Titanic Lifeboat 7
Lifeboat number 7 was one of the lifeboats kept at the forward end of Titanic’s boat deck, and on the night of the sinking it was the very first lifeboat to leave the ship. In total the boat could have held a maximum capacity of 65 people; however, it was lowered away from Titanic with just around 28 people aboard, made up of male and female first class passengers, and three members of the ship’s crew, Lookout George Hogg, Lookout Archie Jewell and Seaman William Weller. George Hogg is said to have commanded the boat.
At the American Titanic Inquiry George Hogg said that First Officer Murdoch had ordered him into the boat to check that the boat’s plugs were in. After putting in the plugs in he then confirmed to William Murdoch that they were correct and jumped back out of the boat. William Murdoch then told him to go with the boat.
The boat, the first to leave the sinking ship, was lowered under the supervision of William Murdoch at approximately around 12.40am, about an hour after the collision with the iceberg.
In the water the boat stayed near the ship until it become obvious that Titanic was going to sink; so they moved further away to a safe distance from the ship. For some time during the night boat 5 was tied up to lifeboat 7, under the command of Third Officer Herbert Pitman. During the night a small number (aprox.4-6) were transferred from lifeboat 5 to Lifeboat 7 to even up the load.
Also at the American Titanic Inquiry George Hogg said that, after the ship had sunk, the boat started pulling around in search of other people [to rescue], until, about half a mile away from the wreck, they met another boat, from which someone said: "We have done all in our power and we cannot do any more." and "We have done our best. There are no more people around. We have pulled all around." George Hogg then said, "Very good. We will get away now." He then said he laid off until seeing the lights of Carpathia.
In the morning, Lifeboat 7 safely arrived at Carpathia. The lifeboat itself was also taken aboard Carpathia to New York; in New York the boat was amongst those boats of Titanic that were landed in New York at White Star’s pier 59, the place were Titanic was supposed to berth.
Amongst the passengers rescued in lifeboat 7 was well known actress Dorothy Gibson. Dorothy Gibson stared in the very first Titanic film, Saved from the Titanic, released only just around a month after the sinking; sadly no known copies of the film survive today.
Related pages - Titanic Lifeboats, All Titanic Pages