Arthur Peuchen

[James Hill]

i have found out that Major Peuchen didnt go down into boat 6 to help man it but went down for somthing more serios.2 additional ropes on the stern of boat 6 were tangled and he went down to untangle the ropes when the ropes straightened he fell into the boat and his walet fell out.

 

[Michael H. Standart]

James, you might want to take a look at Major Peuchen's testimony on this from the U.S. Senate Inquiry;

Maj. PEUCHEN. Twenty-three all together; before I was a passenger.

After that the boat was lowered down some distance, I should imagine probably parallel with C deck, when the quartermaster called up to the officer and said, "I can not manage this boat with only one seaman."

Senator SMITH. Where was this call from?

Maj. PEUCHEN. As the boat was going down, I should think about the third deck. So he made this call for assistance, and the second officer leaned over and saw he was quite right in his statement, that he had only one man in the boat, so they said, "We will have to have some more seamen here," and I did not think they were just at hand, or they may have been getting the next boat ready. However, I was standing by the officer; and I said, "Can I be of any assistance? I am a yachtsman, and can handle a boat with an average man." He said, "Why, yes. I will order you to the boat in preference to a sailor."

Senator SMITH. Pardon me right there. Who was this man then in the boat?

Maj. PEUCHEN. He was one of the quartermasters. The captain was standing still by him at that time, and I think, although the officer ordered me to the boat, the captain said, "You had better go down below and break a window and get in through a window, into the boat."

So, yes, he did get in to help. You can read his testimony at the Titanic Inquiry Project at http://www.titanicinquiry.org/ For the rest of the story

Cordially,
Michael H. Standart

 

[Brandon Whited]

Charles Pellegrino, in "Ghosts of the Titanic", has Major Peuchen tossing the wallet overboard to preserve his memory; but I would take that with an open mind. Perhaps he just left it in his cabin; after all, he did leave behind a tin box containing $300,000!


Cheers,

-B.W.

 

[Daniel Klistorner]

I don't know whether to be surprised that Pellegrino said that or just laugh. Peuchen's cabin is in the wreck. It's squashed, but it's still a few cabins down the corridor into the the wreck, so it wasn't open to the sea during the break up. I still say that it's likely it fell out of his pocket when he was trying to get himself into the boat.

 

[Brandon Whited]

Yes, perhaps it did. There's very few things in the Pellegrino books that I don't take with an open mind. I think I heard in the computer game "Titanic: An Interactive Journey" that he discovered the wallet was missing when he went to pay for something upon his arrival in New York.


Cheers,

-B.W.