Encyclopedia Titanica

Ismay Condemned for Taking Boat

Daughter of Congressman Hughes Tells of Experience In Sea Disaster

Washington Times

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Not only did J. Bruce Ismay, managing director or the White Star line, get into one of the first lifeboats to be launched, but he was escorted and assisted by several seamen, while the women had to tumble in and take care of themselves, according to Mrs. Lucien P. Smith, daughter of Congressman Hughes of West Virginia, and widowed bride of Lucien P. Smith.

Mrs. Smith told her experience through her uncle, Dr. J. H. Vincent, of Huntington, W. Va. "Captain Smith was standing beside the boat when it was lowered. Mrs. Smith implored Captain Smith, who was standing nearby, to permit her husband in the boat, but he refused. There were but twenty persons in the boat, having a capacity of fifty to sixty, when it was lowered. Many more might have been saved in it. Mrs. John Jacob Astor was in this boat and there was but one drunken sailor aboard to man it. The women had to row it as best they could. In the face of all this Captain Smith refused the pleading of Mrs. Smith to let her husband in the boat.

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Mark Baber, USA

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  1. Titanicfan Titanicfan
    By the way, Ismay was begged by several women passengers of the Titanic to get into Collapsible boat "C", the second to the last lifeboat to be launched succesfully from the davits, because there were not enough people to row the boat and he knew something about rowing and would be of great help to them. The officers in charge of launching the boats allowed him in.
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Encyclopedia Titanica (2004) Ismay Condemned for Taking Boat (Washington Times, Friday 19th April 1912, ref: #4078, published 29 October 2004, generated 8th December 2024 07:47:57 AM); URL : https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/ismay-condemned-for-taking-boat.html