Name	Lifeboat from Titanic	Lifeboat to Carpathia	Confidence Level
Shelley, Mrs Imanita	12 (7 votes) 10 or 12 (1 vote) 10 (1 vote) 14 (1 vote)	12 (7 votes) 10 or 12 (1 vote) 12 (1 vote) 14 (1 vote)	2.93 3.00 3.50 2.50
Parrish, Mrs Lucinda Davis	12 (7 votes) 10 or 12 (1 vote) 10 (1 vote) 14 (1 vote)	12 (7 votes) 10 or 12 (1 vote) 12 (1 vote) 14 (1 vote)	2.93 3.00 3.50 2.50

Imanita Shelley gave an affidavit in the American Inquiry, which appeared on pages 1146-1148, which gives details on her and her mother's (Mrs. Parrish) escape:
    “That owing to the great number of persons on the deck Mrs. Shelley was not able to see anything of the handling of boats except the one she herself was placed in. There was practically no excitement on the part of anyone during this time, the majority seeming to think that the big boat could not sink altogether, and that it was better to stay on the steamer than trust to the lifeboats. After sitting on the chair for about five minutes one of the sailors ran to Mrs. Shelley and implored her to get in the lifeboat that was then being launched. He informed Mrs. Shelley that it was the last boat on the ship, and that unless she got into that one she would have to take her chances on the steamer, and that as she had been so sick she ought to take to the boat and make sure. Mrs. Strauss advised taking to the boats, and, pushing her mother toward the sailor, Mrs. Shelley made for the davits where the boat hung. It was found impossible to swing the davits in, which left a space of between 4 and 5 feet between the edge of the deck and the suspended boat. The sailor picked up Mrs. Parrish and threw her bodily into the boat. Mrs. Shelley jumped and landed safely. That two men of the ship's crew manned this boat at the time of launching, one of whom said he was a stoker and the other a ship's baker. That at the time of launching these were the only men in the boat. That at the time of lowering the boat it seemed to be as full of passengers as the seating capacity called for, but owing to the excitement no thought of numbers entered Mrs. Shelley's head. The boat appeared to be filled with as many as could get in without over crowding, all of them women and children, with the exception of the two mentioned above. That on trying to lower the boat the tackle refused to work and it took considerable time, about 5 minutes, it is believed, to reach the water. That on reaching the water the casting off apparatus would not work and the ropes had to be cut.
    That just as they reached the water a crazed Italian jumped from the deck into the lifeboat, landing on Mrs. Parrish, severely bruising her right side and leg. This gave them one extra man.  After coming loose from the ship the orders were to pull out toward the other boats and get as far away from the probable suction which would ensue if the steamer should sink. Orders were also given to keep in sight of the green light of the ship's boat which had been sent out ahead to look for help. That on reaching a distance of about 100 yards from the Titanic a loud explosion or noise was heard, followed closely by another, and the sinking of the big vessel began. 
    .... That after the sinking of the ship the boat they were in picked up several struggling in the water and were fortunate enough to rescue 30 sailors who had gone down with the ship, but who had been miraculously blown out of the water after one of the explosions and been thrown near a derelict collapsible boat to which they had managed to cling. That after taking all those men on board the boat was so full that many feared they would sink, and it was suggested that some of the other boats should take some of these rescued ones on board; but they refused, for fear of sinking.”

Shelley gave a highly detailed press account in the Anaconda Standard on May 6, 1912, again stating that the boat her mother, Lucinda Parrish, and she were in, was the last boat lowered, that they had to be thrown across the gap between Titanic and the lifeboat, that there was difficulty releasing the falls once they were afloat, and again mentioning a male passenger jumping down into the boat, on top of her mother. 

While Shelley doesn’t specify which boat she was in, in another account, published in a book about William Stead, titled Stead, The Man, she wrote a letter which confirms that her lifeboat was at the aft end of the ship: "When we, the last lifeboat left, and they could do no more, he [Stead] stood alone, at the edge of the deck, near the stern, in silence and what seemed to me a prayerful attitude, or one of profound meditation." 

Shelley repeatedly stating that her lifeboat was the last boat lowered, coupled with the tidbit above, suggests that she was in one of the aft port boats, and specifically, #10, which was certainly the last boat lowered from that part of the ship. 

Multiple other details of her accounts seem to fit boat #10.  The lifeboat Shelley left in hung away from the ship’s side “between 4 and 5 feet” due to the port list. During the loading of the aft boats, the port list was only described as this severe while Boat No. 10 was being loaded. During the loading of Boats Nos 16, 14 and 12, either no list was described, or a slight list to port was mentioned, which is not described as having substantially interfered with the loading to this extent. (See Titanic: The Lifeboat Launching Sequence Re-Examined, by Bill Wormstedt, Tad Fitch and George Behe at https://wormstedt.com/Titanic/lifeboats/lifeboats.htm, for additional details on the list and how it relates to the lifeboat timeline.) Shelley’s mother had to be thrown into the boat and she had to jump across the gap, also conditions that suggest Boat No. 10, where Joughin and others had to chuck passengers and children across the gap into the boat. Shelley indicated in her American Inquiry affidavit (page 1147) that she was told her boat was the last boat. The majority of eyewitnesses said No. 10 was the last of the aft port boats.

Additionally, according to her affidavit, the ship’s baker (Joughin) was manning Shelley’s boat at the time of its lowering just as Joughin himself testified (Br. 6007). Joughin was not involved in the loading of Boat No. 12, which he did not even see leave the ship. (Br. 6009) However, Shelley says this man stayed aboard her boat, which Joughin did not.  It is possible that she saw this man helping load her boat, and was simply mistaken that he departed with them. 

Shelley also indicated that a man jumped down into her lifeboat as it was lowering, injuring Lutie Parrish, and that there was trouble getting to the tripper and freeing the falls once her lifeboat touched down in the water. Seaman Frank Evans mentioned similar incidents in his testimony, saying that they happened at No. 10 (American page 676); others from No. 10 mention a man jumping into it and landing on a woman as it lowered away.  However, a man did jump down into #12 as well, as mentioned in multiple accounts by occupants of that boat. 

Counter to this is the detail mentioned in both Shelley’s affidavit and May 6, 1912 Anaconda Standard interview, mentioning that her lifeboat rescued passengers off of Collapsible B.  Boats #4 and #12 were the boats from Fifth Officer Lowe’s flotilla, which rescued those survivors.  Clearly, Shelley’s accounts are incompatible with boat #4, but some, even if not all, details are consistent with #12. 

Shelley gave some additional details in other accounts.  In a press interview in the Anaconda Standard on April 14, 1915, Shelley claimed that “she helped the men hold up the crude sail rigged up in her lifeboat.” However, this is at odds with her May 6, 1912 interview in the same paper, where Shelley stated that they tried to raise the mast in her lifeboat, couldn’t, and threw it overboard, never having found the sail.  The only lifeboat to successfully raise its sail was boat #14, under the command of Fifth Officer Lowe.  However, an inventory of the items contained in the lifeboats in New York after their recovery, was made for insurance valuation.  It is held in the U.S. National Archives, and reveals that the mast, sail and rigging were present in boats #12 and #10.  Shelley had either made up that detail, or was a poor observer, and saw the crew throw something else overboard. 

In yet another account, given in the Roundup Record on April 26, 1912, Shelley introduced details that confuse matters further: 
“In an interview with a representative of The Record, Mrs Shelly stated that their stateroom was on the same deck as that of Mr Ismay, the managing director of the White Star Line, and they were rescued in the last boat that left the doomed ship. Mr Ismay was also an occupant of this boat.
         Mrs Shelly stated that there was no panic or confusion immediately following the collision with the iceberg, but as the lifeboats, one after another, left the ship, loaded with women and children, and pulled away from the vessel, those on board became alarmed. When the last two boats were lowered, the lifeboat which carried Mrs Shelly and her mother, and a collapsible boat, the officers of the ship were compelled to fight the crowd on the main deck with fire arms to prevent a stampede in the mad rush for a boat.
        Mrs Shelly saw three foreign looking men, probably steerage passengers, shot down by officers of the ship.
        The lifeboat in which Mrs Shelly and her mother was saved was lowered simultaneously with a collapsible boat. As the collapsible boat reached the water and was about to pull away several passengers on board leaped from the sinking ship into this boat and swamped it, drowning the occupants. Two men leaped into the boat occupied by Mrs Shelly just as it was released from the ship. Mrs Shelly’s mother sustained a broken leg as one of these men fell into their boat, as a result of which she endured intense pain during the six hours that they remained in the lifeboat until rescued by the Carpathia…
        …Mrs Shelly said that the survivors who were in the lifeboats after the Titanic sank were thinly and poorly clad, in the bitter cold atmosphere of the Atlantic off Cape Race, suffered intensely from exposure and yet the physical pain endured was as nothing compared to the grief and sorrow of those who parted forever with relatives. Many of the women seemed unmindful of whether they were saved or not.
       The daughter said: ‘Our boat was one of the last to be picked up and mother was very weak and exhausted when we finally landed on board the Carpathia.’”

Many of these details do not add-up either.  Bruce Ismay was in Collapsible C, not one of the aft port boats.  Also, the aft port boats, which departed between 1:20-1:50 a.m., did not lower away at the same time as Collapsible C and D, the only two collapsibles actually lowered away, at 2:00 a.m. and 2:05 a.m., respectively.

Other details in Shelley’s accounts do not accord with either boat #12 or #10, such as her assertion that her boat was manned by just a stoker and a ship’s baker, and that no other men were aboard when the boat was lowered.  That detail does not match any known boat, and all of the aft port boats had members of the deck department aboard when lowered.  The only bakers to survive the sinking were Joughin, who described assisting in the loading of #10, but who was rescued on Collapsible B, and Henry Neal, the assistant baker, who was rescued in boat #13.  Shelley contradicts her affidavit in her May 6, 1912 Anaconda Standard interview, stating that there was a sailor aboard her lifeboat, who threatened the man who jumped down into her boat with a gun.  This sounds more like what Fifth Officer Lowe did at #14.     

In her affidavit, Shelley described her lifeboat as “seeming to be as full of passengers as the seating capacity called for.”  Boat #10 lowered away full, with between 57-60 occupants aboard.  By contrast, boat #12 lowered away with just 42 seat occupied, before taking on additional passengers from #14 and Collapsible B, once afloat, and arriving at the Carpathia overloaded. 

In both her affidavit and Anaconda Standard interview, Shelley stated that her mother and her lifeboat reached Carpathia after 8:00 a.m.  Research indicates that boat #10 reached the rescue ship at 8:00 a.m., and #12 reached it at 8:15 a.m.  Again, this detail is consistent with either.

When discussing the varying and contradictory details in Shelley’s accounts, we were forced to conclude that she was either a poor witness, or intentionally confabulated details.  This makes it difficult to determine with certainty which lifeboat her mother and she were rescued in.  Her accounts contain some details that match boat #10, and others that fit #12.  Other details that she gives fit neither boat.

We did not all agree on the lifeboats, most voted for lifeboat 12, but one vote for #10 or #12, one vote for #10 with a transfer to #12, and a final single vote for #14.