Name
Lifeboat from Titanic
Lifeboat to Carpathia
Confidence Level
Devaney, Miss Margaret Delia 9
9
4.88

 


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.