The Shootings on the Titanic. The Definitive Story

It's the deepest, darkest, best-kept secret of the Titanic disaster.

And it was reported on the front page of every newspaper in North America the day the rescue ship Carpathia reached New York a hundred years ago.

How can those two statements be reconciled?

Newspaper readers in 1912 were shocked, outraged, and more than a little bit titillated at reports that officers on the sinking Titanic shot and killed steerage passengers who tried to board lifeboats ahead of women and children.

In the days and weeks after the Titanic sank, the story of shootings was repeated by newspaper syndicates and in individual survivor accounts published in daily papers in towns and cities across the U.S. and Canada.
The tale reached a crescendo in the public hearings into the sinking held in the U.S. and England. Fifth Officer Harold Lowe, one of only a handfull of officers who survived, was questioned in public over whether he shot  at passengers.  It's true, he said, but the shots were fired in the air to warn off anyone thinking of leaping into his lifeboat as it was lowered to the ocean, and not at anybody in particular.

And with that, the story of shootings lost steam. For the next four decades, the Titanic story was nothing more than a curiosity to be dredged up at anniversaries of the disaster.  Then, in 1955 came the book A Night To Remember which introduced the dramatic tale of the sinking ocean liner to a new generation.

As amateur historians tracked down the survivors who were still alive, held reunion conventions and published newsletters, interest in the Titanic grew and with it, the stories of shootings of passengers.  A consensus developed that the shooting stories were bogus, invented by yellow journalists of the day to spice up their Titanic coverage.

But...then some personal letters of survivors surfaced, relating the story of officers shooting passengers shortly before the Titanic took its final plunge. And the consensus shifted a bit to include the possibility that there might have been one incident where two frenzied men might have been shot down.  Maybe.
The new consensus is just as wrong as the old one.

More than 50 survivors saw with their own eyes passengers shot to keep them from swamping lifeboats. As well, at least two of Titanic's crew were shot dead, one by a passenger.

An estimated 27 men were shot in at least 16 different incidents. Remember, the Titanic covered an area of four city blocks square and the sinking took two and a half hours.

I can hear it now. How could this be? How could such a historical fact be missing from the history books?

Well, it's not.

Each of the shooting incidents was reported somewhere, or else how would we know they happened?  It's just that nobody---until now---collected them all, correlated them with lifeboats, and pieced together when and where they happened.

Here, then, for the first time ever, is the true and full story of the men who were shot and killed during the evacuation of the Titanic.  You will learn the circumstances of each shooting, the names the men who did some of the shooting, and the identities of many of the men who were shot.

                                                           **************
                                                             First Blood.

No way. Too early. It's impossible.

My sentiments exactly when I first discovered the story.  But the harder I looked, the louder the evidence spoke until it couldn't be denied any more.

Nobody wanted to leave the Titanic when the loading of the first lifeboat started.  Officers cajoled, pleaded with, instructed, encouraged, and begged women and their male companions to enter Boat No. 7.  They did everything but hurl them in bodily, until, finally, they convinced  honeymooning couple Helen Bishop and her husband Dickinson Bishop to step in. The precedent set, other couples began to climb into the boat and the loading began.

The loading of the next boat, No. 5, went smoother.  People who passed on getting into No.7 were now eager to climb into a lifeboat. But--- the first signs of disorder on the ship broke out unexpectedly---and it wasn't from steerage passengers.

While First Officer William Murdoch begged men to get into No.7 with the women, at No. 5 the men were getting mixed signals.  Seven men were allowed in---most to accompany their wives or sweethearts---but others were held back. First cabin passenger Charles Stengel testified at the Senate Inquiry:

Mr. STENGEL.
 After my wife was put in a lifeboat she wanted me to come with them, and they said, "No; nothing but ladies and children." 

The boat was nearly filled to Murdoch's satisfaction when men started jumping into the boat.

First ,Edwin Kimball jumped in to be with his wife. Then, Norman Chambers, whose wife was also in No. 5. But it wasn't until Dr. Henry Fraunthal and his brother Isaac Fraunthal leaped into the lifeboat to join their wives that Murdoch became agitated.

Bedroom steward Henry Etches described the scene to the Senate Inquiry:.

"There was a stout gentleman, sir, stepped forward then. He had assisted to put his wife in the boat. He leaned forward and she stood up in the boat, put her arms around his neck and kissed him, and I heard her say, "I can't leave you," and with that I turned my head. The next moment I saw him sitting beside her in the bottom of the boat, and some voice said "Throw that man out of the boat." But at that moment they started lowering her away, and the man remained."

That stout gentleman was Dr. Henry Fraunthal who weighed about 250 pounds.  He not only remained in the boat, but his brother Isaac jumped in after him.  Crewmen who survived the sinking of the Titanic said they worried that the lifeboats would buckle if they held too many people while still on the davits, so you can imagine their reaction to the sudden strain of two men, one huge, suddenly added to the boat.

First class passenger Charles Stengel again:

"I saw two, a certain physician in New York and his brother, jump into the same boat my wife was in. Then the officer or the man that was loading the boat, said "I will stop that. I will go down and get my gun"."

But Murdoch, "the man that was loading the boat", would have to wait to be armed.

The ship's firearms were under the control of the First Officer, who Murdoch was. But there had been a reshuffle of senior officers before the Titanic started its maiden voyage. Surviving officer Charles Lightoller explained it in his book 'Titanic and Other Ships' published in 1935:

"Owing to the Olympic being laid up, the ruling lights of the White Star Line thought it would be a good plan to send the Chief Officer of the Olympic, just for the one voyage, as Chief Officer of the Titanic, to help, with his experience of her sister ship. This doubtful policy threw both Murdoch and me out of our stride; and apart from the disappointment of having to step back in our rank, caused quite a little confusion. Murdoch, from Chief, took over my duties as First; I stepped back on Blair's toes, as Second..."

Murdoch had to go to Lightoller, who was now the keeper of the weapons, to get a gun. But Lightoller was busy loading Lifeboat No. 6, so Murdoch would have had to wait.  He saw that No. 5 was lowered, then began loading No. 3.

The first rocket went off.  Robert Hichens, who would be sent off in charge of No. 6, told the Senate Inquiry the first signal rocket went up before his boat left the ship. This confirms that Murdoch started loading No.3 even as No. 6 was still being loaded on the port side.

Henry Sleeper Harper and his wife were first to get in, it seems. In Harper's Weekly, April 27, 1912, Sleeper Harper told his story:

"Presently a number of stewards and other men of the ship's company began to fuss with the tackle of a couple of life-boats near where we were on the upper deck...We took a look at both boats. My wife thought the one farther off was better because there would be hardly a dozen people left to go in it after the big boat beside us was filled. I looked them both over, saw that the farther boat had no watertight compartments in it while the one near had; so I said," No, let's take this. It will float longest."

"With that I handed my wife down into the nearer, bigger boat and she comfortably seated herself on a thwart." 

There was no reluctance to climb into Lifeboat No. 3.

Daisy Spedden's Diary, 
April 10 - 18, 1912
There was a little group of men gathered on the deck at this time, and they were ordered by Chief Officer Murdoch to wait while Burns, Alice, D., F. and I were put in the boat. It was so dark we could hardly see where we were stepping, and as the boat was clear of the ship by a few feet, the short legged people had to be practically thrown in. I was placed up on the side of the boat, while B. and D. were on the middle seat, the latter stretched out with a rug over him and his head on B's lap, while F. and Alice were standing near me...

The diary refers to F, her husband Fred Spedden;  D, her son Douglas; their nanny, Margaret Burns; and  their maid, Helen Alice Wilson.

Mrs. Vera Dick, of Calgary, was asked by a reporter for the Saskatoon Daily Phoenix (April 20, 1912)  "How was it so many men were saved?"

"They were permitted to get into the first two lifeboats as no one seemed quite to realise (sic) the danger. Then officers began to reserve the places for the women..."

Mr. Charles Hays assisted his wife and her maid into No. 3 and his son-in-law Thornton Davidson assisted his wife.  Both men then stood aside.

Edith Graham was interviewed by the Trenton Evening Times (April 20, 1912) about how she, her daughter and Elizabeth Shutes, her daughter's governess, escaped:

"Mr. Roebling and Mr. Case bustled our party of three into the boat in less time than it takes to tell it. They were both working hard to help the women and children. The boat was fairly crowded when we three were pushed into it. A few more men jumped in at the last moment, but Mr. Roebling and Mr. Case stood at the rail and made no attempt to get into the boat."

Thomas Cardeza told the New York Sun (April 27, 1912):

"... we went back to the forward part of the starboard side and found a boat that was being loaded and they were calling for women to get in. My mother got in with her maid.The officer called for other women, but there were none thereabout. Then he called for men passengers. There were only about six just there, of whom I was one, and we got in."

The men climbed eagerly into the boat. Thomas Cardeza and his valet Hammad Hassab. Col. Alfons Simonius, Max Stahelin, Harry Anderson, Adolf Saalfield.  Gustav Leseur, Henry Sleeper Harper's valet, "made himself quite at home," according to his employer.

A hundred years after the sinking, Walter Hawksford's granddaughter recalled a family legend for the local Weymouth, England, newspaper, the Dorset Echo.

Said Bridget Penney, “He was standing near lifeboat number three and they were a rower short. First officer William Murdoch turned and said ‘Is there anyone here who can row?’ “He put his hand up."

Even then, said Cardeza, there was room for more.

 "The boat was still not filled, so the officer put in some of the crew."

Henry Sleeper Harper watched the boat fill up.

"Four or five stokers or some such men came along and jumped into the boat at the forward end. The sailor who seemed to be in charge of the boat laughed a little."

"Huh!" he said, "I suppose I ought to go and get my gun and stop this." But he did not go and get any gun and neither did he order the stokers out." 

"Everybody seemed to take what was happening as a matter of course and there wasn't a word of comment. I stepped in and sat down among the stokers. There was no one in sight on the decks... I had on my arm a little brown Pekingese spaniel we had picked up in Paris...nobody made any objection."

The "sailor in charge", apparently AB George Moore who was in charge of No. 3 when it was launched, was clearly mocking Murdoch, for his comment is almost word for word what Murdoch said at Boat No. 5 (above).

As this was happening, Mrs. Dick and her husband stood off to one side of the boat deck.  Three times Mrs. Dick had been called to get into the lifeboat and each time she declined. Then something happened to change her mind.  Her husband told the Calgary Daily Herald ("Mr. and Mrs. Dick Reach Home And Tell, Over Again, Story of Escape From The Titanic", April 30, 1912, P.1):

"After the sixth boat had been lowered from where A.A. Dick and his wife stood and there were no more women in sight, some men in the crowd attempted to jump into the boat. This action on the part of the men angered the officer so that he called out: "If I had a gun I would fix those fellows."

"Immediately a sailor said "Here is a gun, sir" and handed the officer one."It was not till then," said Mr.Dick, "that I was absolutely convinced that we were in really extreme danger." Then he told his wife that she had better get aboard, but she said "I will not go without you" and clung to him..."

Mrs. Dick finished the story ("Mr. and Mrs. Dick Reach Winnipeg On The Way Here", Calgary Daily Herald, April 29, 1912):

"Mr. Dick stooped to kiss me goodbye and I just held on, and the officer shoved him into the boat."


Mr. Dick revealed even more to the Toronto Star ("Mr. Dick, Calgary, Owes His Life to Wife's Devotion", April 20, 1912):

"When my wife and I got into the boat there were no women left near it, and the men who remained began to fight for places. An officer drew a revolver and threatened to shoot, and that reduced them to order, yet our boat was nearly upset."


"The sailor who seemed to be in charge ordered "Lower away," said Henry Sleeper Harper in his account.

That was the story preserved for posterity.

But Helen Alice Wilson, the Spedden family maid, had a piece of the story, that never made the history books.

"While we were being put into the boat there was a mad rush of some foreigners to get in, and two Italian men were shot dead before my eyes." ("Sister of Plainfield Man Saved Little Boy", April 22, 1912, unidentified newspaper, posted on the Encyclopedia Titanica website.  http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/sister-plainfield-man-saved-little-boy.html Plainfield, New Jersey, had only one newspaper in 1912, the Plainfield Daily Press.)

Daisy Spedden's diary (excerpted above) says that Alice Wilson was standing in the lifeboat. That would have given her a vantage point nobody else in the boat had.

The names of the men who were shot will never be known.  Who fired the fatal shots?  Fifth Officer Harold Lowe was helping load the boat with First Officer William Murdoch.  Lowe  put his own gun in his pocket when leaving his quarters. As he told it to the British Inquiry into the sinking of the Titanic:

6301. Now, what did you do after you went out on the deck and ascertained the position of the ship in the water, and saw what had occurred?
- I first of all went and got my revolver.
6302. What for?
- Well, sir; you never know when you will need it.

Murdoch, on the other hand, would have needed the loan of a gun.

He didn't get his own revolver until after No. 3 left the ship.  Second Officer Lightoller told that story in his memoirs. He had just lowered Lifeboat No. 6 when he was approached about arming the ships' officers.

"It was about this time that the Chief Officer came over from the starboard side and asked, did I know where the firearms were?"

"...Murdoch, who was now First Officer, knew nothing about the firearms and couldn't find them when they were wanted..."

"...into the First Officer's cabin we went---the Chief, Murdoch, the Captain and myself where I hauled them out, still in their pristine newness and grease."

"The whole incident had not taken three minutes..."

Henry Stengel was one of only five passengers in Lifeboat No. 1, the next boat after No. 3 to leave the Titanic.  As a single man (his wife went off in No.5) he kept a close eye on who was allowed into the lifeboats and who wasn't. In what appears to be his first account of the disaster (Newark Evening News, April 19, 1912, Stengel Tells Tragedy Story) he said:

"Some boats that could hold fifty were lowered with only twenty-five and even though there was room for men none was allowed to go.  A mate said that only women and children could go after oars were manned and he said he would shoot any man who tried to get in.  He fired a revolver off in the air to show it was loaded and that he meant business."

The nautical definition of a "mate" is more than just a member of the ship's crew. One definition, especially in British usage, means a deck officer just below the master.  That would fit Murdoch perfectly at Boat No.3.

The big question is why three starboard-side boats were lowered in the time it took only one portside boat to be launched.  The answer is less complicated than it appears.

As I discovered, the order to load the lifeboats was given by Captain Smith about 12:10 a.m. the morning after the Titanic hit the iceberg. This was roughly half an hour after the collision.

http://titanicsecrets.blogspot.com/2009/07/first-boats-cutting-gordian-knot.html

The Titanic's lifeboats, at the bow at least, had already been cleared, and lowered in their davits even with the boat deck. But the officers at the opposite ends of the ship had quite different ideas of how to load the passengers.

On the starboard side, Murdoch was in charge. He loaded the boats sequentially from the boat deck. That is, he filled No. 7 first, lowered No.7, then filled No. 5, lowered No. 5, then did the same with Nos. 3 and 1 boats.

On the port side, Chief Officer Wilde was in charge under the ultimate supervision of Capt. Edward Smith. Smith intended to load the boats from A Deck. To that end, he had Boats 4, 6 and 8 lowered one deck further to A. At the same time he separated the women on his side of the boat from the men and sent the women down the stairs to A Deck to wait for the order to climb into the boats.

Wilde, it would appear, intended to load his forward boats concurrently, just as he later loaded the aft boats (Nos. 12, 14 and 16) under his command.

First Class passenger Helen Candee was one of the women following orders. She wrote a detailed memoir for her family about her experience on the Titanic. You can read it here:
http://www.charlespellegrino.com/passengers/helen_candee.htm

In her account, she wrote:

"Captain Smith’s big voice called out an order:- “Lower all life-boats to the promenade deck, the deck below. Passengers will take the boats there!” My impulse was to remind him of the plate glass which would prevent passengers. But a Captain is to be obeyed, not informed..."

"... Woolner and I descend to the promenade deck. It was no surprise to see life-boats hanging unreachable on the outside of the unbreakable plate-glass. We sought the Captain. [going back the way we came.]"

"[Woolner]: “Beg your pardon, Sir, but the plate glass is too heavy to break and boats cannot be reached.”
“My God! I forgot it!” said Captain Smith in anguished humility. Then in the same breath -- an order. “Raise the life-boats! The passengers will take life-boats from this deck.” 

Note her mention of lifeboats, plural. If the order to load the boats was given at approximately 12:10 a.m., Wilde would have spent about 10 minutes (at 3 minutes a boat) lowering three lifeboats to A deck and getting all the women in the vicinity down the stairs and ready for loading.  Murdoch, on the other hand, would have spent that time loading No. 7 and getting the boat off the ship.

Ten minutes is also the estimated length of time that Capt. Smith was away from the bridge to visit the engine room.  When he returned, he was informed that A Deck was enclosed by glass and the women couldn't be loaded from there until the glass was removed. This was exactly what Mrs. Candee said and her companion Hugh Woolner confirmed separately.

It appears Wilde then ordered Boats 8 and 6 to be raised to the boat deck, but left No. 4 at the level of A Deck.  By the time he actually began loading  No. 6, Murdoch had finished seeing off No. 5 and had turned to No.3.

No. 6 launched, No. 3 gone, Lightoller picked up the story with Murdoch approaching Wilde for a gun and Wilde coming to Lightoller.

In the next chapter of the story, Capt. Smith, Wilde, Murdoch, Lightoller and Lowe all have guns.  But only one of them almost sparked an international incident.

An experiment unveils the timing of the aft port boats

I didn't know whether to cheer or to cringe.

Having completed my research into the timing of the first lifeboats to leave the sinking Titanic, plus the last boats and half of the middle boats I was looking at how to link my results into an unbroken timeline when I realized I had made a huge mistake.

The only saving grace was that it was the same mistake made by virtually all Titanic researchers---assuming First Officer Murdoch had crossed the ship to load Lifeboat No. 10 after he finished launching Lifeboat No. 15, the last of the rear starboard boats.

It dawned on me that we had all violated a basic rule of research which can be summarized by the aphorism 'water flows downhill.' In other words, don't overlook the obvious.

The obvious: Murdoch was in charge of loading lifeboats on the starboard side of the Titanic; Chief Officer Wilde was in charge of the port boats.

There was no way that Murdoch would cross into Wilde's territory. After launching starboard Boat No. 15, Murdoch would know there were still two starboard boats to load, Collapsibles C and A. They was his responsibility.

Wilde was responsible for the port boats, and he did not need Murdoch's help. As Murdoch lowered No. 15, across the deck four officers were at work loading and lowering the aft port boats---CO Wilde, Second Officer Lightoller, Fourth Officer Lowe, and Sixth Officer Moody.

And yet, there were witnesses who saw Murdoch loading No. 10.

How to reconcile Murdoch's undisputed presence at a port lifeboat?

I decided to search for the answer with a thought experiment. It's a research tactic used in fields as diverse as physics and philosophy. In essence it starts with the proposition "what if", followed by a logical extension of circumstances that would flow from the "if".

In this case, what if Murdoch had stayed on the starboard side of the Titanic, what would we expect to see, and is there any support for the results?

After lowering No. 15, Murdoch would go forward to Collapsible C, the lifeboat that was positioned to go into the davits after Lifeboat No. 1 was launched. What would he find there? He would find that Collapsible C was not ready to be loaded; there were no sailors around to get C cleared and into the davits. As early as the loading of No. 1 the deck there was empty of both sailors and passengers.

What would Murdoch do then?

Talk to the Captain.

If there's one thing clear about the sinking of the Titanic, its that all major decisions had to be cleared by the Captain. Lightoller went to get the Captain's okay to start loading passengers. When Chief Officer Wilde ordered Quartermaster Rowe to stop firing rockets, Rowe went to the Captain to doublecheck whether he should obey.

The Captain was usually found on the bridge or possibly near the wireless room on the port side of the ship. What would he tell Murdoch? Of that we have (indirect) evidence.

'Forget Collapsible C for the moment; start loading No. 2.'

For that's exactly where witnesses put Murdoch, loading Lifeboat No. 2 which was already in the davits and ready to go.

Now we can see why Murdoch was on the port side of the ship.

I next applied the thought experiment to Chief Officer Wilde.

Wilde, as noted, was one of four ship's officers at the port rear of the Titanic. Sixth Officer Moody was at No.16, Fifth Officer Lowe was at No. 14 and Second Officer Lightoller was at No. 12. Given that Lowe was actually in No. 14 and leaving with it, it stands to reason that CO Wilde would take the job of supervising the lowering of that boat.

Once free from No. 14, Wilde would, by the thought experiment, proceed to the front of the ship. After all, there were twice as many boats left on his side of the ship than on Murdoch's starboard side---No. 2, No. 4 and Collapsibles B and A.

Wilde would pass right by No. l0 which still wasn't in the davits. But there were two other officers in the aft area and none up front.

Upon reaching the bow of the Titanic, what would Wilde see?

Why, Murdoch at No.2.

You can imagine the conversation.

Murdoch would tell Wilde about Collapsible C and how he came to be loading No. 2.
What would Wilde do? Talk to the Captain, of course.

We know what Wilde then did, but he would have needed to clear it with Capt. Smith first.

Wilde crossed to starboard and, at 1:25 a.m., ordered the men who were firing the rockets to stop. He told them to get Collapsible C ready to load. Of this we have the evidence of quartermasters George Rowe and Arthur Bright.

And then? The evidence is that Wilde went back to port, his side of the ship, to take over from Murdoch. The Chief Officer wasn't needed at Collapsible C while the men cleared the boat and got it into the davits. He would load No. 2. while Murdoch, in turn, was ordered to see about No. 10. Steward John Hardy described for the Senate Inquiry seeing Murdoch go aft.


Mr. Hardy
"I had great respect and great regard for Officer Murdoch and I was walking along the deck forward with him and he said "I believe she is gone, Hardy," and that's the only time I thought she might sink---when he said that."

Senator Smith
"How long was that before your boat was launched?

Mr. Hardy
A. "It was a good half hour, I should say, sir."

Senator Smith
Where did he go then, do you know?

Mr. Hardy
He was walking toward the afterpart of the deck. That was before all the boats had gone.

Senator Smith
He superintended the loading of the boats?

Mr. Hardy
Yes, sir; he went to see if a particular boat was properly manned.

The thought experiment demonstrates why Murdoch was at Boat No. 10 and how he got there---by following the proper channels of command.

The movements of Officers Wilde and Murdoch have an added benefit. They help approximate the timing of the launches of the aft port boats.

But to do so I had to break one of my cardinal rules. I have always argued that its foolish to try to reconstruct what happened on the Titanic down to an exact minute almost 100 years ago. But this is exactly what I was about to do.

If Wilde was at Collapsible C at 1:25 a.m., he was at No. 2 at least a minute earlier, 1:24. Two minutes to get from the aft boats to the bow of the ship, means he left No. 14 at 1:22 at the latest.

It also means he left before No. 14 was lowered.

Lead fireman Thomas Threlfall, who escaped the sinking ship in No. 14, told a reporter he was ordered to abandon his post in Boiler Room #4 at 1:20 a.m. (The Bridgewater Mercury, May 1912). If he went straight up to the boat deck, he could have arrived at No. 14 within two minutes, using the British Inquiry Commissioner's estimate of 10 seconds to cover each deck.

But No. 14 is known to have been loaded under extremely disorderly circumstances. Men were pushing past the crew and jumping into the lifeboat, threatening to overturn it even in the davits. Fifth Officer Harold Lowe fired his gun three times to ward off anyone thinking of jumping into the boat as it was lowered. Wilde wouldn't have abandoned the lifeboat if the disorder had grown to the point where shots had to be fired to deter jumpers. So we can assume he left before the press of male passengers grew unmanageble.

So we must conclude No. 14 went down after 1:22. Pinpointing a time would take more work.

Starting again at 1:25 a.m., when Wilde gave the order to stop firing rockets and load Collapsible C, you can track First Officer Murdoch backwards to when he left the aft starboard boats.

If, as speculated, Wilde went to Collapsible C after finding Murdoch at No.2, you can say Murdoch was at No.2 at least a minute earlier (the minimum time for Wilde to talk to the Captain and cross the deck), i.e. 1:24 a.m. Still working backwards, it would take Murdoch at the very least 3 minutes to get to No. 2 from No. 15 (two minutes to get to Collapsible C, another minute to cross the deck and speak with the Captain.) That would take you to 1:21 a.m. Assuming he stayed with No. 15 until it was safely launched, is it possible to determine when No. 15 was lowered?

I have been using a rule of thumb of five minutes for the lowering of lifeboats, but that needs to be changed, not to conform with some predetermined theory, but with the facts of the sinking.

No. 13 went off at about 1:15 a.m. The lowering did not go well. The boat found itself being lowered into the path of a plume of water spewing out the side of the Titanic.

Dr. Washington Dodge provided this exciting account in a speech delivered to the Commonwealth Club San Francisco, May 11, 1912:

"The boat in which I embarked was rapidly lowered, and as it approached the water I observed, as I looked over the edge of the boat, that the bow, near which I was seated, was being lowered directly into an enormous stream of water, three or four feet in diameter, which was being thrown with great force from the side of the vessel. This was the water thrown out by the condenser pumps. Had our boat been lowered into the same it would have been swamped in an instant. The loud cries which were raised by the occupants of the boat, caused those who were sixty or seventy feet above us to cease lowering our boat."

Crewmen testifying at the official inquiries said they planned to use oars to push No. 13 away from the Titanic and out of the path of the condenser discharge, but it turned out that desperate act wasn't needed. The Titanic sank deeper into the sea, positioning the discharge underwater.

No. 13 was lowered by the davits to the ocean. But their drama didn't end there. A current created by the condenser discharge pushed No. 13 back directly under the path of Lifeboat No. 15 which by then was coming down directly on top of them. The crew managed to cut away the ropes holding them to the ship only seconds before No. 15 would have swamped them.

The point, though, is that No. 15 would not have taken 5 minutes (the usual rule of thumb) to lower. It started from A deck and the Titanic sank at least one deck by the time it was launched. Say by the time No. 15 was launched, it was taking lifeboats only 3 minutes to reach the ocean. This would put the launch of No. 15 at about 1:18 a.m. (1:21 as per above minus 3 minutes).

We know Sixth Officer Moody was at No. 13 as it was being loaded on A deck. And nobody from the surviving crew members recalled seeing him, or any officer, at No.15 when it was lowered to A deck. So it's looking likely that Moody was ordered to port when No. 13 was launched (about 1:15 a.m.). If he stayed as late as the launch of No. 15 (1:18 a.m.), he would get to the aft port boats a minute later, 1:19 a.m.

The evidence at the inquiries was that Moody and Lowe arrived at No. 16 and No. 14 respectively when both boats were almost finished loading. After conferring briefly as to who would go off in a lifeboat and who would stay, Moody supervised the lowering of No. 16. By this scenario, that could have started as early as 1:19 a.m.

Three minutes later, you have 1:22, the earliest time we deduced that CO Wilde could have left No. 14 and still arrived at Collapsible C by 1:25 a.m. Though only a thought experiment, it suggests that Moody could have launched No. 16, then taken over from Wilde at No. 14. Although Lowe, the more senior officer, was leaving in the boat, another officer would be needed to supervise the men at the davits to make sure they lowered the boat evenly without tipping it.

What about Lifeboat No. 12?

No. 12 was loaded and presumably lowered by Second Officer Charles Lightoller. But for unknown reasons, Lightoller never provided any details of his time at the aft port boats. Although he testified at both the Senate and British inquiries, and wrote a book in which he discussed his role during the sinking of the Titanic at length, he only spoke about what he saw and did regarding the port forward lifeboats.

Nevertheless, we can use the same techniques to uncover the timing of No. 12.

If Wilde was at Collapsible C at 1:25, ordering a stop to the rockets and the clearing of C, he would have returned to Lifeboat No. 2 about a minute later,1:26. This gives a hint of the time Murdoch would have received orders to go to No. 10 to see it loaded and lowered.

If he left immediately after Wilde showed up to supervise the loading of No.2, then Murdoch would have reached No. 10 about 1:28 (using the two-minute yardstick to travel the 400 feet from bow to stern on the boat deck).

Able seaman Frank Evans told the Senate Inquiry he assisted Murdoch from the start at No. 10. He had just finished lowering No. 12, he said.

"I lowered that boat, sir, and she went away from the ship. I then went next to No. 10, sir, to that boat, and the chief officer, Mr. Murdoch, was standing there, and I lowered the boat with the assistance of a steward."

If Murdoch was at No. 10 at 1:28 a.m., and Evans just finished lowering No. 12, then, accepting three-minutes to lower a boat by that point, No. 12 was launched at about 1:25.

Or maybe it was a few minutes later, and Murdoch had to wait until No. 12 reached the water.

That's the danger of trying to time things Titanic to the minute. There are too many variables without reliable witnesses.

However, if you stop trying to see the trees and look at the forest, you can use such an exercise to grasp the bigger picture. In the space of about 12 to 15 minutes, the three aft port boats were launched.

They had been loaded concurrently, starting about 1 a.m. Less than 20 minutes later, the first (No. 16) was being lowered.

Sixth Officer Moody takes on a bigger role than previously believed. He likely supervised the launches of both No. 16 and No. 14, and possible even No. 12, depending on when Lightoller left to go forward and get started loading No. 4.

That's how Titanic's Secrets Unfold.

Launching the Rear Boats

While working on a major project involving the Titanic, I ran into a snag. I thought I could unravel the problem by examining the order the rear boats were loaded and lowered. The answer helped, though less than I had hoped. But I was still pleased to fill a gap in my knowledge of what happened on the doomed ship.

Later,I realized that many people, including dedicated researchers, have misunderstandings about the loading of the rear boats. I hope this summary of my findings helps clear up some of the confusion.

The evidence of what happened on the Titanic is, as anyone who has done any research knows, often contradictory, always mindboggling, and, too frequently, tantalizingly short of conclusive. Nevertheless, if you listen carefully to what the survivors say, you can mine nuggets of fact that, collected and put in order, tell a tale reasonably well.

This is such a story.

******

The clearing of the rear boats started early.

Saloon steward William Ward told the Senate Inquiry he went to his station at Boat No. 7 (the first boat to leave the ship) only to find he wasn't needed. The lifeboat was already lowered level with the boat deck and the order was given to load the ladies in. He was sent aft to Boat No. 9 where he "assisted in taking the canvas cover off" and in lowering the boat ready for passengers.

Able Seaman Frederick Clench told the same inquiry he was unlacing the cover to Lifeboatg No. 11 when "an officer came along and drafted me on the other side."

It appears there were more crewmen working on the starboard rear boats than on the port side. At least three crewmen (Clench, A.B. Joseph Scarrott and A.B. Ernest Archer) told of being ordered from starboard to port to help get the boats out on that side of the ship.

There's no reason to believe that clearing boats on one side of the Titanic took more time than on the other, so we can assume that the rear boats, port and starboard, were ready to load at about the same time.

The starboard rear boats were loaded and lowered sequentially (that is No. 9 first, then No. 11, then 13, then 15). The situation on the port side was more complicated, as you'll see.

Starboard

Saloon steward William Ward testified that after No. 9 was made ready, the crewmen stood around, waiting, for several minutes until First Officer William Murdoch arrived with a crowd of women.

The Purser or Murdoch (Ward wasn’t sure) asked “Are you ready?” Then came the order “Pass the women in.”

But wait. There's something obviously missing from this version of the story given to the U.S. Senate Inquiry. That piece of the puzzle is found in the British Wreck Commissioner's Inquiry into the sinking of the Titanic.

There, Steward Charles Mackay testified that he heard Murdoch order Steward Joseph Wheat in charge of lifeboat No. 11. Wheat testified he took about 70 stewards with him to A deck while Mackay and Steward Edward Wheelton rounded up about 40 women from the boat deck and took them down as well.

It's obvious that the intent was to load women from A deck. This was a plan attempted attempted, then abandoned, at Boat No. 4. And school teacher Lawrence Beesley wrote that an unidentified officer of the Titanic had come to the back of the ship early in the sinking, when the roaring steam was still deafening everyone, and ordered the women down to A deck. But the decks had obviously filled up again by the time Murdoch arrived at the rear of the ship, and he intended on giving the procedure another go.

Sending about 110 people to A deck would have certainly thinned out the deck around the starboard rear boats. And just as certainly, it happened before No. 9 was loaded with the women Murdoch brought with him.

Steward James Widgery at No. 9 recalled what happened after some women were loaded into the boat.

"“The Chief Officer was there and called out for more women---there seemed to be none,” Men were allowed to get into the lifeboat and four or five did. No. 9 was lowered to the ocean and Murdoch called to the bosun to keep 100 yards off.

If Murdoch had tried loading No. 9 before he gave Wheat his orders, there would have been plenty of women topside to fill the lifeboat. Instead, Widgery says "there seemed to be none." Where were they all? Down on A deck with Wheat, Wheelton and Mackay, of course.

No. 9 was lowered without stopping at A deck. But Murdoch followed the two-stop procedure for the other three lifeboats on his side of the ship.

Steward Charles Mackay testified that No. 11 was sent to A deck empty. Seaman Walter Brice said the boat was "filled from A deck." And it was filled to overflowing. There were so many women and children waiting to get into No. 11 than some families were split up. Ruth Becker, 12, couldn't get in with her mother, brother and younger sister and was told to take the next boat. Jane Quick's two daughters. Winifred, 8, and Phyllis, 2, were put in, but she was held back until a sailor couldn't stand her screams of anguish and squeezed her in too. Mrs. Quick recounted seeing another mother screaming in despair on the Titanic after being separated from her baby.

Eventually the loading ended and, according to Fireman George Beauchamp, Murdoch gave the order: “That’s enough. Lower away.”

Murdoch moved to the next boat in line, No. 13.

Beauchamp told the British Inquiry that after abandoning the engine room he wound up on the boat deck beside No. 13.

“I went aft to the boat deck and across to the starboard side and stood on the deck of the ship by the boat and one foot on the boat and one foot on the lifeboat, like that, and helped the ladies and children in that were there.”

School teacher Lawrence Beesley was there as well, and in his account (The Loss of the S.S Titanic, Its Story and Its Lessons, 1912) he picks up the story.

“An officer--I think First Officer Murdock (sic spelling)—came striding along the deck, clad in a long coat, and resolute: he looked over the side and shouted to the boats being lowered: “Lower away, and when afloat, row around to the gangway and wait for orders.”

And this, as you’ll see, is a perfect juncture to leave the starboard boats to see what was happening on the port side all this time.

Port

Able Seaman Frederick Clench had been, as mentioned, unlacing the cover to No. 11 lifeboat when an officer ordered him to start clearing the port boats.

He went to No. 16 “and started getting out the boat falls to let them down; I got out the two falls and coiled them down on the deck. When I was putting the plug in the boat in readiness to be lowered they were swinging the boat out.”

Clench jumped out of No. 16, then repeated the clearing process at Boat 14 and Boat 12.

“Then I assisted Mr. Lightoller…Him and me stood on the gunwhale of the boat helping load the women and children in. The chief officer was passing them along to us…” he told the Senate Inquiry.

Able Seaman Joseph Scarrott had been working at starboard boat No. 13 when Chief Officer Henry Wilde sent him across the ship to port boat No. 14. “Directly I got to my boat I jumped in, saw the plug in, and saw my dropping ladder was ready to be worked at a momen’ts notice; and then Mr. Wilde, the Chief Officer, came along and said: “All right, take the women and children.”

Able Seaman Ernest Archer testified in London that he had just lowered three starboard boats level with the boat deck when an officer “sang out that they wanted some seamen on the other side, on the port side…”

“I went over then and assisted in getting Nos. 12, 14, and 15 (he meant 16) out. I assisted in getting the falls and everything ready, and the passengers into No. 14 boat.”

From his account, Archer came over to port side later than Clench and later than Scarrott. He came after he lowered three starboard boats. Remember, Clench had just started unlacing No. 11 when he left. And Scarrott was getting No. 13 ready, something that had to be done before it was lowered level with the deck.

Archer went to No. 12 first. He saw the falls were already out(because Clench had been there before him.) Archer didn’t stick around. He went to No. 14, checked the falls, which Scarrott had already laid out. Then he helped Scarrott load the passengers.

So we have Clench, Wilde and Lightoller loading No.12 and Scarrott and Archer loading No. 14.

Jump Ahead, Look Back

From here on, the evidence comes in a series of leaps which require the researcher to work backwards to understand what happened. After each leap we have to recreate the steps that lead up to the point from which we start. We begin with the arrival of Able Seaman John Poigndestre at Boat No. 12.

He testified before the British Inquiry.

Q. Now having got to your boat, was it in a line with the boat deck or had it been lowered?
A. It was lowered, but in line with the boat deck.

Q, Was there anybody there looking after it?
A. Yes

Q. Who?
A. Mr. Lightoller.

Q. Was there anybody else with him?
A. No, only myself.

Q. Only you two?
A. Yes.

Where, then, were Clench and Wilde?

The answer is in the testimony of Frederick Clench at the U.S. Senate Inquiry. I used a partial quote of his testimony earlier. Here is the relevant quote in full.

”The second officer. Him and me stood on the gunwhale of the boat helping load the women and children in. The chief officer was passing them along to us, and we filled the three boats like that.”

Where were Clench and Wilde when Poigndestre arrived at Boat No. 12? At Boat No. 14, if we accept Clench’s direction. And we can even guess when they went and why.

Joseph Scarrott testified he had supervised the loading of 20 women into Boat No. 14 “when some men tried to rush the boats…I had to use a bit of persuasion. The only thing I could use was the boat’s tiller.”

A scramble at Boat No. 14 was just the sort of thing to attract the attention of Chief Officer Wilde. It’s not hard to see him leaving No. 12 in the hands of Lightoller and going over with Clench to handle things at No. 14. I stress, there’s no proof this happened, so it is presented as a logical explanation only.

The loading of Boats 12 and 14 continued. Archer said he spent some time at No. 14 then went to No. 16.

Here we have another of those leaps in evidence—a big one.

Fifth Officer Harold Lowe showed up at Boat No. 14.

“We were practically full up. I was taking the women in when Mr. Lowe came,” said Seaman Scarrott.

Lowe described his arrival to the Senate Inquiry: “I met Sixth Officer (James) Moody, and asked Moody, “What are you doing?” He said,”I am getting these boats away.” So we filled both 14 and 16 with women and children.”

Lowe was asked by the Senators “Why did you go to her (No. 14) in particular?”
His answer: “Because they seemed to be busy there.”

Q. Who was in charge there?
A. I do not know who was in charge there. I finished up loading No. 14 and Mr. Moody was finishing up loading No. 16.”

Where were Chief Officer Wilde and Second Officer Lightoller? The answer appears to be at No. 16 where Seaman Clench said he and the officers also worked at loading passengers.

Lowe told the U.S. Senate Inquiry that he briefly saw Lightoller.

Lowe: He was there part of the time, and he went away somewhere else. He must have gone to the second boat forward. (i.e. No. 12)

But where did Lightoller come from? From No. 16 if we believe Clench. And the reason for his leaving No. 16 is obvious---Moody had arrived, and there was no need for three of the Titanic’s officers (himself, Wilde and Moody) to supervise one lifeboat.

Lightoller would have indeed headed for No. 12 which he left with Seaman Poigndestre in charge.

Seaman John Poigndestre told the British Inquiry that after No. 12 was filled with women and children, he left it on the davits and went to No. 16.

Now, his testimony leaves the impression that he had been with Second Officer Charles Lightoller at Boat No. 12 all along up until the time he went to No. 14. But a closer reading of his evidence shows this wasn’t the case.

Q.Now having, to use your own phrase, filled it up with about 40, what was done with the boat?
A. It was left there.

Q. Left on a level with the boat deck?
A. Yes, with the boat deck.

Remember that Seaman Clench said he helped load Boats No. 12, 14, and 16 with Chief Officer Wilde and Second Officer Lightoller.

Assume, then, his testimony was accurate. When he and Wilde left for No. 14, Lightoller was left alone at No. 12 until Poigndestre arrived. At some point, Lightoller left No. 12 for No. 14 to recreate the triumvirate that Clench spoke of.

And then, the trio moved on to No. 16, if we continue to use Clench’s testimony as a guide. All the while Poigndestre would have been at No. 12, alone.

But Poigndestre provides another important clue. When he arrived at No. 14, he said, Chief Wilde was in charge.

Again, that’s a logical development. Assuming Wilde and Lightoller were at No. 16, once Moody arrived to finish loading, the superior officers left. Lightoller went back to No. 12, freeing Poigndestre to help at No. 14. Wilde, delayed, perhaps, by the need to speak to Moody, would have followed Lightoller’s footsteps, stopping at No. 14. At that moment all the rear port boats would have had one officer supervising, a perfectly reasonable distribution.

Lowe by this point would have climbed into No. 14 preparing to descend to the ocean. He never mentions seeing CO Wilde.

“Did you go by anybody’s orders?” he was asked in London.
“I did not,” he answered. “I saw five boats go away without an officer and I told Mr. Moody on my own that I had seen five boats go away and an officer ought to go in one of these boats. I asked him who it was to be—him or I--- and he told me “You go; I will get in another boat.”

Scarrott picks up the story…

Scarrott: “Mr. Lowe came in our boat. I told him that I had had a bit of trouble through the rushing business, and he said, “All right.” He pulled out his revolver and he fired two shots between the ship and the boat’s side and issued a warning to the remainder of the men that were about there…He asked me, “How many got into the boat?” I told him as near as I could count that that was the number and he said to me,” Do you think the boat will stand it?” I said, “Yes, she is hanging all right.” “All right,” he said, “Lower away 14.”

While Lowe confirmed he fired his gun—he said three shots—Scarrott’s account appears to be chronologically reversed. It makes more sense if the discussion about the stability of the lifeboat came first, then the discussion of the “rushing business.” Here’s why…

Lowe testified he didn’t fire his gun while the lifeboat was still level with the boat deck. He fired as it was being lowered, one shot fired horizontally along the side of the ship at each of the lower open decks to intimidate the horde of men “all glaring, like wild beasts ready to spring.”

But we’ve gotten ahead of ourselves.

Return to the moment when the rear port boats are loaded at last and ready to be launched. Moody is in charge at No. 16. Wilde at No.14 and Lightoller at No. 12.

The boats were lowered starting with aft boat No. 16. Then 14, then 12.

“Numbers 12, 14 and 16 went down pretty much at the same time,” Lowe told the British Inquiry.

Poigndestre provides the evidence to confirm the order of the lowering.

He testified he saw No. 14 lowered.

Q. What did you do next?
A. I went to my own boat.

Q. When you got back to No. 12, was there any Officer there?
A. Yes.
Q. Who?
A. Mr. Lightoller.

Q. Any seamen, firemen or anybody else?
A. Yes, there were some sailors there.

Q. What were their names?
A. There was Lucas, who lowered the boat, and another man who lowered the other end I did not know, but another man I asked to come in the boat by the name of Clinch.

Ungarbling his answer we see Poigndestre said there were two men, who eventually lowered the boat—Lucas, and another he didn’t know, and “Clinch”, as the court reporter rendered Clench’s name.

Clench, who had been at No. 16 was now at No. 12, obviously because No. 16 had been launched ahead of No. 14. Poigndestre, following the launch of No. 14, went to No.12 which was, in turn, lowered to the sea.

Back to Starboard

It’s at this point we should return to the rear starboard boats.

We left as First Officer Murdoch had loaded No. 13 on the boat deck.

School teacher Lawrence Beesley takes up the story.

“An officer—I think First Officer Murdoch—came striding along the deck, clad in a long coat, from his manner and face evidently in great agitation, but determined and resolute: he looked over the side and shouted to the boats being lowered : “Lower away and when afloat, row around to the gangway and wait for orders.”

…And the officer passed by and went across the ship to the port side.”

We can pinpoint the time and place of Beesley’s observation by the very next paragraph of his written account.

“Almost immediately after this, I heard a cry from below of “Any more ladies” and looking over the edge of the deck, saw boat 13 swinging level with the rail of B deck…”

So, No. 13 had been loaded on the boat deck, lowered to a deck below (deck A, actually, Beesley made the mistake of assuming the boat deck was A and the deck below B), Murdoch gave the crew in the lifeboats instructions, and then he WENT ACROSS THE SHIP TO THE PORT SIDE.

Steward Frederick Crowe testified at the Senate hearings that he had helped load No. 14 on the port side with women and children until he was told to man the boat. His testimony is key.

Q. Who told you to man the boat?
A. The senior officer. I’m not sure if it was the first officer or the chief officer, sir, but I believe the man’s name was Murdoch.

The significance of this can’t be overstated. It provides the best time link between the starboard and port rear boats--- Boats 9 and 11 off the ship, Boat 13 lowered to A deck, Boats 16, 14, and 12 still on the davits, Boat 14 starting to load crewmen preparatory to being lowered.

When I posted a version of this article on Encyclopedia Titanica, I was met with a virulent attack by a group which claimed that Steward Crowe was an unreliable witness, especially because no one else reportedly saw Murdoch at Boat 14.

The attack wilted when I introduced Charlotte Collyer, a British survivor travelling second cabin. Collyer was saved with her 8-year-old daughter Marjorie in Boat 14. And in a lengthy account published in The Semi-Monthly Magazine, May, 1912, she positively identifies First Officer Murdoch at the boat, corroborating Crowe’s testimony.

Charlotte Collyer said she, her daughter, and her husband left their cabin to go on deck.

“When we reached the second-cabin promenade deck, we found a great many people there.” The second-cabin promenade deck was, for all intents and purposes, where the rear boats were located.

Her husband approached an officer, either Fifth Officer Lowe or First Officer Murdoch, to ask a question. She wasn’t sure which officer, although later she demonstrated that she definitely knew who Murdoch was, identifying him correctly as the officer who reputedly shot himself.

Some time later, a stoker came on deck, the fingers of one hand having been cut off.

“I asked him if there was any danger.”
“Dynger!” he screamed, at the top of his voice. “I should just sye so! It’s ‘ell down below. Look at me! This boat’ll sink like a log in ten minutes.”

At one point during the next 10 to 15 minutes (by her estimate), she saw Murdoch “place guards by the gangways, to prevent others like the wounded stoker from coming on deck.”

She saw the first lifeboat lowered away. “Very few men went in her, only five or six members of the crew.”

“The lowering of the second boat took more time…The Officer in Charge was Harold Lowe. First Officer Murdock (sic) had moved to the other end of the deck.”

Moved to the other end of the deck. He would have had to be at the same end of the deck in order to move to the other end. And he was there before Lowe. And her statement was made in the context of Boat 14, Lowe’s boat, the same boat where Steward Crowe saw Murdoch.

In fact, Charlotte Collyer’s eyewitness account may provide us the reason Murdoch went to port---to place guards to keep stokers off the boat deck.

Murdoch would have spent little time at the port boats. He would see immediately he was not needed, that the port boats were well supervised by officers. This is common sense.

On his return to starboard he would be disappointed to find No. 13 still was not in the water.

After loading what women and children were available on the boat deck, No. 13 was lowered to A deck. Dr. Washington Dodge, in an address to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, May 11, 1912, said:

“Here, as the boat was lowered even with the deck, the women, about eight in number, were assisted by several of us over the rail of the steamer into the boat.”

Repeated calls were made for more women (were these what Beesley heard?). “None appearing,” said Dodge,”the men were told to tumble in.”

An estimated 9-12 male passengers and crewmen piled into No. 13. A crewman called up to Beesley “Any ladies on your deck?” No, said Beesley. “Then you had better jump,” the crewman said. And Beesley leaped down into No. 13.

But before it could be lowered, two more women were located and put in. Lowering was started, and stopped again as a family—father, mother and child—were located and had to be fit into the lifeboat.

Even then, it could not be lowered to the Atlantic. The boat was coming down directly over the engine room discharge and would be swamped if it didn’t stop and wait for the Titanic to sink deeper until the discharge was below the water level.

We can’t tell when during this course of stops and starts Murdoch returned to No. 13. But there wasn’t much he could do. He still had to load the last lifeboat on the starboard side, No. 15.

No. 15, unfortunately, is a mystery boat. At least four crewman who survived on No. 15 testified at the British Inquiry—Fireman George Cavell, Steward John Hart, Steward Sam Rule and Fireman James Taylor. They may as well have been talking about four different boats for all the good it did.

They couldn’t agree whether No. 15 loaded on the boat deck, A deck or B deck. There was some consensus that a group of passengers was picked up on A deck, but they couldn’t agree on the composition of men, women and children.

And where did the female passengers come from? It’s clear that there were no women on the boat deck when Beesley jumped to No. 13 and no women on A deck when officers tried to fill No. 13. Yet minutes later, No. 15 is being loaded. The answer may be that Steward Hart’s testimony to bringing a group of 22 women and three children to No. 15 was the simple truth after all.

But it doesn’t matter for the purposes of this article. What’s known is that No. 15 was loaded and lowered last on the starboard side.

The Bridge between Port and Starboard

While working on the next segment of this research, the final boats to be launched, I stumbled across the most amazing link between the port and starboard rear boats. It was the testimony of Greaser Frederick Scott on Day 6 of the British Inquiry. Here are the relevent excerpts (emphasis mine):

5640. And did you get an order to go up on deck?
- Yes, the engineer came down and told everybody to go out of the engine room.
5646. And then did you get orders?
- Some of the firemen came down and told us we had to get some lifebelts.
5647. What did you do then?
- We got them at the Third class; from there we went up on the boat deck. There were two boats left then on the port side; lowered down to the ship's side they were then.
5648. Were there any on the starboard side?
- No.
5649. Let us see if we can get this quite clearly. Did you look over the starboard side?
- Yes, we went to the starboard side first.

5652. It was the port side that had listed over?
- Yes. We went up the starboard ladder and came this side of her. We looked, and there was no boat. We went to the port side, and there were no boats then lowered to the ship's side. (The punctuation in the transcript is wrong. He was saying there were no boats on starboard. The transcript should read “We went to the port side and…There were no boats then lowered to the ship’s side. )

5655. Then you went back to the port side?
- We went to the port side then.

5657. Tell us what you saw?
- I saw two boats then, and one of the boats was where the Officer pulled a revolver out and shot it between the ship and the boat and said, "If any man jumps into the boat I will shoot him like a dog."
5658. That is Mr. Lowe, according to the evidence.

We know from other crewmen that the engine room was abandoned about 1:17 to 1:20 a.m. (April 15, 1912.) Scott estimated he spent 20 minutes finding a lifebelt and wandering about before he came topside. There he discovered that ALL the rear boats on the starboard side of the ship were gone, port boat No. 16 was gone, and port boat No. 14 was about to be launched. Time was such a fluid concept during the sinking that we shouldn’t place to much emphasis on his estimate of when he reached No. 14, but we cannot discount, indeed we must not discount, his evidence of the order the rear boats, port and starboard, went off the sinking ship.

To recap:

Boat 9 was the first of the rear boats to be loaded and lowered. It was followed by No. 11. No. 13 was loaded on the boat deck and lowered to A deck where loading continued. But various delays kept No. 13 attached to the Titanic for longer than anticipated.

Meanwhile the loading of the port boats started with No. 12, followed with No. 14, then No. 16. Only when all three were loaded did the lowering begin in reverse order, No. 16 first, then 14, then 12.

As the three port boats were being loaded, starboard boat No. 13 was launched and NO. 15 followed minutes later.

No. 10 was the last of the rear boats to leave the Titanic.

A more detailed account of the launch of Lifeboat 10 will come in the next segment of Titanic’s Secrets Unfold, where I’ll examine the evidence of the scramble to launch the last lifeboats on the sinking Titanic, including Collapsibles A and B.