The following account courtesy of Alan Hustak (investigation of this account is onging, by a number of researchers):

In 1985, Dr. Arun Vajpey, of Wiltshire, England, was in a second hand bookstore in Burton on Trent, 'talking Titanic' with the owner, when he was approached by a 'respectable lady' in her late sixties, Mrs. Alice Braithwaite.  They began talking, and ended up spending several hours talking with each other.  During the course of their conversation, Mrs. Braitwaite brought up that she had met John Collins back in the 1930's (this could be quite possible, because Scullion John Collins lived until 1941, and Mrs. Braithwaite would have been 13-22 depending on what year in the thirties that she supposedly met him).  As far as Dr. Vajpey knows, Mrs. Braitwaite never became a full Titanic enthusiast herself, and was only interested in the story because of her acquaintance with John Collins.  This is what Dr. Vajpey reported that Mrs. Braithwaite was told by John Collins:

Collins came on deck, and was told at some stage to go to Lifeboat # 16, which he had been assigned to.  He believed that this boat was designated for the crew, because when he arrived there, a large group of crewmen were standing around with their kits, waiting to get into the boat.  This made him think that he might not have a chance to board the boat.  He thought that one of the officers on the scene was 'the senior mate, the one next to the captain.'  (again, since this was Collins first sea voyage ever, and obviously his first with the Titanic, he may not have been able to tell which officer was which, other than to say that it was one of the senior officers)  Collins said that the officer refused to allow him to get into the boat, even though there were several empty seats in it when it was lowered.  He then headed for the starboard side, where he heard there was a collapsible boat being gotten out.  He made his way around to the starboard side, and encountered a woman and her two children.  By that time Collins said that the 'ship was nearly gone, with water round our feet, and only the one collapsible left,' and it was being dragged across the deck by some 'Swedes.'  Collins also remembered that the situation was chaotic, and that there were three officers trying to control the situation, including the one whom he had seen at Lifeboat # 16.  Suddenly a number of people tried to rush the lifeboat and board it, even though it was not free of its lashings.  At that point, according to the Collins' story, an officer shot the two men, and then turned the revolver on himself. Collins believed that the officer was the same one who he had earlier seen at Lifeboat # 16.  Then, Collins, the woman and her children, and everyone else on the deck were washed off by a wave as the bow plunged under.  Collins lost his grip on the child he was carrying, and later struggled to Collapsible B.