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The following
facts, drawn from the accounts listed immediately
below, allow us to conclude that Devaney was most
likely in Boat No. 9:
The Troy
Daily Times, August 6, 1912
Boston Post,
August 6, 1912
New York
American, date unknown
Newark Daily News, April 2, 1967
letter from Margaret Devaney to Ed
Kamuda, November 10, 1966 (courtesy of Don Lynch)
1973 interview for a
television broadcast (transcribed by George Behe)
• Devaney does not mention shots
fired at her lifeboat in any of her accounts, which
tends to eliminate any of the aft port boats and
Collapsible C.
• Devaney said that her lifeboat
hung up on the port side of the ship, but she surely
meant starboard, since virtually no steerage
passengers were lowered in the early forward lifeboats
when Titanic was listing to starboard. Her accounts
also indicate that her boat departed late in the
sinking, which further eliminates any of the early
forward boats.
• Other accounts indicate that she
was in a starboard boat, loaded from the “second class
deck.” Of the starboard boats, just Boat No. 9 was
lowered from Second Class deck space, specifically the
Second Class Promenade on the Boat Deck. Boat No. 9
was the only boat lowered from near the Second Class
Promenade, with Boat Nos. 11, 13, and 15 being loaded
from the open First Class Promenade, on A Deck.
Collapsible C was lowered adjacent to the Officer’s
Promenade.
• Devaney describes two men and a
lady getting out of the boat and allowing her to
board, and perishing as a result. While not an exact
match, this is similar to what Second Class passengers
Marion Wright and Kate Buss described as happening at
Boat No. 9, with Douglas Norman almost getting in, but
standing back when prevented from doing so, while
Alfred Pain did not get aboard, with Wright being
described as “the last person put into that boat.”
• Devaney describes “sailors” or
“officers” being in charge of her boat. While Boat No.
9 did not have an officer aboard, it did have four
members of the Deck Department aboard, who could have
been mistaken as such (Boatswain Haines, Quartermaster
Wynn, and Able-bodied Seamen McGough and Peters).
Collapsible C (Quartermaster Rowe) and Boat No. 11
(Able-bodied Seaman Humphries) each had one member of
the Deck Department aboard, while Boat Nos. 13 and 15
only had firemen in charge.
• Devaney lent a pen knife to cut
the oars free after they had difficulty doing so, once
afloat. Saloon Steward William Ward testified
that in No. 9 “we had some difficulty in unlashing the
oars on account of them being lashed up. No one had a
knife for some time.” (Am. 598). Steward
Widgery stated that he freed the oars and was the only
one with a knife (Am. 602), but considering
that the ten oars for the 30 foot lifeboats were
lashed together and tied down within the lifeboat at
various points along the length of the boat, it seems
likely that more than one individual helped to free
them. May Futrelle also spoke of the issue freeing the
oars, saying that George McGough ripped them free by
hand, and alternately, that someone eventually found a
knife. (accounts contained further below)
• Devaney states that her boat did
not meet up with any other lifeboats during the night,
eliminating all of the aft port boats and Collapsible
D as the one she was in.
• Devaney stated that after the
rescue, one of the “officers” gave her the flag
pennant “from the boat’s prow.” Collapsible C did not
have flag pennants on its side, as none of the
collapsible lifeboats did. Of the aft starboard boats,
the inventory of the lifeboats, completed after they
were retrieved and deposited at Pier 54 in New York,
reveals that of the four flag pennants, Boat No. 9 had
all four removed by that point. Boat No.11 had two
removed, Boat No. 13 had four removed. Boat No. 15 was
not inventoried, since it was set adrift by Carpathia.
However, it is unlikely that any of the flags were
removed from the boat while it was in the water. (1912
Inventory of the lifeboats, currently held by the
Library of Congress.)
• Devaney consistently stated that
her lifeboat had 32 occupants aboard. Boat Nos. 11, 13
and 15 all had upwards of 50 passengers each, leaving
Boat No. 9 as the closest to Devaney’s estimate of 32
aboard, since it lowered with around 40
occupants. Collapsible C had 43 aboard.
• Devaney specified that her boat
reached Carpathia around 6:00 a.m., consistent with
No. 9, which reached it around 6:15 a.m. (Report
Into the Loss of the SS Titanic:A Centennial
Reappraisal, Halpern, et al., The History Press,
2011.) Boat No. 11 was rescued at 7:00 a.m., No. 13 at
6:30, and No. 15 at 7:30, respectively.
Lifeboat #9 fits best, though we collectively were not
100% positive.
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