I have often wondered about the Carter divorce and at one stage used to despise William Carter; but now I increasingly feel that he got a bit of unfair treatment overall. He must have seen his wife and children into Lifeboat #4 and the delays in lowering it was not his fault. Collapsible C was on the starboard side and in any case lowered 8 or 10 minutes
after #4. There is no evidence that Carter forced his way into #C in any way and if he managed to find a vacant seat and take it, good for him. He has the same right to survive as anyone else and just because the other men in his 'circle' like Astor, Guggenheim, Thayer, Widener, Ryerson etc died does not mean somehow Willaim Carter is guilty to have survived.
I understand that during the divorce proceedings, Lucile Carter Sr complained that her husband was "physically and mentally cruel to her" and on one occasion horsewhipped her. I wonder how much of all that is true? Did Bill Carter dispute any of those accusations?
An interesting comment about Lucile Carter Sr in Bill's ET biography (curiously, not mentioned in
hers) is "following the divorce, Lucile Carter
swiftly remarried and had another daughter". I wonder what that really means.
