Titanic Tidbit: The Evacuation Examined

TIME...............LIFEBOAT..................# ABOARD

11:40 - Collision
12:40..................7............................28
12:43..................5............................36
12:55..................3............................32
1:00....................8...........................28
1:05....................1...........................12
1:10....................6............................28
1:13....................16..........................40
1:17....................14..........................58
1:20....................9...........................56
1:25....................11..........................70
1:25....................12..........................30
1:28....................13..........................65
1:32....................15..........................65
1:40....................10..........................35
1:45....................2............................25
1:50....................4............................32
2:00....................C...........................44
2:05....................D...........................24
2:20 - Titanic sinks

Above is a breakdown of when each lifeboat left the Titanic, also noting the number of people in each lifeboat. Starboard boats appear in blue, and Port boats appear in red.

The data above provokes many questions, a few of which I will attempt to answer here.

Q: Why did the boats start leaving the boat much fuller at about 1:15 a.m.?

A: The openings for the bow anchors went under at 1:15, letting in a massive amount of water. The ship lurched downward and began to sink much more rapidly at this point.

Q: Why were there noticeably fewer people in the port boats than there were in the starboard boats?

A: Most of the starboard boats were filled by Officer Murdoch and most of the port boats were filled by Officer Lightoller. While Murdoch was well aware of the capacity of each boat, Lightoller was reluctant to fill the boats more than halfway; he feared the weight would be too much.
Also, the two officers interpreted the captain's orders differently. Murdoch's policy was "women and children first." He first allowed women and children into the boats, and then if there was room, allowed men in. Lightoller's policy was "women and children only." If there were unoccupied seats in a boat and no more women in sight, Lightoller left the seats empty instead of letting men aboard.

Q: Why were boats "C" and "D" launched, but not "A" and "B"?

A: Lifeboats "A" and "B" were awkwardly located atop the officers' quarters, higher up than "C" and "D." As the crewmen tried to move boat "B," it fell onto the deck upside-down, and was subsequently washed away when the first funnel toppled. The crew simply ran out of time with boat "A." They had managed to secure it to the davits and had started loading it with third-class passengers when the ship started to take its final plunge. A couple of quick-thinking passengers managed to cut the ropes just in time, and it floated free, albeit full of water and mostly empty.
Several people were able to swim to "A" and "B" and float on top of them until picked up by other lifeboats.

Character Profile: Orian Davidson

Orian Davidson

Age: 27
Residence: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Class: First class
Cabin: B-71
Survived? Yes
Lifeboat: 3

Orian Davidson was the second of four daughters, and very much a typical lady of Edwardian high society. Her parents were of high social standing in Montreal, and from birth, she was constantly surrounded by the rich and powerful. She led a somewhat sheltered life, however, and until 1912, she had never been abroad.

Orian and her husband Thornton had traveled to Europe at the invitation of Orian's parents Charles and Clara Hays. Charles was the president of a Canadian railroad, and had traveled abroad to meet with the railroad's board of directors, which was based in London. He invited his wife, daughter, and son-in-law along so they could enjoy a European holiday while he attended to business. Also traveling with them were Clara's maid and Charles' secretary.

Orian visited England and France and grew especially fond of Paris, where she indulged in many of the latest French fashions. After several weeks, she and her family boarded Titanic to return home. They intended to take a private train back to Montreal once they reached New York.

Orian, her mother, and the maid left Titanic in lifeboat 3, which was only the third lifeboat to leave the ship. None of them knew at that point just how serious the situation was, and Orian's father assured her that Titanic would take more than 10 hours to sink. In fact, it sank in less than three. Thornton was a yachtsman and a strong swimmer, and for hours after she boarded Carpathia, Orian continued to hold on to the hope that he was alive. Sadly, she lost both her husband and her father in the sinking.

Orian and her mother were met by their family physician in New York and took a private train home. While Thornton's body was never recovered, Orian erected a memorial stone for him in Mount Royal Cemetery. Though she eventually remarried and moved to Calgary, Orian was buried next to Thornton's memorial when she died in 1979 at the age of 96.

Titanic Tidbit: First-Class Women Lost

By all accounts, first-class women and children had the greatest chance of survival in the Titanic sinking. Yet even with the odds in their favor, four women and one child in first class were lost in the disaster. Their reasons for staying behind varied from courageous to tragic, and one is left to wonder if they might have escaped if they hadn't run out of time.

1 & 2.) Bessie Waldo Allison, 25, and Loraine Allison, 2

Of the thousands of stories that emerged from the Titanic sinking, I find the Allisons' story to be one of the most tragic. Hudson and Bess Allison boarded Titanic with their two young children, Loraine, 2, and Trevor, 11 mos., and their maids Sarah Daniels and Alice Cleaver. They were returning home to Montreal after a holiday in England.

When Titanic struck the iceberg, the Allisons and their maids all left their cabins only to become separated. Mrs. Allison carried Loraine to the boat deck, but couldn't find her husband or her infant son. She took Loraine into lifeboat 6, but just before it was about to lower, someone told her that her husband was on the other side of the ship. She grabbed Loraine and climbed back onto the deck to find him. When she did find him, Trevor was not with him. With Loraine in tow, they began to search for their son.

Meanwhile, Sarah had left in lifeboat 8 and Alice was holding Trevor, waiting for a spot in lifeboat 11. The Allisons didn't find her in time, and she left the ship with their son. The Allisons were convinced that Trevor was still on board and continued to search for him until all the lifeboats had gone. They were so distraught that they had neglected to put their daughter in a boat, and the three perished together.

After losing his parents and sister, Trevor was raised by an aunt and uncle. He died of ptomaine poisoning at the age of 18.

3.) Edith Corse Evans, 36

Edith was returning home to New York after a trip to France. She befriended three sisters on the voyage, Mrs. Appleton, Mrs. Cornell, and Mrs. Brown. Author Archibald Gracie offered to escort the four ladies on their voyage, as was the custom at the time.

Even in the final hour, the women, who had managed to become separated from Gracie, didn't seem to realize the severity of the situation. They walked about the boat deck for some time, content to stay aboard. Eventually, Mrs. Appleton and Mrs. Cornell found their way into lifeboat 2.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Brown and Miss Evans lingered on the starboard side, unaware that the other two ladies had left. When Gracie found them, he rushed them over to the last lifeboat, collapsible D. Edith urged Mrs. Brown to get in, saying, "You go first. You have children at home." When Edith's turn came to enter the boat, for whatever reason, she panicked and stepped back. The boat left without her and she perished.

4.) Elizabeth Ann Isham, 50

Elizabeth Isham's death is shrouded in mystery. She was traveling home to Chicago, alone, and didn't have any friends on board. When her family realized that she was not among the rescued, they asked every survivor they could find if they had seen Elizabeth that night. The trouble is, no one could be certain they had seen her at all.

There is very little to go on. Archibald Gracie, who occupied the cabin next to hers, said he was fairly certain that she left her cabin after the collision. Others said they might have seen her on the promenade, but no one could be sure. It is believed that Elizabeth was traveling with her Great Dane, and many speculate that it was her refusal to leave her dog that led to her death.

Five days after the sinking, the German liner Bremen steamed past the site of the sinking. The passengers were met with the macabre sight of more than 100 frozen bodies floating in the water. Several witnesses described seeing the body of a woman clutching a large dog. Many speculate that this was Elizabeth Isham. By the time a recovery vessel reached the spot, most of the bodies had disappeared into the deep.

5.) Rosalie Ida Straus, 63

The death of the Strauses is one of the more well-known stories of the Titanic sinking. Isidor Straus was the president of Macy's department store, and he and his wife Ida were traveling home to New York after a European holiday.

Mrs. Straus almost entered lifeboat 8, only to turn back and rejoin her husband, saying, "We have lived together for many years. Where you go, I go." Isidor refused to leave the ship before everyone else was safe, so the two went and sat together on a pair of deck chairs, resigned to their fate.

They never showed any fear, and stayed hand-in-hand until the end.

Character Profile: Harry Elkins Widener

Harry Elkins Widener

Age: 27
Residence: Philadelphia, PA
Occupation: Gentleman
Class: First class
Cabin: C-82
Survived? No


Harry Widener was traveling home to Philadelphia with his parents George and Eleanor Widener after several weeks in London and Paris. The Wideners were one of the wealthiest and most prominent families in America, enjoying the same celebrity afforded to other millionaire families of the time (Astor, Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, Carnegie, etc.). Harry's father made his fortune as the owner of the Philadelphia Traction Company, which operated every streetcar line in Philadelphia.

The Wideners were building a summer home in Newport, RI, and had traveled to Europe to purchase artwork for the new estate. Harry, an avid collector of rare books, seized the opportunity to purchase several antique volumes for his collection. By age 27, Harry's personal library contained an impressive 3,500 books. He boarded Titanic with an extremely valuable 1598 edition of Bacon's Essais.

Harry always fulfilled his social obligations, attending his mother's charity balls at the family estate, Lynnewood, with his younger brother and sister. However, Harry was generally quiet and bookish, preferring the characters in Shakespeare's plays to the coquettes of Philadelphia's high society.

On the night of the sinking, Harry joined his parents on the boat deck, and the three of them were sent to the promenade to board lifeboat 4. An hour and a half passed while crew members figured out how to open the promenade windows to let passengers through. By the time they opened the windows, only boat 4 and the collapsibles were left.

Harry helped his mother into the boat and bid her goodbye, stepping back to join his father. He was urged by his friend William Carter to try to save himself, but Harry refused, saying, "I think I'll stick to the big ship, Billy, and take a chance." Carter escaped in lifeboat C minutes later.

Harry stayed by his father's side until the end. Both perished, and their bodies were never recovered.

In Harry's memory, his mother funded the construction of the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library at his alma mater, Harvard University. She donated his entire 3,500-volume collection so that, in death, he could enrich the lives of young scholars for generations to come.

Titanic Tidbit: Our Coterie

As I write this story, I find myself constantly wishing I were in some sort of writers' group, a small gathering of peers with whom I can share advice and ideas. The concept isn't new; in fact, there was such a group aboard Titanic, a group that survivor Archibald Gracie affectionately called "Our Coterie."

Our Coterie was composed of seven first-class passengers, all of them writers in one respect or another. After meeting aboard the ship, they gathered every evening of the voyage in one of Titanic's cafés to discuss not only their own work, but various works of literature popular in Europe and America at the time.

The members of Our Coterie were:

• Helen Churchill Candee, 53
• Edward Austin Kent, 58
• Hugh Woolner, 45
• Col. Archibald Gracie IV, 53
  
• Edward Pomeroy Colley, 37
• James Clinch Smith, 56
• Mauritz Björnström-Steffansson, 28

They were an interesting and diverse group, to be sure. Of the seven, Candee and Gracie were the only published authors. Candee was an acclaimed author on interior design, and Gracie on American history. It is said that Gracie was a shameless self-promoter, and relentlessly tried to convince many passengers to read his latest book, The Truth About Chickamauga.

As the only female member of Our Coterie, wealthy divorcée Helen Candee was endlessly doted on by her male companions, and there have long been rumors of Kent and Woolner vying for her affection. After Titanic struck the iceberg, both men rushed to find Helen. Woolner reached her first, and he was escorting Helen up the stairs when they ran into Kent. Fearing for Kent's life, Helen handed him a treasured cameo of her mother, making him promise to return it after they were rescued. Indeed, her cameo was returned to her—it was found tucked safely in Kent's vest pocket when his body was recovered two weeks later.

Colley and Smith also lost their lives in the disaster. Their bodies were never recovered.

Woolner and Björnström-Steffansson were the last people into the last lifeboat, Collapsible D. As it was lowered past the promenade, the two took a flying leap and tumbled head-first into the boat just before it touched the water.

Gracie spent hours perched atop the overturned Collapsible B with about 30 other men. He barely survived, nearly succumbing to hypothermia during the night. He immediately went to work writing a book about his survival after the sinking, and was in the process of proofing the manuscript when he died in December 1912, just eight months after the disaster. He had never recovered from the trauma of that night. His final book, Titanic: A Survivor's Story, is still in print today.

Character Profile: Elsie Edith Bowerman

Elsie Edith Bowerman

Age: 22
Residence: Hastings, East Sussex, England
Occupation: Suffragette
Class: First class
Cabin: E-33
Survived? Yes
Lifeboat: 6

Elsie Bowerman and her mother Edith Bowerman Chibnall boarded Titanic bound for America to visit a friend, Mr. T. Guthrie of Cleveland, Ohio, at Guthrie's invitation. The two planned to travel on to Canada and eventually Alaska. This was not unusual for the two ladies, who often traveled long distances and were accustomed to a cosmopolitan lifestyle. The two ladies occupied first-class cabin E-33.

At a time when many women attended university for the sole purpose of finding a husband, Elsie took her studies very seriously. She enrolled at Girton College, Cambridge, in 1908, where she studied medieval and modern languages. While in college, Elsie devoted much of her time to athletics, especially field hockey. She was also a talented pianist and was elected class representative in her first year of school.

Elsie's father died when she was only five years old, and, never seeking the company of men, Elsie lived a life free of male influence. Fiercely independent, Elsie joined her mother in 1909 as an active member of the the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), the leading militant organization campaigning for women's suffrage in the UK. She quickly became the organizer of the Hastings branch of the WSPU, promoting debates and selling copies of Votes for Women.

Though Elsie inherited her father's fortune at age 21, she and her mother preferred to live modestly, saving money wherever they could. The first-class ticket the two purchased in 1912 was a rare indulgence indeed.

Elsie was woken by a steward on the night of April 14, 1912, and she and her mother hastily dressed and made for the boat deck. Both ladies were saved in lifeboat 6, the first boat launched from Titanic's port side.

The sinking did not interfere with Elsie's travel plans, and she continued on to Ohio, British Columbia, the Klondyke, and Alaska.

Welcome!

Welcome to The Life We Knew, a story near to my heart. The story, which as of this writing is about 25 percent complete, follows the journey of prominent aristocrat William Edmond Farrister from Southampton, England to New York on the ill-fated RMS Titanic in April 1912. Son of paper industry giant James Farrister, young William is the commercial managing director of the Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company in Buffalo, NY.

Farrister faces a life-altering decision. Should he give up his controlling stake in his father's 33-million-dollar company and commit to his career in an infantile and unpredictable industry? Or should he hold on to the sinecure that ensures him a place in the upper echelons of American society? The answers lie with several of Titanic's passengers and a pending business arrangement of unprecedented magnitude.

The Life We Knew closely follows the journey of more than a dozen real-life passengers of the RMS Titanic—a suffragette, a railroad president, a wealthy widow, a streetcar magnate, an architect, and several others. While they might not all have known each other in reality, they are brought together in a story that shows them for who they really were.

Farrister is, in fact, the only fictional character in the entire story. During the lengthy process of writing this novel, I have made every effort to preserve historical accuracy. People's careers, interests, even personalities are written true to life. They live as they truly lived and die as they truly died. Accuracy is, above all else, the goal of this novel.

"But Patrick," you may be asking, "The Titanic genre has been done to death, hasn't it?" Indeed it has. As a longtime Titanic buff, I've been disappointed with how it has been portrayed in film and literature. The stories, while often compelling, are rife with inaccuracy. Embellishments are made, liberties are taken, and what we are often left with is a fantasy involving fictional characters in ludicrous situations. I think it's time that we have a Titanic story that is, at the very least, believable. Thats why I'm writing The Life We Knew. My hope is that it will teach people something about the Gilded Age and the people who truly experienced it.

I hope this blog will be a resource for Titanic buffs, a place to learn about history, and a comfort to writers who face the same challenges I do. In addition to providing updates on the story and the writing process, I plan to update this blog twice a week: once to post a new character profile, and once to post an interesting Titanic tidbit.

I appreciate your feedback, and once again, welcome!