Woman hanging between life boat and ship

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Dave Gittins

Dave Gittins

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Apr 11, 2001
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The event really took place.

Here's a bit of my book.

"At boat 10 there was more drama. A woman attempting to board slipped and fell between the boat and Titanic. She was caught by somebody on A deck and dragged back on board. Swiftly she returned to the boat deck and composed herself for another try. This time she succeeded, though the two-and-a-half-feet space must have gaped fearfully wide."

The witness was Edward Buley, at the US inquiry.
 
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George L. Lorton

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May 27, 2007
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I remembered Cameron showing this in his movie. The old Woman in a black dress all most falling over the side and a man grabbing her by the ankle? and pulling her back into the ship. Walter Lord mentions it and he probably? got the information from the U.S. Senate Hearings.
 
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Matthew Newman

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Nov 26, 2005
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*Raises hand* I gotta question.

I've heard in situations where someone is panicking the way this woman was shown doing so in the lifeboat, said person is usually, or sometimes at least, knocked out to prevent spreading the panic to the rest of the lifeboat. This is, of course, after all other attempts to calm the person down have failed.

I know such is the case in the submersibles that visit Titanic in the event someone has a panic attack that could be risky to the safety of sub and crew. They even carry a special wrench or some kind of tool in the sub specifically for that, don't they?

Any truth to the lifeboat scenario? I would think knocking someone out to prevent spreading panic in a tiny boat would be a good idea as a last resort.
 
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George L. Lorton

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May 27, 2007
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Hello Gents,
A slap across the face usually works best in this kind of situation after all methods fail. Both for Men and Women. Either the one doing the slapping or the hysterical one being slapped. Usually a good shaking should first be applied and if this doesn't work and words fail 'Slap'
 
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Jim Kalafus

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Dec 3, 2000
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>Wouldn't it make more sense to have some kind of drug or ether or something to knock someone out rather than taking a wrench and beating them?

The wrench is more fun.
 
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Matthew Newman

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Nov 26, 2005
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>>The wrench is more fun.<<

I about spit wine all over the monitor when I saw this response! LOL

Has the knock-out wrench ever had to be used during a trip to Titanic that anybody knows of?
 
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Jim Kalafus

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Dec 3, 2000
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>Yeah...but messy

Oh...I dont know. The ether, or chloroform, would cause anyone who was...errr...uhhh..."holding it" to void their bowels and/or empty their bladders. Want to spend 5/6/7 hours in a lifeboat sitting next to THAT?

And...Mike...you use the BROAD side of the wrench. Mess ensues when you use the narrow edge. GEEST...I guess SOMEONE never went to reform school when he was younger....
 
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Jim Kalafus

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>I've heard in situations where someone is panicking the way this woman was shown doing so in the lifeboat,

Here's a Lusitania account with another means of restoring reason contained within. Also contains something rare in Lusitania accounts, non existent in Titanic accounts, and present in about 40 General Slocum accounts; the blissful euphoria that comes over one in the final stage of drowning. (Slocum had the 'fortune' of grounding next to a hospital. So, many who technically drowned were revived to describe this phenomenon)

"A boat was being launched, and one end dropped letting all the people it contained into the sea. At the sight, I felt faint and asked Mr. Naish to pinch me to help me back to consciousness. He did, and I was alright again in a moment. We made no effort to get into the lifeboats. Mr. Naish had promised me long before he would never force me to get into a lifeboat unless there was room for him.

"Now, I saw the water coming closer. A boatman came up and said “She’s steady. She’ll float for an hour.” But I knew she wasn’t steady, and wouldn’t float for an hour. “Look,” I said, “at the horizon and the railing of this boat. We’ll be gone in a minute.” And gone we were. The Irish coast looked far away, and the song “It’s a Long Long Way to Tipperary” kept glancing through my mind.

"We took hold of the railing that penned in the lifeboats. I had my arm through my husband’s. But, as I felt the boat sinking I unclasped my hand from his, because I did not want to drag him down. At that moment the ship dipped down and over at the same time, bringing the water up to my armpits. A boat swung out and struck my head and cut it open, and I lifted my arm to keep it from striking my husband in the face. It seemed as if everything in the universe ripped and tore. The deck seemed to strike the soles of my feet hard.

"The next thing I knew, I was twenty or thirty feet below the surface of the sea. I thought “Why, this is like being on grandmother’s feather bed.” I was comfortable. My head struck something that cut my scalp, and kept bumping. I got my arms around something, and when I came out of the water I was clasping the bumper of an overturned lifeboat."
 
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Jim Kalafus

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>Any truth to the lifeboat scenario? I would think knocking someone out to prevent spreading panic in a tiny boat would be a good idea as a last resort.

Hmmmm...have been thinking it over, and can't really think of any occasions in which panic broke out IN a lifeboat. Can think of MANY occasions in which officers and crew behaved in self-defense mode and beat people away from lifeboats; commandeered lifeboats; ejected pasengers from lifeboats...but can't think of a single instance in which passengers panicked IN a boat with fatal results.

So, perhaps 'twould be better to place objects on hand to protect the passengers from the officers and crew. Who, historically, seem to behave worse in these situations than do the passengers.
 
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