Titanic lifeboat 5. The second boat lowered on the starboard side. Third Officer Pitman was sent in charge of the boat, having five other crew with him as well as two stewardesses. Passengers were still a bit reluctant to enter the boats at this time.
"In our party," said Mr. Behr, "were Mr and Mrs R. L. Beckwith and Mrs Beckwith's daughter, Miss Helen W. Newsom, all of New York. As we started out from our staterooms orders were being shouted to put on life belts. We did so quickly and then ran for the top deck, the superdeck. There was a strained calmness aboard the ship. We met Captain Smith and he shouted to all to put on life belts. Most of the passengers were gathering on deck A to get into the lifeboats. Mr Ismay was directing the launching. When Mrs Beckwith reached the second boat she asked Mr Ismay if the men could get in too. 'Certainly, Madam,' answered Mr Ismay. Then we stepped into the boat. After we were in I heard Mr Ismay calling out, 'Are there any more to get into this boat? None appeared. Mr Ismay was calm and cool and giving orders without any indication of fear. We waited three minutes, and when no one else appeared he directed that the boat be lowered. The officer in charge of our boat did not dare row back toward the Titanic for fear we would be swamped by some of the hundreds we could see swimming not far away. We floated until dawn and were about one mile away from where the Titanic went down when the Carpathia picked us up...." New York Herald, Saturday, April 20, 1912
Several couples entered the boat, including the Kimballs, Goldenbergs, Chambers and Harders. Mrs. Stengel did not want to leave her husband. He stayed on the ship but later found refuge in boat 1. Mrs. Warren entered the boat with Miss Ostby and believed Mr Warren had followed her into the boat, but he stayed on the ship and was lost. When no more women were found, some men passengers were allowed to enter it. When the boat was in the process of being lowered, some people were slightly anxious, as it seemed they were going to 'turn turtle.' After having rowed away, they encountered boat 7 in mid-ocean and four people changed boats (cf. boat 7). Officer Pitman said that he wanted to row back to look for survivors in the water, but apparently, passengers persuaded him not to do this.
Mrs Warren thought there were 35 or 36 people in the boat, Officer Pitman estimated over 50, Karl Behr thought there were about 40, Mrs Cassebeere thought 37 and Dr Frauenthal stated 34, half of whom were men.
There were probably 35 or 36 people in the boat when lowered. No. 5 was one of the first boats to reach the Carpathia.
We found 34 people.
Titanic People Database © Encyclopedia Titanica 1996-2024 Permissions and licensing
