Ok, great, thanks everyone. My following post is a little long, but it stays focused (I hope).
Very nice article, Mr Jakub. From that article, Dr Dodge says...
"When our boat reached the ship's side we passed in front of her bow, to reach the port side, where we would have the shelter from the wind, and a smoother sea to disembark. An officer of the "Carpathia" called to us to come up on the starboard side. The vessel was then unloading lifeboats on each side Those of us who were rowing endeavored for five minutes to pull back across the bow of the ship, but so ineffective were our efforts, that we were unable against the wind to make any progress. We finally had to disembark on the port side."
Dr Dodge says they were trying to get to the port side for shelter from the wind. Would that mean the port side is the lee side?
An officer told Dodge's boat to go to the starboard, but they could not (because of the wind), so they stayed on the port.
Was the wind coming out of the north?
If Dodge was in 13, then the list in Mr Jakub's article is correct for 13. And it seems that Ioannis is correct with Woolner in D and Slooper in 7 and they pulled to the lee side, which
seems to be the port side. Mr Paige, if you can find a source for the starboard side being the lee, let me know. Because it would be nice for all of us to solve this.
This information kind of leads back to my original post's question number 2:
Question (2) Considering Carpathia's turn to avoid an iceberg just prior to reaching that first lifeboat (British Inquiry 25401), which way would the bow of the Carpathia, as it was loading the survivors, now be facing?
By the way, as a means to solve this issue, I am looking at the shadows and/or brightness of the bows of the lifeboats as they approach the Carpathia. There are a few photos online of the lifeboats, but I have also noticed that, unfortunately, some of the negatives have been flipped. I believe that there were three photographers (Barker, Fenwick, Ogden) on Carpathia, so perhaps at least one photographer was on each side of Carpathia.
Mr Christian, in the photo you posted above, I think that lifeboat is facing into the sun, but I am not certain. I base my suspicion on viewing another photo online, which shows an opposite view of your photograph (attached below), where we can see three other lifeboats next to the hull and behind your lifeboat. The three lifeboats are in much more shadow, and seemingly the sky is much more washed out perhaps indicating the sunrise is near there, and it is why I think your lifeboat (11?) is facing the sun. If that is lifeboat 11, Mr Jacub, we can move 11 out of the unknown column of your article and into the starboard. Gentlemen, check to make certain, I might be seeing things and I do not mind if you say I am completely incorrect. Is it possible the photo below of the three boats is facing East or ENE? And note the cutter or lifeboat hanging at the top of the photo. Are we looking forward on the starboard side of Carpathia? (I do not know how the Carpathia's lifeboats were arranged on the ship)
A good shadow indicator is the one photo of a lifeboat being hauled aboard (also attached below) - it is still up in the air, and you can see that the shadow of the sunrise is falling on the boat and on the man next to the lifeboat with his back to the camera. So, in that photo, I believe that the sun would be
behind the photographer. But, I do not know how to tell if that lifeboat is being hauled aboard the port or starboard side. Perhaps you guys have a better knowledge of Carpathia or ships in general and will recognize something on deck which would be a clue. Perhaps the shadows on the lifeboats at sea will determine which side they approached. Check it out and see what you think.
