Titanic authors seem to have always assumed that the four card players did not survive the sinking, as Clarence Moore, Major Butt, and Francis Millet did not survive the sinking. I think it's possible that the fourth, unknown card player actually
survived the sinking. Assuming Mr Carter didn't leave his family at Boat 4, there's only a handful of male
first class passengers left who may have been involved in this card game.
If the incident really took place around 12:40 AM, then all those passengers who left the Titanic in one of the forward lifeboats that were lowered early in the sinking will be excluded, as we have to assume that the game was not over when Gracie passed through the smoking room and of course it would have taken the players a while to get to the forward boats on the boat deck.
But why didn't the fourth surviving card player ever tell his story? Perhaps because his actions were not particularly legal and he did not want to attract media attention. It may be that Thomas Krom had already thought of it, I could imagine that the three gentlemen Millet, Butt and Moore were actually joined in their final hours by one of the three professional
gamblers on board. This man left the smoking room quickly after the game was finished and escaped in one of the lifeboats that were lowered to the first-class promenade deck. That would also explain why the three gentlemen Butt, Millet and Moore were not seen by other survivors during the evacuation, or rather only very late, a short time before the final sinking.
The three professionell
gamblers on Titanic were Harry Haven Homer, George Andrew Brereton and Charles Hallace Romaine. All three gave very different accounts of how they escaped from Titanic. Typical for male survivors, they claimed to have been pulled out of the water by a lifeboat to avoid stigmatization by society, but these stories are not very believable, as the few surviving swimmers rescued by boats 4, D and 14 are known by name.
- George Brereton is often assigned to Boat 9. However, since he indicated that there were several dining room stewards in his boat, boats 11 and 15 are also possible.
- Charles Romaine also stated that there were several dining room stewards in his lifeboat, which leads us again to boats 9, 11 and 15.
- Harry Homer seems to have been the only one of the three gamblers who mentioned the number of his lifeboat in his accounts: boat 15.
In his lifeboat summary Peter Engberg-Klarström writes about boat 15:
"Three card sharps from first class seem to have found seats in the boat, there may have been a second class gentleman in it and the rest of the passengers from third class."
Actually, I do not think that the three men escaped in the same lifeboat. They must have returned from the smoke room to their cabins to get the profits of the last few days and to get warmer clothes because they were wearing evening dress and surely did not wait for each other. Once I read a statement from one of the inquirys in which a witness stated that
there was only one first-class passenger in boat 15. Unfortunately, I can't remember which witness told this. Maybe you can help me.
In my opinion it is possible that Harry Homer was the fourth card player. He got the three gentlemen involved in a card game, which I'm sure didn't end before 1:20 AM. At an unknown time he returned to his cabin to get his money because he realised that the ship was sinking. He got an overcoat and a lifejacket and returned to the deserted smoking room. At this time he could hear loud voices from the promenade deck and stepped out in the night where he found the boats 13 and 15. After boat 13 was launched nearly fully loaded, he tried his luck at boat 15 and actually managed to get a seat after First Officer William Murdoch allowed men to fill up the empty seats...
