Name
Lifeboat from Titanic
Lifeboat to Carpathia
Confidence Level
Hedman, Mr Oskar Arvid
10 10 2.81

 


Mr Hedman wrote a letter to his family shortly after the disaster (published in Swedish in Jamtlands-kurien May 7, 1912, also Not My Time to Die by Lily Setterdahl, pages 126 and 127), which says]:
    “I stood alone and saw how the last lifeboat was lowered. An officer stood there with a pistol in his hand to stop frantic people from rushing the boats. The boats were filled with women. I sprang forward to see if I could find someone to bring a last farewell. A woman jumped toward the boat but fell down into the deep. The lifeboat was lowered. At that moment I thought perhaps I should try to jump. If I get shot, I’ll die faster. I jumped and came down in the lifeboat. At once it was lowered, and I got hold of an oar and began to row with all of my might out to sea...
    We rowed around for several hours until daylight slowly appeared. Then we saw a steamer far away. At about 5:30 in the morning we reached the steamer that brought us to New York.”

Lily Setterdahl's book Not My Time to Die says that at the end of his letter Hedman wrote that the Titanic was afloat for two hours after the collision. The lifeboat in which he was rescued was No. 10, and he said it was occupied by fifty women and two men.

Svenska Amerikanska Posten, May 1, 1912.  Hedman was quoted:
    "....I went to the railing and saw that the last lifeboat was leaving. Then I jumped overboard, and when I got up, I grabbed hold of the boat's edge and asked for help. I remained in a very exhausted state, tipped aboard the lifeboat. I never thought I would be saved. After being in the boat for half an hour, I took my seat at the oars. We rode around the sinking ship. Oscar Johanson, who was going to Milwaukee, also got busy in our boat, which contained over 50 people. A woman helped at the oars. I was thin-skinned, soaked and suffering from the cold. Finally we caught sight of the lights of 'Carpathia,' and when dawn came, we caught sight of the ship. There was complete silence as we were brought up on 'Carpathia:' we were terrified and fatigued from the horrible night. The women were immediately taken to the hospital ward, during which the men assisted in the recover of the boats. There were twelve dead in two lifeboats. However, several corpses were carried on board the 'Carpathia' and were subsequently buried. Around 'Carpathia' the water was filled with debris and corpses."

Oscar Johanson possibly may have been in #10.

Hedman was mentioned in a number of papers (such as Aberdeen (South Dakota) Daily News, April 21, 1952; Dickinson (North Dakota) Press of May 18, 1912; Bardstown (Kentucky) Standard of May 30, 1912), all of which mentions he was in the water, and climbing into a lifeboat, similar to the account immediately above.  However, though we cannot be sure, the letter to his family seems to be the most believable.