel that way about it we will pull away a little distance.' "

No. 14 Harold Lowe, Fifth Officer, Senate Inquiry

Senator SMITH. You were about 150 yards off?

Mr. LOWE. I was just on the margin. If anybody had struggled out of the mass, I was there to pick them up; but it was useless for me to go into the mass.

No. 14 Joseph Scarrott, AB, British Inquiry 

406. How far off from the "Titanic" was your boat rowed? - I should judge about 150 yards.

407. Then did she lie there?  - She lay there with the remainder of the other boats - with the four other boats that we saw when we got clear of the ship.

410. And was anything done with the other boats?  - Mr. Lowe asked them who was in charge of the boats, what Officers were there, and we got a reply from each boat individually to say they had no Officer in the boat. He said: "All right consider the whole of you are under my orders; remain with me,"

                          The Titanic Sinks

No. 14  Ida Minahan affidavit  Senate Inquiry

The Titanic was fast sinking. After she went down the cries were horrible. This was at 2:20 a.m. by a man's watch who stood next to me.... Some of the women implored Officer Lowe, of No.14, to divide his passengers among the three other boats and go back to rescue. His first answer to those requests was, "You ought to be damn glad you are here and have got your own life."

Archibald Gracie, book Titanic: A Survivor's Story

“…there arose to the sky the most horrible sounds ever heard by mortal man except by those of us who survived this terrible tragedy. The agonizing cries of death from over a thousand throats, the wails and groans of the suffering, the shrieks of the terror-stricken and the awful gaspings for breath of those in the last throes of drowning none of us will ever forget to our dying day. ‘Help! HELP! BOAT AHOY! BOAT AHOY!’ and ‘MY GOD! MY GOD!’ were the heart-rending cries and shrieks of men, which floated to us over the surface of the dark waters continuously for the next hour, but as time went on, growing weaker and weaker until they died out entirely.”

John Thayer From “A Survivor’s Tale: The Sinking of the Titanic 1912”

Probably a minute passed with almost dead silence and quiet. Then an individual call for help, from here, from there; gradually swelling into a composite volume of one long continuous wailing chant, from the 1,500 in the water all around us. It sounded like locusts on a midsummer night, in the woods in Pennsylvania.This terrible continuing cry lasted for 20 or 30 minutes, gradually dying away, as one after another could no longer withstand the cold and exposure.

******************************************************************************

Scarrott Senate Inquiry No. 14

427. (Mr. Butler Aspinall.) As soon as the ship went down, what was done with your boat? Did she remain where she was for a little time, or did she row in to where the ship had sunk?

- She rowed in company with the four other boats, under the orders of Mr. Lowe, to see if we could pick up anybody from the wreckage.

428. The whole five of you rowed in?  - The whole five of us.

Scarrott, No. 14

433. Now did you succeed in rescuing anybody?  - Not our boat individually, but the other boats in our charge did get somebody, but how many I cannot say.

*********************************

Lowe  British Inquiry No. 14

15943. Did you return to the wreckage immediately after the "Titanic" had disappeared? - I did not.

15944. Had you any reason for not doing so?  - I had.

15945. Would you mind telling me what it was?  - Because it would have been suicide to go back there until the people had thinned out.

********************************

Perkis NO. 4 Senate Inquiry

Mr. PERKIS. We picked up eight, sir.

Senator PERKINS. You picked up eight men that were swimming with life preservers?

Senator PERKINS. How far was this away from the ship?

Mr. PERKIS.  I should say about the length of the ship away, sir.

Senator PERKINS.  You picked up eight in the water?

Mr. PERKIS.  Yes; and two died afterwards, in the boat.

********************

Senator PERKINS. Could you not have found more of them?

Mr. PERKIS.  We stopped picking up. The last man we picked up, we heard a cry, and we did not hear any more cries after we had picked up the last man.

Mr. HEMMING. Senate

Senator SMITH. ... what did you do then?

Mr. HEMMING. We hung around for a bit.

No. 12  John Poingdestre, British Inquiry

3013. How long did you remain looking... for the people?  - About a quarter of an hour.

3014. And you saw nothing?  - Nothing at all.

3015. Did you see wreckage?  - Only about a couple of hundred deck chairs.

3016. But you saw no bodies?  - No bodies whatever.

3017. During that quarter of an hour, while you were looking, how long did the cries continue?

3018. And yet you found nothing?  - We found nothing at all.

3022. Can you account for that?  - There were not enough sailors in my boat, only me and my mate, and we could not get there.

**************************

Hugh Woolner, Col. D Senate Inquiry

Senator SMITH. Did you go back to the scene of the wreck after pulling out this 150 or 200 yards?

Mr. WOOLNER. No.

Senator SMITH. Was there any attempt made by your boat to go back, so far as you know?

Mr. WOOLNER. Not by our boat; no.

Col. D picked up 3 at least--Charles Williams, Sophie Abraham, Joseph Duquemin plus Frederick Hoyt. This implies that they picked people out of the ocean before theTitanic sank.

                       Waiting for Survivors to Die

**************************************

No. 12 Poingdestre British Inquiry

3029. At the end of this quarter of an hour what did you do then?  - I hailed for other boats.

3031. What do you mean by that?  - Called to see if there were any in the vicinity of where I was.

3040. What answer did you get?   - I heard somebody call out, and they came up to us - another lifeboat.

045. Do you know the name of the man in charge?  - I think it was Foley, a storekeeper.   (John Foley manned lifeboat No. 4)

************************************

 

Scarrott  No. 14 Senate Inquiry

- Mr. Lowe ordered four of the boats to tie together by the painters. He told the men that were in charge of them, the seamen there, what the object was. He said, "If you are tied together and keep all together, if there is any passing steamer they will see a large object like that on the water quicker than they would a small one."

 

Hugh Woolner Senate Inquiry Collapsible D

Senator SMITH. After pulling out for 15 minutes or so, what took place?

Mr. WOOLNER.
Then some officer came along and said: "I want all these boats tied up by their painters, head and tail, so as to make a more conspicuous mark"; and we did that; and there was no call to row much after that because we were simply drifting about.

After the lifeboats in the "flotilla" tied up to each other, they waited for about hours until the terrible cries from dying survivors tapered off as one-by-one they succumbed to the cold water.

While waiting, the women in Collapsible D were near panic. The boat was ankle deep in water and the women feared it would sink and throw them into the ocean. Able Seaman William Lucas, in charge, made a decision. 

 

William Lucas Col. D  British Inquiry

I transferred all the women from my boat to (No. 12) because I was frightened of my boat capsizing...

1611. I daresay you were rather crowded, were you?
- Yes, we were; the gunwales were under water.

1628. Was it full of water?
- There was water under our feet. The women were frightened of her.

More than 30 women were transferred from Collapsible D into No. 12, giving No. 12 a double load.

Lucas, British Inquiry

1598. Then what did you do with your boat?
- Poingdestre asked me if I would go in the boat and get hold of an oar and I said yes.

Lucas and two firemen joined the crew of No. 12, a fortunate circumstance as it turned out.

Lucas, British Inquiry

1608. What happened to your collapsible?
- I let that go with the three men in it.

1609. Where did they go?
- Well, they hung on to the remainder and were knocking round - tied themselves together afterwards.

Frank Evans, Senate Inquiry, No. 10

Mr. EVANS.  I was in No. 10, and we tied up to No. 12. We gave the man our painter and made fast, and we stopped there.

Mr. EVANS.  We stopped there about an hour, I think it was, sir, when No. 14 boat came over with one officer.

Senator SMITH. Mr. Lowe; No. 14 boat?

Mr. EVANS. No. 14 boat. He came over in No. 14 boat, and he says, "Are there any seamen there?" We said, "Yes, sir." He said, "All right; you will have to distribute these passengers among these boats. Tie them all together and come into my boat," he said, "to go over into the wreckage and pick up anyone that is alive there.

After waiting for hours, Harold Lowe decided it was safe to return to where the Titanic sank and see if he could rescue anyone still alive. But first he had to transfer the people in his lifeboat to the other boats in the flotilla.

Harold Lowe No. 14 Senate Inquiry

and of course I had to wait until the yells and shrieks had subsided - for the people to thin out -

 and then I deemed it safe for me to go amongst the wreckage.

So I transferred all my passengers - somewhere about 53 passengers - from my boat, and I equally distributed them between my other four boats.

Then I asked for volunteers to go with me to the wreck,

Senator SMITH. Had their cries quieted down before you started?

Mr. LOWE. Yes; they had subsided a good deal. It would not have been wise or safe for me to have gone there before, because the whole lot of us would have been swamped and then nobody would have been saved.

Senator SMITH. About how long did you lay by?

Mr. LOWE. I should say an hour and a half; somewhere under two hours.

I left my crowd of boats somewhere, I should say, about between half-past 3 and 4 in the morning, and after I had been around it was just breaking day..

 

John Hardy Collapsible D Senate Inquiry

 

We got clear of the ship and rowed out some little distance from her, and finally we all got together, about seven boats of us, and I remember quite distinctly Boatswain Lowe telling us to tie up to each other, as we would be better seen and could keep better together. Then Officer Lowe, having a full complement of passengers in his boat, distributed among us what he had, our boat taking 10. We had 25 already, and that number made 35.

 

Collapsible D, having transfered her women to No. 12, was now full again.

 

Ida Minahan affidavit ,No.14 transferred to Col. D

As I came up to him to be transferred to the other boat he said, "Jump, God damn you, jump." I had showed no hesitancy and was waiting only my turn. He had been so blasphemous during the two hours we were in his boat that the women at my end of the boat all thought he was under the influence of liquor

William BURKE.  Senate Inquiry   No. 10

 An officer's boat came alongside during the night and gave us about 12 or 15 passengers. He took our two seamen away, with the intention, I presume, to go back to the wreckage.

Arthur Bright Collapsible D Senate Inquiry

Senator SMITH. Did he take any people out of your boat and put them into his?

Mr. BRIGHT. One seaman out of my boat.

John Poingdestre, British Inquiry No. 12

3049. What happened next?  - We saw another boat in charge of Officer Lowe.

3050. Did that boat come to you, or did you go to it?  - He came to me.

3051. When he came to you, what happened?  - He discharged some of his passengers into my boat and some into the other boat that was tied up astern of me.

3052. How many passengers did he put into your boat?  - About a dozen.

3053. Did he remain with you then, or go away?  - A few minutes.

3054. And at the end of the few minutes what did he do?  - He took the men crew, what he had already had, and went and searched.

Miss Sara Compton  transferred to Col. D quoted in Gracie's book Titanic: A Survivor's Story

"I now found myself" she said, "in the stern of a collapsible boat. In spite of Mr. Lowe's warning the four small boats began to separate, each going its own way. Soon it seemed as though our boat was the only one on the sea. We went through a great deal of wreckage.

*******************************

                            Lowe to the Rescue

Scarrot  No. 14 Senate Inquiry   When we got to where the cries were we were amongst hundreds, I should say, of dead bodies floating in lifebelts.

 

AB Frank Evans No. 14 There were plenty of dead bodies about us. You couldn't hardly count them, sir. I... I should think between 150 and 200. We had great difficulty in getting through them to get to the wreck." (US Inquiry)

 

**********

William Lucas, AB, British Inquiry  (in no. 14 now)

1622. I suppose it took you some time to get there, did it?
- Well, say about a quarter of an hour.

Scarrott  British Inquiry

440. Was it dark then?- Yes.

441. Still dark?- Yes,

********************************

Lowe No. 14   Then I went off and I rowed off to the wreckage and around the wreckage and I picked up four people...But one died,

**********************

Scarrott  British Inquiry

When we got up to it we got one man, and we got him in the stern of the boat - a passenger it was, and he died shortly after we got him into the boat.

We got two others then as we pushed our way towards the wreckage,

and as we got towards the centre we saw one man there...he was calling for help...-it took us a good half-hour to get that distance to that man to get through the bodies. We could not row the boat; we had to push them out of the way

***************************************

Frank Evans, AB, Senate Inquiry, No. 14

Mr. EVANS. He said, "Have a good look around, and see if you can see anybody alive, at all."

Senator SMITH. And when you did find anybody alive, what did the officer say?

Mr. EVANS. The officer said, "Hoist the sail forward." I did so, and made sail.

Lowe  British Inquiry

15965. (The Commissioner.) When did you use the sail?

- I used the sail from the time I got to the wreck until I got on board the "Carpathia."

Lowe, Senate Inquiry

Mr. LOWE.  ...I am quite satisfied that I had a real good look around, and that there was nothing left.

Senator SMITH.After you looked around, then what did you do?

Mr. LOWE.I then thought - well, the thought flashed through my mind, "perhaps the ship has not seen us in the semigloom."

Senator SMITH.The Carpathia?

Mr. LOWE.Yes. I could see her coming up, and I thought, "Well, I am the fastest boat of the lot," as I was sailing, you see. I was going through the water very nicely, going at about, well, I should say, four knots, five knots, maybe; it may have been a little more; it may have been six; but, anyhow, I was bowling along very nicely.

And I thought, "I am the fastest boat, and I think if I go toward her, for fear of her leaving us to our doom" - that is what I was scared about, and you will understand that day was dawning more and more as the time came on.

Mr. LOWE.And by and by, I noticed a collapsible boat [D], and it looked rather sorry, so I thought, "Well, I will go down and pick her up and make sure of her."

Hugh Woolner  Col. D Senate Inquiry

Mr. WOOLNER ...just at that time, when we began to row toward the Carpathia, Mr. Lowe came down with his boat under sail, again, and hailed us and said, "Are you a collapsible?" We answered, "Yes." He said "How are you?" I said, "We have about all we want." He said, "Would you like a tow?" We answered, "Yes we would." So he took our painter and towed us away from the Carpathia, and then we looked and saw that there was another little group of people standing up in the sea who had to be rescued...

Sara Compton,  transferred to Col. D

 ...With daylight we saw the Carpathian and not so very long afterwards Officer Lowe, sailing towards us, for, as he had predicted, quite a strong breeze had sprung up. We caught the rope which he threw us from the stern of his boat. Someone in ours succeeded in catching it and we were taken in tow to the Carpathia.

Mr. LOWE. Senate Inquiry

I had taken this first collapsible in tow, and I noticed that there was another collapsible in a worse plight than this one that I had in tow. I was just thinking and wondering whether it would be better for me to cut this one adrift and let her go, and for me to travel faster to the sinking one, but I thought, "No, I think I can manage it"; so I cracked on a bit, and I got down there just in time and took off, I suppose, about 20 men and 1 lady out of this sinking collapsible.

Olaus Abelseth Collapsible A Senate Inquiry

The next morning we could see some of the lifeboats. One of the boats had a sail up, and he came pretty close, and then we said, "One, two, three"; we said that quite often. We did not talk very much, except that we would say, "One, two, three," and scream together for help

Evans, now in No. 14 Senate Inquiry

"He fired four shots when we went to this boat that was in distress. She was half full of water, and they were up to their ankles in water. There was one collapsible boat that we had in tow, and we went over to this one that was swamped, sir.

Mr. EVANS.... the boat was swamped within about 5 or 6 inches of the gunwale, the top of the boat, sir.

Mr. EVANS. He told people in this boat it was to warn them not to rush our boat when we got alongside.

Senator SMITH. How far was this swamped collapsible lifeboat from lifeboat No. 14 when you started to it?

Mr. EVANS.About a mile and a half, sir.

Senator SMITH. How near were you to the swamped boat when Lowe fired those shots?

Mr. EVANS. About 150 yards, sir.

Scarrott, No. 14

"After we came back from the wreckage where we had taken one of those rafts in tow, Mr. Lowe emptied his pistol into the water; as regards the number of rounds left in it I cannot say, but I think he emptied five rounds out of it." (British Inquiry)

For reasons unknown, Lowe later denied to the Senate Inquiry that he fired any shots other than the three he fired as No. 12 was lowered off the Titanic in order to deter anyone from jumping in.

Elizabeth Eustis No. 4  "The Titanic--Our Story"

With the dawn came the wind and before long quite a sea was running. Just before daylight on the horizon we saw what we felt sure must be the lights of a ship. The quartermaster was a long time in admitting that we were right, urging that it was the moon, but we insisted and they then said it might be the Carpathia as they had been told before leaving the Titanic that she was coming to us. For a long time after daylight we were in great wreckage from the Titanic, principally steamer chairs ... We felt we could never reach the Carpathia when we found she had stopped, and afterwards when we asked why she didn't come closer we were told that some of the early boats which put off from the starboard side reached her a little after four, while it was after six when we drew under the side of the open hatch.

Lowe  No. 14 British Inquiry

15860. Can you judge how long that was before the ship went down?

 All I know is that when we boarded the "Carpathia" in the morning it was six o'clock, and that is the only time I know of.

Ida Minahan affidavit to the Senate Inquiry  Col. D

It was just four o'clock when we sighted the Carpathia, and we were three hours getting to her.

William Burke No. 10 Senate Inquiry

We remained drifting about practically all night. At one time we were tied up with three boats together, until I gave the order myself in that boat to cut us adrift that we might go to a collapsible boat that was in distress. When they cut our boat adrift I found an officer in another boat had come to the aid of this collapsible boat, so we remained there for some hours, drifting about. At daybreak, we made fast to another officer's boat  (Lightoller in Col. 12) , and we arrived alongside of the Carpathia with these two boats tied together.

Gracie, Collapsible B

Finally dawn appeared and there on the port side of our upset boat where we had been looking with anxious eyes, glory be to God, we saw the steamer Carpathia about four or five miles away, with other Titanic lifeboats rowing towards her. But on our starboard side, much to our surprise, for we had seen no lights on that quarter, were four of the Titanic' 's lifeboats strung together in line.

 Meantime, the water had grown rougher, and... was washing over the keel... Lightoller put his whistle to his cold lips and blew a shrill blast, attracting the attention of the boats about half a mile away. "Come over and take us off," he cried. "Aye, aye, sir," was the ready response as two of the boats cast off from the others and rowed directly towards us.

Frederick CLENCH. Senate Inquiry

...while Mr. Lowe was gone I heard shouts. Of course I looked around, and I saw a boat in the way that appeared to be like a funnel. We started to back away then...I put my head over the gunwale and looked along the water's edge and saw some men on a raft. Then I heard two whistles blown. I sang out "Aye, aye; I am coming over,"

Lightoller British Inquiry

 I had my whistle in my pocket. I whistled by way of showing it was an Officer that was calling, and I asked them if they could take some of us on board, and I said if they could manage to take half-a-dozen - because we were sinking then - it would lighten us up so that we could continue afloat.

Charles Joughin British Inquiry Collapsible B

... eventually a lifeboat came in sight.

6106. And they took you aboard?

- They got within about 50 yards and they sung out that they could only take 10. So I said to this Maynard, "Let go my hand," and I swam to meet it, so that I would be one of the 10.

********************

John Thayer, Collapsible B his book 'The Sinking Of The S.S. Titanic, April 14 15, 1912'

... shortly before 4 o’clock we saw the mast head light of the Carpathia come over the horizon and creep toward us. We gave a thankful cheer. She came up slowly, oh so slowly. Indeed she seemed to wait without getting any nearer. We thought hours and hours dragged by as she stood off in the distance. We had been trying all night to hail our other lifeboats. They did not hear us or would not answer. We knew they had plenty of room to take us aboard, if we could only make them realize our predicament.

The Carpathia, waiting for a little more light, was slowly coming up on the boats and was picking them up. With the dawn breaking, we could see them being hoisted from the water. For us, afraid we might overturn any minute, the suspense was terrible.

The long hoped-for dawn actually broke, and with it a breeze came up, making our raft rock more and more. The air under us escaped at a more rapid rate, lowering us still further into the water. We had visions of sinking before the help so near at hand could reach us.

About 6:30, after continued and desperate calling, we attracted the attention of the other lifeboats. Two of them finally realized the position we were in and drew toward us. Lightoller had found his whistle, and more because of it than our hoarse shouts, their attention was attracted.

It took them ages to cover the three or four hundred yards between us. As they approached, we could see that so few men were in them that some of the oars were being pulled by women. In neither of them was much room for passengers... The first took off half of us. My mother was in this boat (No. 4)...The other boat took aboard the rest of us.

It was just about this time that the edge of the sun came above the horizon.

The Carpathia was about eight hundred yards away...

No. 12 towing No. 10 reached the Carpathia as the last boats to be recovered, between 8:00 and 8:30 a.m.

Conclusions:  Harold Lowe acted decisively, saved many lives and earned his heroic status. But other crewmen shouldn't be overlooked.

After the Titanic sank, Lowe went back and saved 3 survivors.  Quartermaster Walter Perkis in No. 4 saved 7.

Lowe saved 20 from Collapsible A.  Poingdestre in charge of No. 12 saved almost twice as many (36) from Collapsible B.

Lowe towed Collapsible D to Carpathia. Poingdestre in No. 12 towed No. 10 to Carpathia carrying almost three times as many aboard as Collapsible D.