🚢 RMS Titanic Lifeboat 2 – The First to Reach the Carpathia and the Dilemmas of Survival

Learn the true story of RMS Titanic’s Lifeboat 2, the first lifeboat rescued by the SS Carpathia. Discover how a mix of First-Class and Third-Class passengers rowed themselves to safety, why they chose not to return for survivors, and how their leadership and courage helped them endure the tragedy.

A Seaman, a Foreigner — and Women: The Crew and Passengers of One of the “Titanic’s“ Life-Boats after the Disaster. Drawn from Material Supplied by Mrs. Cornell, a Survivor. (Proof of the Discipline Aboard the Sinking “Titanic ”: A Boat ‘Load of Women.) The Illustrated London News (18 May 1912) p. 754. GGA Image ID # 100a0cd3ea

🚢 RMS Titanic Lifeboat 2 – The First Boat Rescued by the Carpathia

🔍 Overview: A Lifeboat That Followed the Rules – But Left Room for More

Lifeboat 2 is one of the less controversial but equally fascinating Titanic lifeboats. Unlike other boats that were underfilled due to chaos and panic, Lifeboat 2 launched with 18 occupants, just 45% of its 40-person capacity. Unlike the "Millionaire's Boat" (Lifeboat 1), this boat followed the "women and children first" rule, but some men were allowed aboard to help row.

📌 Why is Lifeboat 2 significant?

✔ It was the first lifeboat rescued by the Carpathia at 4:10 AM.

✔ It had one of the more diverse passenger groups, including First-Class, Third-Class, and crew members.

✔ The boat was commanded by Fourth Officer Joseph Boxhall, making it one of the few lifeboats with an officer in charge.

✔ Some survivors rowed themselves to safety, demonstrating the strength and resilience of Titanic’s passengers.

For teachers, students, genealogists, and historians, Lifeboat 2 provides an example of both effective emergency response and missed opportunities, as more lives could have been saved if the boat had been filled to capacity.

Facts about Lifeboat 2 (LB-2)

Lifeboat 2, the 15th one launched at 1:45 am, located on the officers deck, port side, with 18 occupants comprised of 8 First Class, 6 Third Class passengers and 4 Crew Members (11 Women and 7 Men). Capacity for the lifeboat was 40 (45% of Capacity).

First Class Passengers - LB-2

1. Miss Elizabeth Walton Allen, (29)  St Louis, Missouri, US [LB-2]
2. Mrs. Charlotte Lane Appleton (née Lamson) (53)  New York, New York, US [LB-2]
3. Mrs. Malvina Helen Cornell (née Lamson) (55)  New York, New York, US [LB-2]
4. Mrs. Mahala Douglas (née Dutton) (48)  Minneapolis, Minnesota, US [LB-2]
5. Miss Berthe Leroy (maid) (27)  Minneapolis, Minnesota, US [LB-2]
6. Miss Georgette Alexandra Madill, (16)  St Louis, Missouri, US [LB-2]
7. Mrs. Elisabeth Walton Robert (née McMillan) (43)  St Louis, Missouri, US [LB-2]
8. Miss Emilie Kreuchen (maid) (29)  St Louis, Missouri, US [LB-2]

Third Class Passengers - LB-2

1. Mrs. Mary Winnie Coutts (née Trainer) (36)  Brooklyn, New York, US [LB-2]
2. Master William Loch "Willie" Coutts, (9)  Brooklyn, New York, US [LB-2]
3. Master Neville Leslie Coutts, (3)  Brooklyn, New York, US [LB-2]
4. Mr. Anton Kink, (29)  Milwaukee, Wisconsin [LB-2]
5. Mrs. Luise Kink (née Heilmann) (26)  Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US [LB-2]
6. Miss Luise Gretchen Kink, (4)  Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US [LB-2]

Officers - LB-2

1. Sub-Lieutenant Joseph Groves Boxhall, RNR, (28) Fourth Officer [LB-2]

Deck Crew - LB-2

1. Able Seaman: Mr. FrankOsman, (28) [LB-2]

Victualling Crew - LB-2

1. Mr. John Bertram Ellis, (30)  Assistant Vegetable Cook [LB-2]
2. Mr. James Johnston, (41)  Saloon Steward [LB-2]

Legend For Survivor or Lost Passengers and Crew Members

• LB-# or A-D - Survivor on Lifeboat 1-16 or Collapsible Lifeboat A-D
• P-BNR - Perished, Body Not Recovered or Body Not Identified
• MB – CS Mackay-Bennett (bodies 1–306)
• M – CS Minia (bodies 307–323)
• MM – CGS Montmagny (bodies 326–329)
• A – SS Algerine (body 330)
• O – RMS Oceanic (bodies 331–333)
• I – SS Ilford (body 334)
• OT – SS Ottawa (body 335)

Numbers 324 and 325 were unused, and the six bodies buried at sea by the Carpathia also went unnumbered. Several recovered bodies were unidentifiable and thus not all numbers are matched with a person.

Upon recovery, the bodies of 209 identified and unidentified victims of the sinking were brought to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Of those, 121 were taken to the non-denominational Fairview Lawn Cemetery, 59 were repatriated, 19 were buried in the Roman Catholic Mount Olivet Cemetery, and 10 were taken to the Jewish Baron de Hirsch Cemetery. The bodies of the remaining recovered victims were either delivered to family members or buried at sea.

British Report (p. 38) gives this as the seventh boat lowered on the port side of the Titanic at 1.45 a. m. It was the first boat picked up by the SS Carpathia at 4:10 am.

Lifeboat No. 2 from the RMS Titanic as Seen From the SS Carpathia. Photograph by Louis Mansfield Ogden. Scribner's Magazine, March 1913. GGA Image ID # 2196816080

Passengers: Miss Allen (now Mrs. J. B. Mennell), Mrs. Appleton, Mrs. Cornell, Mrs. Douglas and maid (Miss Le Roy), Miss Madill, Mrs. Robert and maid (Amelia Kenchen). One old man, third-class, foreigner, and family: Brahim Youssef, Hanne Youssef, and children Marian and Georges. The rest second and third class. Bade good-bye to wife and sank with ship: Mr. Douglas.

Crew: Fourth Officer Boxhall, Seamen Osman and Steward Johnston, cook.

Total: 25.

J. G. Boxhall, Fourth Officer (Am. Inq., p. 240, and Br. Inq.) :

I was sent away in Emergency boat 2, the last boat but one on the port side. There was one of the lifeboats (No. 4) lowered away a few minutes after I left. That was the next lifeboat to me aft. Engelhardt boat "D" was being got ready.

There was no anxiety of people to get into these boats. There were four men in this boat—a sailorman (Osman), a steward (John ston), a cook and myself, and one male passenger who did not speak English—a middle-aged man with a black beard. He had his wife there and some children.

When the order was given to lower the boat, which seemed to be pretty full, it was about twenty minutes to half an hour before the ship sank. Someone shouted through a megaphone: "Some of the boats come back and come around to the starboard side."

All rowed except this male passenger. I handled one oar and a lady assisted me. She asked to do it. I got around to the starboard side intending to go alongside. I reckoned I could take about three more people off the ship with safety; and when about 22 yards off there was a little suction, as the boat seemed to be drawn closer, and I thought it would be dangerous to go nearer the ship.

I suggested going back (after ship sank) to the sailorman in the boat, but decided it was unwise to do so. There was a lady there, Mrs. Douglas, whom I asked to steer the boat according to my orders. She assisted me greatly in it. They told me on board the Carpathia afterwards that it was about ten minutes after four when we went alongside.

After we left the Titanic I showed green lights most of the time. When within two or three ship lengths of the Carpathia, it was just breaking daylight, and I saw her engines were stopped. She had stopped within half a mile or a quarter of a mile of an iceberg.

There were several other bergs, and I could see field ice as far as I could see. The bergs looked white in the sun, though when I first saw them at daylight they looked black. This was the first time I had seen field ice on the Grand Banks. I estimate about 25 in my boat.

F. Osman, A. B. (Am. Inq., p. 538) :

All of us went up and cleared away the boats. After that we loaded all the boats there were. I went away in No. 2, the fourth from the last to leave the ship. Boxhall was in command. Murdoch directed the loading.

All passengers were women and children, except one man, a thirdclass passenger, his wife and two children. After I got in the boat the officer found a bunch of rockets which was put in the boat by mistake for a box of biscuits.

The officer fired some off, and the Carpathia came to us first and picked us up half an hour before anybody else. Not until morning did we see an iceberg about 100 feet out of the water with one big point sticking on one side of it, apparently dark, like dirty ice, 100 yards away. I knew that was the one we struck. It looked as if there was a piece broken off.

There was no panic at all. There was no suction whatever. When we were in the boat I shoved off from the ship and I said to the officer: "See if you can get alongside to see if you can get some more hands—squeeze some more hands in"; so the women started to get nervous after I said that, and the officer said: "All right." The women disagreed to that.

We pulled around to the starboard side of the ship and found that we could not get to the starboard side because it was listing too far. We pulled astern again that way, and after we lay astern we lay on our oars and saw the ship go down. It seemed to me as if all the engines and everything that was in the after part slid down into the forward part.

We did not go back to the place where the ship had sunk be cause the women were all nervous, and we pulled around as far as we could get from it so that the women would not see and cause a panic. We got as close as we would dare to. We could not have taken any more hands into the boat. It was impossible. We might have gotten one in; that is all.

There was no panic amongst the steerage passengers when we started manning the boats. I saw several people come up from the steerage and go straight up to the Boat Deck, and the men stood back while the women and children got into the boats—steerage passengers as well as others.

Senator Burton: So in your judgment it was safer to have gone on the boat than to have stayed on the Titanic? Witness: Oh, yes, sir. Senator Burton: That was when you left?

Witness: Yes, sir.

Senator Burton : What did you think when the first boat was launched?

Witness: I did not think she was going down then.

J. Johnston, steward (Br. Inq.) :

Crew: Boxhall and four men, including per haps McCullough. (None such on list.) Boxhall said: "Shall we go back in the direction of cries of distress?" which were a half or threequarters of a mile off. Ladies said: "No." Officer Boxhall signalled the Carpathia with lamp. Soon after launching the swish of the water was heard against the icebergs. In the morning Carpathia on the edge of ice-field about 200 yards off.

Mrs. Walter D. Douglas's affidavit (Am. Inq., p. 1 100) :

Mr. Boxhall had difficulty in getting the boat loose and called for a knife. We finally were launched. Mrs. Appleton and a man from the steerage faced me. Mrs. Appleton's sister, Mrs. Cornell, was back of me and on the side of her the officer. I think there were eighteen or twenty in the boat. There were many who did not speak English.

The rowing was very difficult, for no one knew how. We tried to steer under Mr. Boxhall's orders, and he put an old lantern, with very little oil in it, on a pole, which I held up for some time. Mrs. Appleton and some other women had been rowing, and did row all the time. Mr. Boxhall had put into the Emergency boat a tin box of green lights like rockets.

These he sent off at intervals, and very quickly we saw the lights of the Carpathia, whose captain said he saw our green lights ten miles away and steered directly towards us, so we were the first boat to arrive at the Carpathia. When we pulled alongside, Mr. Boxhall called out: "Slow down your engines and take us aboard. I have only one seaman."

Mrs. J. B. Mennell (nee Allen) :

My aunt, Mrs. Roberts' maid, came to the door and asked if she could speak to me. I went into the corridor and she said: "Miss Allen, the baggage room is full of water." I replied she needn't worry, that the water-tight compartments would be shut and it would be all right for her to go back to her cabin. She went back and re turned to us immediately to say her cabin, which was forward on Deck E, was flooded.

We were on the Boat Deck some minutes be fore being ordered into the lifeboat. Neither my aunt, Mrs. Roberts, my cousin, Miss Madill, nor myself ever saw or heard the band. As we stood there we saw a line of men file by and get into the boat—some sixteen or eighteen stok ers.

An officer* came along and shouted to them: "Get out, you damned cowards; I'd like to see everyone of you overboard." They all got out and the officer said: "Women and children into this boat," and we got in and were lowered.

With the exception of two very harrowing leave-takings, we saw nothing but perfect order and quiet on board the Titanic. We were rowed round the stern to the starboard side and away from the ship, as our boat was a small one and Boxhall feared the suction. Mrs. Cornell helped to row all the time.

As the Titanic plunged deeper and deeper we could see her stern rising higher and higher until her lights began to go out. As the last lights on the stern went out we saw her plunge dis tinctively, bow first and intact. Then the screams began and seemed to last eternally.

We rowed back, after the Titanic was under water, toward the place where she had gone down, but we saw no one in the water, nor were we near enough to any other lifeboats to see them. When Boxhall lit his first light the screams grew louder and then died down. We could hear the lapping of the water on the icebergs, but saw none, even when Boxhall lit his green lights, which he did at regular in tervals, till we sighted the Carpathia.

Our boat was the first one picked up by the Carpathia. I happened to be the first one up the ladder, as the others seemed afraid to start up, and when the officer who received me asked where the Titanic was, I told him she had gone down.

* Probably the same officer, Murdoch, described by Maj. Peuchen

Capt. A. H. Rostron, of the Carpathia (Am. Inq., p. 22) :

We picked up the first boat, which was in charge of an officer who I saw was not under full control of his boat. He sang out that he had only one seaman in the boat, so I had to manoeuvre the ship to get as close to the boat as possible, as I knew well it would be difficult to do the pulling.

By the time we had the first boat's people it was breaking day, and then I could see the remaining boats all around within an area of about four miles. I also saw icebergs all around me. There were about twenty ice bergs that would be anywhere from about 1 50 to 200 feet high, and numerous smaller bergs; also numerous ones we call "growlers" anywhere from 10 to 12 feet high and 10 to 15 feet long, above the water.

Colonel Archibald Gracie, "Boat No. 2," in The Truth About the Titanic, New York: Mitchell Kennerley, 1913, pp. 172-181

🌟 Most Engaging & Noteworthy Content

📌 The Passengers: A Mixture of First-Class, Third-Class, and Crew

Lifeboat 2 carried eight First-Class passengers, six Third-Class passengers, and four crew members. This mix contrasts with other lifeboats, where social class often dictated survival chances.

📜 Notable Image:

📷 "The Crew and Passengers of One of the Titanic’s Lifeboats after the Disaster."

✔ This powerful drawing illustrates the lifeboat's occupants, emphasizing discipline and the effort to save lives.

📜 Why This Matters:

✔ Demonstrates that some boats followed the "women and children first" protocol more closely.

✔ Shows that both First-Class and Third-Class passengers survived together.

✔ Provides valuable genealogical insights into the diverse backgrounds of Titanic survivors.

📌 The Launch: One of the Last Boats to Leave Titanic

📌 Lifeboat 2 was launched at 1:45 AM, just 35 minutes before Titanic fully sank. By that time, many passengers had realized the ship was doomed, yet there was still no rush for lifeboats.

📜 Notable Image:

📷 "Lifeboat No. 2 from the RMS Titanic as Seen From the SS Carpathia."

✔ A rare photograph capturing the lifeboat as it approached its rescuers.

📜 Why This Matters:

✔ Highlights the eerie sense of disbelief that persisted, even as the ship was sinking.

✔ Shows how Titanic’s officers still managed to maintain order in some lifeboats.

✔ Provides photographic evidence of one of the first rescues.

📌 The Rescue: The First Lifeboat Picked Up by the Carpathia

🚢 Lifeboat 2 was the first to reach the Carpathia, the rescue ship that picked up Titanic’s survivors.

🔹 Fourth Officer Joseph Boxhall skillfully maneuvered the boat through field ice and icebergs.

🔹 Survivors used green signal lights, which Carpathia’s captain saw from 10 miles away.
The survivors rowed themselves to safety, an impressive feat considering most passengers had no experience handling a lifeboat.

📜 Why This Matters:

✔ Demonstrates how Titanic’s crew took charge of certain lifeboats.

✔ Shows how early rescue efforts unfolded.

✔ Highlights the crucial role of Carpathia in saving lives.

📌 The Ethical Debate: Why Didn’t They Return for Survivors?

After the Titanic sank at 2:20 AM, Boxhall considered going back to rescue those in the water, but ultimately decided against it.

🚨 Reasons they didn’t return:

Passengers in the lifeboat were terrified. Survivors panicked at the thought of capsizing if they attempted rescues.

There was some suction from the sinking ship, though less than expected.

Hearing the cries of drowning passengers was overwhelming.

📜 Notable Quote:

💬 "When the Titanic plunged beneath the water, the screams seemed to last eternally." – Survivor Miss Allen

📜 Why This Matters:

✔ Raises the ethical question: Should lifeboats have gone back?

✔ Highlights the psychological trauma survivors endured.

✔ Challenges common myths about Titanic’s sinking (i.e., suction pulling lifeboats under).

📚 Relevance for Different Audiences

📌 🧑‍🏫 For Teachers & Students:

✔ Encourages critical thinking about survival ethics.

✔ Teaches about class distinctions in maritime disasters.

✔ Provides firsthand survivor accounts for primary source analysis.

📌 📖 For Historians & Maritime Researchers:

✔ Examines emergency protocols aboard Titanic.

✔ Analyzes how crew leadership influenced survival rates.

✔ Explores the role of Carpathia in maritime rescue operations.

📌 🧬 For Genealogists & Family Historians:

✔ Offers insights into specific passengers and crew members.

✔ Details survival patterns among different social classes.

✔ Provides names and stories for those researching Titanic relatives.

🌟 Final Thoughts: The Legacy of Lifeboat 2

📌 Lifeboat 2’s story stands as a testament to both preparedness and lost opportunities. While it successfully followed evacuation procedures, it still left with 45% of its seats empty—a haunting reminder of Titanic’s preventable loss of life.

✔ Unlike the controversial Lifeboat 1, Lifeboat 2 showcased strong leadership under Boxhall.

✔ It proves that class distinctions were not always barriers to survival.

✔ Its decision not to return for survivors remains one of Titanic’s greatest moral dilemmas.

🚢 Lifeboat 2 represents a moment in history where fate, fear, and leadership all played a role in who survived and who did not.