Name
Lifeboat from Titanic
Lifeboat to Carpathia
Confidence Level
Prichard, Mrs Alice 14 4, 10, 12 or D
4.86
Smith, Miss Katherine Elizabeth 14 4, 10, 12 or D 2.69

 


Letter reproduced in The Daily Telegraph, March 17th 1999.  Mrs. Prichard wrote
    “I was in boat 14 and that filled directly it touched the water. The plug was not in properly, so the officer made us swim to the next boat. They took us on, although it was already overcrowded.”

We know that #14 got water in the bottom of the boat once it reached the sea.  While Mrs Prichard uses the word swim, we suspect that she meant row or transfer. While we were in almost complete agreement that Mrs Prichard left the Titanic in lifeboat 14, it was impossible to identify the boat into which she was transferred, other than to say it was either lifeboats 10, 12 or 4, or Collapsible D.

The Westminster Gazette, April 22nd 1912:
    "Mrs M. Pritchard and Miss Kate Smith, two of the ‘Titanic’s’ rescued stewardesses who have been rescued, describing the scene of the wreck, said: “We had retired when the crash came, and did not believe there was any trouble at all.” Miss Smith added: “Some of us returned to bed, but were soon aroused by a second call of danger. We were fairly hurled into the lifeboats and rowed away from the ship. What followed was the most horrible sight I ever witnessed. There were women and children screaming for help, the water was filled with human beings, and the deck was covered with persons bravely facing their end.”

There is a suggestion that Mrs Prichard and Miss Smith escaped together, both departing in lifeboat 14. However, there is no conclusive proof that this happened, and so a lower level of confidence is expressed that Miss Smith also left in lifeboat 14. If she was in #14, she likely was transferred to another lifeboat with the bulk of the people, and if she did, there is no evidence of which boat she may have transferred to: 10, 12, 4 or D.