Pulled from the water

[Karrie Wright]

I'm new here, and I've been doing some research after seeing the titanic on NBC a few months ago. In the movie I know that it said that 6 people were pulled out of the water alive after the ship sank, but I know Camreon didn't always have the whole truth in the movie, and he could of just wrote that in to fit into the ending.

But my question is:

Did any of the lifeboats go back to look for people?
If so did they find any body alive, and who?

It seems unrealistic to me, because of how cold the water was and everything, but I was wondering.

Karrie

 

[Cornelius Thiessen]

I'm far from an expert on this subject but I can name several that were pulled from the water and survived.Charles Joughin one of the ships bakers was in the water several hours, well fortified and insulated by alcohol.Harold Bride the wireless operator was also pulled from the water I believe.And I think there were several officers as well.Passengers I can't be sure.

 

[Inger Sheil]

Hallo Karrie -

It's a good idea to discard Cameron's over-simplification of 6 pulled from the water / only one boat returning, as that doesn't cover the complexities or controversies surrounding this issue.

Exactly how many people were pulled from the water, and by which boat, is still a matter of discussion and debate. Matters are complicated by the fact that many male survivors, probably fearful of the stigma attached to having survived, claimed to have been pulled from the water when they really left the ship in a lifeboat.

The boat depicted in Cameron's movie as having been the only one to pull people from the water is Boat 14 under the command of Harold Lowe. This did indeed take place, not unlike the scenes depicted in the movie, although how many people the crew of 14 pulled from the water is not known with certainty. Accounts range from three (with one perishing) upwards. The most commonly cited figure I've found in evidence suggests that four were pulled from the water, with one perishing. Most of those who survived seem to have been able to have supported themselves at least partially out of the water on wreckage.

Not shown in the movie were the efforts of Boat 4's crew and passengers to pull individuals from the water, both before the Titanic sank and immediately afterwards. Collapsible D also pulled one man from the water as the ship entered its final death throws - he was able to enter the water after putting his wife in D, and was brought aboard.

Others also survived by making it aboard the the overturned Collapsible B, and Harold Lowe and the crew of 14 also rescued survivors who had made it aboard the swamped Collapsible A. All these people had been in the water as well.

There is an article on the ET site that addresses the claims of various individuals to have been among those saved from the water:

https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/item/1499/

 

[Dave Gittins]

Some felt that the survival of so many male crew needed explaining, so they exaggerated the number that went into the sea. There's lovely bit from Steward Wheelton at the US inquiry.

"I would think, myself, the men took a chance and jumped overboard and swam for it and were picked up by boats. We had very powerful swimmers aboard the ship. Some of the best men I ever saw in the water were on that ship, sir."

 

[Karrie Wright]

Thanks for the info guys, it really makes a lot more sense now, but I do wonder about all the crew, like Dave said, it doesn't make sense that so many came out of the water alive.

Karrie

 

[Peter Engberg-Klarström]

Karrie, you're right, it doesn't make sense. I believe 2/3 of the surviving male crewmembers entered a starboard boat. Boat 3, e g, took on board some ten stokers among others, boat 9 had perhaps 18 crewmen, stokers and stewards and sailors, No 11 held perhaps 18 crewmen (and perhaps as many as nine stewardesses) including 15 stewards/kitchen staff, No 13 had about 25, mainly stewards and cooks whereas boat 15 may have had 27 or 28 crewmen including about 15 stewards and a dozen stewards.
Crew or passengers; men were allowed to fill up the starboard boats.
Also, my theory is that there were fewer on boats A and B than generally accepted. There were perhaps 20 or 25 on boat B and possibly eleven or twelve on boat A. But this is just my theory, of course.
Whether three or four were rescued by boat 14 (including Wm Hoyt, who died), I don't know.
Best regards,

Peter

 

[Dave Gittins]

I agree with Peter on the numbers on the collapsibles. I simply can't believe that 30 men could stay on the overturned collapsible B. One day, I'd like to get 30 men together and see how much space they take. The boat was small, some men were lying down on it and taking plenty of space. I just can't see more than Peter's 20 to 25 having room.

 

[Pat Cook]

Hi guys!

Dave, if you have ever seen "The Making of 'A Night To Remember'" (And I'll wager you have) one of the comments made by Walter Lord during the filming of the upturned collapsible scene was he, too, had wondered if that many men could've stood on the bottom of the boat. Turns out they could. However, as you said, I believe the number was closer to 25. I need to review it again, tho'.

Best regards, all around,
Cook

 

[Dave Gittins]

Pat. I've not seen that. Is it on the ANTR DVD?

 

[Pat Cook]

I believe it is included in, at least, one of the ANTR 'packages' - you'd have to check the box description on that. I got my version of "The Making of..." off a movie channel which ran it in conjunction with the movie itself.

It also contains some wonderful footage of survivors Edith Russell, Joseph Boxhall and (briefly, in one of only two pieces of moving picture footage which I've found) Lawrence Beesley.

Well worth a purchase if you find it, O M.

Best regards, sir
Cook

 

[Maria Fernandez]

Dave i agree about the collapsibles, i heard that when a body is freezing, wieght is added (dont ask me anything else about that because science is NOT my subject lol), but surely with that extra weight 30 people could not have been on overturned collapsible.

 

[Dave Gittins]

The bigger factor for weight would be that everybody was soaking wet. That adds a lot, which is why there are rules in yacht racing to limit the use of heavy clothing to hold water. Personally, I just can't see thirty on a boat so small and partly under water.

At least some of the poor devils on collapsible B thought it was being kept afloat by a bubble of air underneath it and that it would sink if the air came out. They would have been happier if they'd known the bottom of the boat was filled with cork and was much less sinkable than Titanic. You'll remember that both A and B were later found, though none of the abandoned lifeboats were seen again, in spite of their metal buoyancy tanks.

 

[Jeremy Lee]

If 30 people were indeed on the collapsible, it would most probably have already capsized.

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>If 30 people were indeed on the collapsible, it would most probably have already capsized.<<

I don't see how you come to that conclusion. The collapsibles were designed to hold 47 people in the first place. The reason that one was bottom side up was because it came off that way when the ship herself went down.

 

[Jeremy Lee]

The boat was already partly under water, was it or not even?

I took it as tilted to one side, which would capsize.....

 

[Maria Fernandez]

that's what i thought...

 

[Bill Wormstedt]

According to the evidence, yes, at times Collapsible B was under water. And rocking back and forth, but Lightoller was leading the survivors stand on it, to 'lean to the left' or 'lean to the right' in an attempt to keep the boat from turning over, and pitching them all into the sea.

 

[Maria Fernandez]

but if you were in pain, cold and fighting for your life, would you be able to even hear lightoller's instruction?

 

[Donald J A Smith]

Has anyone considered how those placed in charge of lifeboats can have intended to take aboard any swimmers? I believe every lifeboat was required by the 1910 BoT Regulations to carry a 'boathook.'
Would it be a general understanding that these might play a role? George Uhler (NY Port Inspector) passed on to his family a simple cargo-hook - not boat-hook - that had been found in the bottom of one of the boats. It had evidently been intended - whether used or not - by someone for just this purpose. The cork life-jackets, I assume, might have made the use of hooks feasible.

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>but if you were in pain, cold and fighting for your life, would you be able to even hear lightoller's instruction?<<

Apparantly, the ones who survived did.

Donald, I don't have any information on boathooks or whether or not they were used for any purpose. As far as I know, anyone fished out of the water was brought aboard by musclepower.