Collapsible Boat A was alifeboat from theTitanic. It was one of the last boats launched to sea, over two and a half hours after theTitanic collided with aniceberg and begansinking on 14 April 1912. Collapsible A could not be successfully launched, and it was washed offdeck and partially submerged when theTitanic made her final plunge at 2.20 am. Despite being dangerously overloaded by the many people that climbed into her from the freezing water, most died ofhypothermia or fell back into thesea. Only about 14 people including one woman were still alive on Collapsible A when they were rescued byLifeboat No. 14 led byFifth Officer Lowe.
Collapsible Boat A was located on thestarboard side of the ship and was one of the four "collapsible" Engelhardt lifeboats. They were boat-shaped unsinkable rafts made ofkapok andcork, with heavy canvas sides that were raised to form a boat. These "collapsible" boats measured 27 ft 5 in (8.36 m) long and 8 ft (2.4 m) wide by 3 ft (0.91 m) deep. Their capacities were of 376.6 cubic feet (10.66 m3) and each could carry 47 people.[1] Inspired in a Danish design,[2] they were built by McAlister & Son ofDumbarton, Scotland.[3] Their equipment was similar to that of thecutters, but they had no mast or sail, had eight oars apiece and were steered using asteering oar rather than arudder.[4]
Two Collapsible Boats were launched between 2.00 and 2.15 am, with only one from each side of the ship getting safely to sea.Collapsible Boat C (starboard) was launched at 2.00 am with about 43 people on board, includingJ. Bruce Ismay.[5]Captain Smith orderedquartermasterGeorge Rowe to board and take command of the raft.[6] Collapsible Boat D (port) was also successful in its launching at 2.05 am, carrying about 20 people, and under the command of quartermaster Arthur Bright.[7][8]
Two of the collapsibles were located on top of the Officer's Quarters and needed to be pushed off to be launched. While Collapsible A was brought down upright,Collapsible B fell over upside down. Both boats were not launched but were washed away as the water began reaching the bridge. Collapsible B floated off upside down and would eventually be taken charge off by Second OfficerCharles Lightoller. Collapsible B had around 23 survivors when assisted by other lifeboats, includingWireless OperatorHarold Bride, ChiefBakerCharles Joughin and First-Class passengersArchibald Gracie IV andJack Thayer.[9] Collapsible A floated away right side up and had no crewmember in charge of it as OfficersJames Moody,William Murdoch, andHenry Wilde, handling the launch of A, were swept away after a surge of water from the staircase leading below decks.
Collapsible Boat A was located on the roof of the officers' quarters. At around 2.00 am on 15 April 1912,Chief Officer Wilde,First Officer Murdoch,Sixth Officer Moody, Saloon Steward Eward Brown, Barber Augustus Henry Weikman and about two or three morecrew members tried to take the Collapsible down by using a makeshift ramp made with two wooden planks, while two or three crewmen stood below on deck in order to receive the lifeboat. The men put the bow of the Collapsible on the planks and let it slide down to the boat deck below, where it broke the planks but landed right side up about halfway between thedeck housing and thedavits from where it was supposed to be launched.[10] Due toTitanic's list to port, the starboard side of the ship was still free of the water while on the port side, the boat deck was already flooding. This gave First Officer Murdoch the wrong impression that there was still time to properly launch the Collapsible with the davits, going against Sixth Officer Moody's suggestion to let the Collapsible drift off the boatdeck.[11] The crew weren't able to secure the falls to the Collapsible right away due toTitanic's port list, but were able to fasten it after slackening the falls. The list however, also made it difficult for the crew to get the Collapsible up the incline to the davits that had previously launched lifeboats 1 and C. By this time, about 50 people including four to five women amongst whom First-Class passengers Edith Evans,John Jacob Astor andGeorge Widener, were gathered at the site of Collapsible A, awaiting its launch. Saloon Steward Eward Brown witnessedCaptain Smith coming past the Collapsible at this point with amegaphone in his hand and sayingWell, boys,do your best for the women and children, and look out for yourselves. before he returned to thebridge. Only seconds later at about 2.15 am,Titanic returned to an evenkeel and took a sudden dip, submerging the bridge and sending a wave roaring over the starboardboat deck, washing off Officers Wilde, Murdoch and Moody.[9]
Saloon Steward Eward Brown found himself knee-deep in the rising water, when he jumped in the still fastened Collapsible and started to cut theafter fall with hispocketknife while shouting to the man at the forward end to do the same so the Collapsible wouldn't be dragged under with theTitanic. Many of the nearby passengers and crew who had waited for the lifeboat to be launched, now also scrambled into it to escape the rising water until the Collapsible was almost full. The lifeboat was already dragged halfway underwater by the time the falls were cut, and as it regained itsbuoyancy, the Collapsible sprang up out of the water, throwing her entire complement into the sea.[12] As the Collapsible drifted away from the quickly founderingTitanic, many people were able to climb back onto it. However, in all the chaos, the canvas sides had not been pulled up and as the lifeboat became dangerously overloaded with about 30 to 45 passengers and crew, the Collapsible became awash with knee-deep icy seawater.Steerage passenger Olaus Abelseth swam to the Collapsible and held on to the side for a bit before getting on as the others on board had said to himDon't capsize the boat. He tried to raise the Collapsible'scanvas sides, but was unable to. In the lifeboat, Abelseth encountered a dying man who he had shared acarriage on theboat train toSouthampton with and tried to keep him alive by telling him to brace himself and that a ship was coming. The man however said to leave him be before succumbing to the cold.[13]
First-Class passengerR. Norris Williams also clung onto the side before being able to climb into the lifeboat and Third-Class passengerRhoda Abbott was helped into the Collapsible by its occupants. Saloon Steward Eward Brown also made it back onto Collapsible A after spending a lengthy time in the icy water.Swedish Third-class passenger August Wennerström was able to climb into the lifeboat alongside fellow Swedish steerage passenger Edvard Lindell. Lindell's wife Elin had also reached the Collapsible, but was too weak to climb into it and instead held onto her husband's hand until he grew too weak as well and had to let her go. According to Wennerström, Lindell's hair turned all gray in less than 30 minutes following the loss of his wife before he tosuccumbed to the cold and was lowered overboard. Many more died throughout the night, whereafter their bodies were also lowered overboard as to lighten the unstable half-submerged Collapsible. Some of those on Collapsible A prevented more swimmers from boarding the swamped lifeboat. As daylight rose once again over the Atlantic, steerage passenger Olaus Abelseth could see lifeboat No. 14 with Collapsible D under tow under the command of Fifth Officer Lowe approaching them and said alongside the other survivors in the CollapsibleOne, two, three, before they all screamed for help. Officer Lowe rescued about 14 survivors from Collapsible A and left behind three bodies of those who had died during the night but had not been lowered overboard.RMSCarpathia ultimately rescued allTitanic survivors on the morning of 15 April.[14]
One month after the sinking on 13 May 1912, theRMS Oceanic encountered Collapsible A floating in theAtlantic near theBermudas and send out one of their lifeboats torecover it.[9] On the Collapsible, they found the decomposing bodies of two unidentified crewmen ofTitanic and that of First-Class passenger Thomson Beattie.[15] They also found the discardedfur coat ofR. Norris Williams and thewedding ring of Elin Lindell on the Collapsible, which were returned to Williams and Lindell's father respectively. The bodies were subsequentlyburied at sea and the Collapsible was hoisted onto deck and taken toNew York, where it was placed together withTitanic's other lifeboats in storage at Pier 59 on 16 May.[16][17]
The full list of survivors who were on board Collapsible A is not known, and most of those who reached the boat died from exposure to the cold during the night. This is a list of known passengers and crew who were saved by Collapsible A.
| Name | Age | Class/Dept | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abbott, Mrs Rhoda | 39 | Third Class | Lost her two sons in the sinking and is the only femaleTitanic passenger to have been saved from the icy water. She died in 1946.[18] |
| Abelseth, Mr Olaus Jørgensen | 25 | Third Class | Norwegian farmer emigrating to theUnited States. He was the only male survivor of his travelling party and died in 1980. He was also portrayed byNick Brimble in the 1979 BritishTV filmS.O.S. Titanic.[19] |
| Brown, Mr Edward | 34 | Victualling Crew | First-Class steward whose lengthy time in the freezing water had caused his feet to swell up so much that it had burst his boots. Returned to work at sea and died in 1926.[20] |
| Daly, Mr Peter Dennis | 51 | First Class | Britishbusinessman. He died in 1932.[21] |
| Jansson, Mr Carl Olof | 21 | Third Class | Swedishcarpenter who later admitted to pushing others away from Collapsible A as they tried to board it. He died in 1978.[22] |
| Johansson, Mr. Oscar Wilhelm | 32 | Third Class | Swedishseaman emigrating to the United States to join the crew ofSSBulgaria. Returned to Sweden in 1918 and ran a family hotel with his wife. He died in 1967.[23] |
| Lucas, Mr William Watson | 31 | Victualling Crew | First-Class steward. Returned to sea and served on theRMSEmpress of Australia when it was requisitioned for use as theRoyal yacht forKing George VI andQueen Elizabeth's Royal visit to Canada in May 1939. He died in 1944.[24] |
| McIntyre, Mr William | 21 | Engineering Crew | Trimmer. Later served inWorld War I. He died in 1965.[25] |
| Mellors, Mr William John | 19 | Second Class | Britishsalesman who lived inManhattan before moving toDetroit and working as an editor for the magazineThe National Republic in the 1930s. He died in 1948.[26] |
| Rheims, Mr George Alexander Lucien | 33 | First Class | American businessman. Claimed to have seen an officercommit suicide after announcing,Gentlemen, each man for himself. Good-bye. He died in 1963.[27] |
| Thompson, Mr John William | 41 | Engineering Crew | Fireman.Broke his arm during the sinking, but didn't notice until he had to climb up the rope ladder of theCarpathia.[28] |
| Weikman, Mr Augustus Henry | 52 | Victualling Crew | Barber. Reportedly the only American crewmember and depended ontips from the First-Class passengers to make his living. Aone-dollar bill that Weikman had with him during the sinking, sold atauction for $32,835 in April 2012. He died in 1924.[29] |
| Wennerström, Mr August | 27 | Third Class | Swedish passenger who unsuccessfully tried to save Alma Pålsson and her children. Reportedly also witnessed an English lady sitting at thepiano with her child on her knee, playing away while awaiting their fate. He died in 1950.[30] |
| Williams, Mr Richard Norris | 21 | First Class | Americantennis player. Barely escaped the collapsing forwardfunnel that went on to kill his father and many others in the water. After being rescued, thedoctor on theCarpathia recommended theamputation of both his legs, but Williams refused and instead exercised his legs daily and went on to make a full recovery. He died in 1968.[31] |
The full list of people who managed to climb on board Collapsible A is not known, and onlyeyewitness accounts attest for those believed to have boarded Collapsible A only to die later from exposure during the night. This is a list of known passengers and crew who made it to Collapsible A but weren't rescued in time.
| Name | Age | Class/Dept | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beattie, Mr Thomson | 36 | First Class | Canadian landowner. Body recovered byRMSOceanic and buried at sea.[32] |
| Evans, Miss Edith Corse | 36 | First Class | American passenger and one of only four First-Class female passengers to die in the sinking.[33] |
| Lindell, Mr Edvard Bengtsson | 36 | Third Class | Swedish factory worker. Decided to emigrate to theUnited States with his wife. Managed to board the Collapsible and held onto his wife who was too weak to board the lifeboat until they both perished.[34] |
| Lindell, Mrs Elin Gerda | 30 | Third Class | Wife of Edvard Bengtsson Lindell. Could not make it onto Collapsible A, so held her husband's hand who did manage to board it. She slipped from her husband's grasp and was lost, but herring had slipped off and landed in the lifeboat. The ring was recovered the next month by RMSOceanic and given to her father Nils Persson.[35] |
| O’Keefe, Mr Arthur | 44 | Third Class | American farmer. Possibly the person Olaus Abelseth tried to help by telling him to brace himself and that a ship was coming.[36] |
| Unidentified | Crew | Unidentified crewmember recovered by RMSOceanic and buried at sea. | |
| Unidentified | Crew | Unidentified crewmember recovered by RMSOceanic and buried at sea. |
Collapsible A is featured in the 1958 filmA Night to Remember where officers Lightoller (Kenneth More), Murdoch (Richard Leech) and Moody (Michael Bryant) can be seen trying to get the lifeboat off of the roof of the officers' quarters, when theTitanic enters its final plunge, washing off the Collapsible and ship's officers. It is featured again in the 1979TV filmS.O.S. Titanic where Collapsible A survivor Olaus Abelseth is portrayed byNick Brimble and shows the Collapsible being pushed off the sinking ship by the passengers and crew from the (incorrect) port side.
In the 1997James Cameron filmTitanic, Collapsible A is seen when Murdoch (Ewan Stewart) alongside other crewmen take it down from the roof of the officers' quarters. The scene shows it sliding down the oars and breaking them, subsequently smashing onto deck.[37] It is later shown being filled with women on deck as the crew hold back all men with First Officer Murdoch even pointing agun at them and threatening to shoot any man who tries to get passed him. Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet) herfiancée Caledon Hockley (Billy Zane) then approaches the First Officer about thedeal he made with him, upon which the First Officer throws Cal's money back at him stating that it can't save him any more than it can save himself before pushing him back at gunpoint. A man then rushes the Collapsible, causing First Officer Murdoch to shoot the man. Tommy Ryan (Jason Barry) is accidentally pushed forward in the panick, causing him to be shot as well. As he dies on the deck in Fabrizio de Rossi's (Danny Nucci) arms, Fabrizio looks at the First Officer and calls him a bastard. After dealing with all the guilt, First Officer Murdochsalutes his colleague Chief Officer Wilde (Mark Lindsay Chapman) and then proceeds to commitsuicide by shooting himself through the temple.[a] Cal, upon seeing this, decides to go and fetch a girl that he had found crying alone on the boat deck earlier, and uses her as leverage to circumvent thewomen and children only order. Cal is allowed to board Collapsible A by Chief Officer Wilde after tricking him that he is the child's onlyguardian. AsTitanic enters its final plunge while the ship's orchestra playsnearer my god to thee, Caledon Hockley hands over the girl toRhoda Abbott as Chief Officer Wilde orders the falls to be cut. Fabrizio alongside other crewmen proceed to cut the falls as the Collapsible is being pulled under alongside theTitanic and the lifeboat springs out of the water, spilling its entire complement except Caledon Hockley. He proceeds to prevent some people from climbing on board the Collapsible when the forward funnel collapses, killing Fabrizio and washing the lifeboat away from the sinkingTitanic.Shortly after the collision,R. Norris Williams (who would go on to be rescued by Collapsible A) freed a trapped passenger from acabin by breaking down a door. He was reprimanded by a steward, who threatened to fine him for damagingWhite Star Line property. This incident inspired a scene in James Cameron's filmTitanic (1997).
