Although common sense indicates that Lily May Futrelle was rescued on Lifeboat #9, her post disaster statements have been so varied and contradictory that boats #16 and Collapsible D have also been considered as possibilities. So, I went through my books and other references to try and make some sense of the information therein.
TITANIC: Women and Children First: States that she and Mrs Harris were anxiously waiting on the deck of the Titanic waiting for their husbands to return but NOT specifically that they were in the same lifeboat.
On A Sea of Glass has several specific references related to Mrs Futrelle's rescue. I have already mentioned abut her being in the vicinity of Lifeboat #8 waiting for her husband, who arrived just as that boat was lowered.
- Seattle Daily Times of April 22nd-23rd - statement that she was standing near Lifeboat #8 waiting for her husband when she saw Ida Straus get out of the boat, cling onto her husband Isidor and refuse to return to the lifeboat. (p204 On A Sea of Glass); a few minutes later, she was still there as #8 was loaded and loading proceeded on #6 (p207 On A Sea Of Glass). As #8 was lowered at 01:00 hours, these statements allow possibilities for #16' #9 or D as being her own eventual boat.
- In a statement to the Atlanta Constitution on 26th April 1912, she claimed that she saw Lifeboat #4 being lowered from A-deck with Mrs Astor, Mrs Thayer, Mrs Widener, Mrs Carter and Mrs Ryerson in it, implying that she was still on the deck of the Titanic herself. While all those other women were definitely on #4, the lifeboat was not lowered till 01:50 am, by which time #16 and #9 were long gone. For this statement to be true therefore, Mrs Futrelle should have been saved on Collapsible D, as some claim.
- In the same statement, she then indicated that she left in the next boat (which was the next to last boat) but did not say that it was a Collapsible boat. She said that there were 12 women and 18 men in her boat, 17 of the latter being crew members. AFAIK, there were not that many men on Collapsible D. Also, she did not mention any of the events associated with lowering of Collapsible D (Woolner/Steffanson jump or Duquemin/Hoyt swim)
- Mrs Futrelle stated that "2 Collpasibles" were launched after her boat and Mrs Irene Harris, Mrs Jane Hoyt and Mrs Gertrude Throne were in one of them. She could have been referring to Collapsibles D & B and those other 3 women were all on Collapsible D. But here Mrs Futrelle is referring to #D as if it was one of the 'other' boats ie not one that she herself was rescued in; adding to the confusion is the fact that on the port side forward, there was no lifeboat lowered 'between' #4 and Collapsible D.
- In his book Dusk to Dawn that is based largely on survivor accounts, Paul Quinn appears to have convinced himself that Lily May Futrelle was rescued on Lifeboat #16. On pp199-200 she is supposed to have said that her husband took her to the 'starboard' side and put her into Lifeboat #16. Although #16 was a port boat, one might argue that a woman of her social class would remember the boat's number better than the difference between port and starboard. Then on pp241-2, she refers to a "little Frenchwoman" in her boat who "wailed and writhed" in hysteria; she is also mentioned on p253. AFAIK, there were no French women, little otherwise, on #16 or D but there were two on #9, Leontine Aubart and her maid Emma-Marie Sagesser. She also claimed that the crew on board her lifeboat were mostly stewards and poor rowers - there were 7 stewards on #16, eight on #9 and just one on D. While the presence of the French woman and many stewards supports Lily Futrelle's boat as being #9, her next statement did not. She claimed that there were a large number of "wild-eyed steerage women" on her boat who were poorly attired for the cold; while #16 and D had many Third Class women, #9 had mostly Second Class women with only a few from Third Class.
TITANIC: Women and Children First: States that she and Mrs Harris were anxiously waiting on the deck of the Titanic waiting for their husbands to return but NOT specifically that they were in the same lifeboat.
On A Sea of Glass has several specific references related to Mrs Futrelle's rescue. I have already mentioned abut her being in the vicinity of Lifeboat #8 waiting for her husband, who arrived just as that boat was lowered.
- On p213, she is back with Jacques, with him persuading her to get into a lifeboat. It was at this point that she bid him farewell and they slightly separated; she saw him join JJ Astor in a smoke. Moody saw her and rather forcibly escorted her to #9. (Daily Boston Globe April 17th 1932 – LMF is supposed to have said that she was on #9 and recalled seeing the Lines women on it, recognizing mother and daughter. Also recalled Able Seaman ‘Paddy’ McGough)
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