Three pictures of lifeboats possibly identified

[Christophe Puttemans]

I came across a book from Edward P. De Groot where 3 pictures of Titanic lifeboats were named. Until that moment, I thought one of the pictures was from another lifeboat and the other pictures from unknown boats.
Here are the pictures:
1.

Mr. De Groot claimed this was Lifeboat 4, with mostly women & children and about 10 crew members.
2.

De Groot gave the following description to this picture: "one of the last boats to reach the Carpathia was Lifeboat 8. Most of the night the occupants of boat 8 had tried to reach the ship on the horizon"
3.

I always assumed this was boat 6, but De Groot claimed this was boat 12, with the man at the tiller being "a soaking wet, shivering Lightoller" wrapped in a cape.

What do you think of this?

 

[Aaron_2016]

I think the 3rd photo is Lifeboat 6. This website gives 24 names for lifeboat 6 and I counted 24 people in the boat.

Famously among them were Lookout Fleet, Major Peuchen, Margaret Brown, and Robert Hichens who held the tiller at the back and was wrapped in a blanket. Mrs Lucien P. Smith said: "Our seaman was Hichens, who refused to row, but sat in the end of the boat wrapped in a blanket that one of the women had given him. I am not of the opinion that he was intoxicated, but a lazy, uncouth man, who had no respect for the ladies, and who was a thorough coward." Mrs. Meyer also spoke out against his behaviour. In his defence Hichens told the Inquiry:

"They were all entire strangers to me, sir. But the lady I refer to, Mrs. Meyer, she was rather vexed with me in the boat and I spoke rather straight to her, and she accused me of wrapping myself up in the blankets in the boat, using bad language, and drinking all the whisky, which I deny, sir. I was standing to attention, exposed, steering the boat all night, which is a very cold billet. I would rather be pulling the boat than be steering. But I seen no one there to steer, so I thought, being in charge of the boat, it was the best way to steer myself, especially when I seen the ladies get very nervous with the nasty tumble on. We got down to the Carpathia and I seen every lady and everybody out of the boat, and I seen them carefully hoisted on board the Carpathia, and I was the last man to leave the boat. That is all I can tell you, sir."

Hichens was upset by Mrs. Meyer's comments. He said:

"I would like to make a little statement as regarding Mrs. Meyer's statement in the newspapers about my drinking the whisky sir, and about the blankets. I was very cold, sir, and I was standing up in the boat. I had no hat on. A lady had a flask of whisky or brandy, or something of that description, given her by some gentleman on the ship before she left, and she pulled it out and gave me about a tablespoonful and I drank it. Another lady, who was lying in the bottom of the boat, in a rather weak condition gave me a half wet and half dry blanket to try keep myself a little warm, as I was half frozen. I think it was very unkind of her, sir, to make any statement criticizing me. When we got to the ship I handled everyone as carefully as I could, and I was the last one to leave the boat, and I do not think I deserve anything like that to be put in the papers. That is what upset me and got on my nerves."


.

 

[Christophe Puttemans]

Thanks Aaron. Now I at least know I was right, #3 is boat 6. But those 2 other pictures had not been assigned to a boat, until Mr. De Groot came with his suggestion.

 

[Ioannis Georgiou]

Now I at least know I was right, #3 is boat 6. But those 2 other pictures had not been assigned to a boat, until Mr. De Groot came with his suggestion.

Actually I had done & come up with the ID several years ago, the results had been first published in the book Titanic in Photographs and later in my own lifeboat article.
Picture 1 show No. 16 (I know some still disagree)
Picture 2 shows No. 6 (left) and the empty No. 4 (right)
Picture 3 is No. 6

 

[Harland Duzen]

I been looking at photos of Titanic's lifeboats from the rescue, and the pictures (*Below) I keep seeing being identified as Lifeboat 11. However the Number on the Bow looks more like a ''6'' or ''8'' and I wondering how it was identified (unless it was done by the number of survivors counted).

*(Photos taken from Internet and NOT mine).

 

[Ioannis Georgiou]

There are the wrong people in the boat to be boat No. 8 or even 6 of which there are several more photos. Some of the people in the boat seem to match with occupants with boat No. 11 also the number 11 is visible in the copy I have.

 

[Harland Duzen]

Okay. Thanks for clearing that up.

(Update):
By the way, do you know which lifeboat is behind No. 11? It looks like a 2 digit number on the hull (or just the white star flag...)

 

[Ioannis Georgiou]

No I don't know. The number is not visible. Going with the arriving list I have worked out it might be No. 14 or No. 16 which arrived and were unloaded before No. 11 came alongside.

 

[Gaston Sam]

Guesswork: on top of boat 11 picture there's a lifeboat hanging swung out. If it was in fact a Carpathia's boat I guess it would be an emergency boat, and since it would be on the forward part of the ship, maybe that picture was taken from the starboard side. Therefore, as lifeboat 14 arrived from Carpathia's port side, the boat seen behind lifeboat 11 could be lifeboat 16.

 

[Harland Duzen]

There were raised platforms for boats on both sides / ends of Carpathia.

(Photo below taken from Wikipedia for reference)

 

[Gaston Sam]

I see, well if they didn't swing any boats out, the only ones that were already outwards seem to be the aftermost boats, then the picture of lifeboat 11 would've been taken from the port side.