Encyclopedia Titanica

Titanic Collapsible Lifeboat A

Titanic survivors in collapsible A

Titanic collapsible lifeboat A. This collapsible boat was never launched as such from the Titanic. After boat C had been lowered from the starboard side, the crew tried to fasten boat A to the davits, but there simply was no more time. The boat was washed over the side of the ship and the canvas sides had not been put up, so it was soon awash with icy sea water. People started climbing into it from the water (and there may have been some in it when it was washed away as well) and some people said that it was full of people within a rather short period of time. According to some survivors, it turned turtle and the people in it were thrown out of it, but many scrambled back. Finally, it drifted away from the wreckage area and fewer people came near it. When the last swimmer arrived, there may have been about 30 people standing in the frail craft with water up to their knees. In the extremely cold water, people started dying and Richard Williams, who had seen his father disappear when they were swimming in the water and the funnel fell near them, estimated there were eleven who finally were rescued. Olaus Abelseth believed ten or twelve were saved including two Swedes. William Mellor also thought there were ten or twelve saved (out of 30 or 40 original survivors on the boat). Third class passenger August Wennerström (listed Andersson) estimated twelve survivors. He noticed a Swedish man holding on to his wife, who was in the sea and did not have the strength to get into the boat. The wife grew numb and drifted away and the husband died in the craft (according to Wennerström, he died on the Carpathia). Their wedding ring was left in the boat, however. After hours of suffering, the ten or twelve survivors were rescued by boat 14 who spied them and took them in.

Lifeboat summary by Peter Engberg-Klarström

We found 13 people.

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Name	Age	Class/Dept	Ticket	Joined	Job	Boat [Body]
ABBOTT, Mrs Rhoda	39	3rd Class Passenger	CA2673 £20 5s	Southampton		A
ABELSETH, Mr Olaus Jørgensen	25	3rd Class Passenger	348122 £7 13s	Southampton	Farmer	A
BROWN, Mr Edward	34	Victualling Crew		Belfast	Saloon Steward	A
DALY, Mr Peter Dennis	51	1st Class Passenger	113055 £26 11s	Southampton	Businessman	A^*
JANSSON, Mr Carl Olof	21	3rd Class Passenger	350034 £7 15s 11d	Southampton		A
LUCAS, Mr William Watson	31	Victualling Crew		Belfast	Saloon Steward (1st class)	A^*
MCINTYRE, Mr William	21	Engineering Crew		Southampton	Trimmer	A^*
MELLORS, Mr William John	19	2nd Class Passenger	SW/PP 751 £10 10s	Southampton	Salesman	A
RHEIMS, Mr George Alexander Lucien	33	1st Class Passenger	17607 £39 12s	Cherbourg	Businessman	A
THOMPSON, Mr John William	41	Engineering Crew		Southampton	Fireman	A
WEIKMAN, Mr Augustus Henry	52	Victualling Crew		Southampton	Barber	A^*
WENNERSTRÖM, Mr August	27	3rd Class Passenger	350043 £7 15s 11d	Southampton		A
WILLIAMS, Mr Richard Norris	21	1st Class Passenger	17597 £61 7s 7d	Cherbourg	Sportsman	A

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