Lifeboat 12

**Lifeboat 12** was the fifth boat lowered on the port side. It would seem likely that most of the passengers in this boat were second class ladies. Miss Dagmar Bryhl tried to get the officer(s) to let her brother and fiancé come with her into the boat, but to no avail.

"*She was taken to a boat where her brother and fiancé were absolutely prohibited from entering, even though there was plenty of room in it. Miss Bryhl said there were only six persons in the boat at the time for lowering, but that they picked up about 50 from the water.*"    - (Nordstjernan, April 30th 1912, p. 12).
Others were persuaded to enter it, and it finally held 42 people when lowered away. One young man jumped into it when it was lowered and there were two sailors in it, the rest were women. Lightoller and Wilde lowered boat 12 at 1:20 A.M. It was first manned only by Able-Bodied Seaman Frederick Clench and was subsequently put in the charge of Able Seaman John Poigndestre. A male passenger jumped into the boat as it was lowered past B Deck. Difficulty was encountered in unhooking the boat from the falls, requiring Poigndestre to use a knife to cut through the ropes. Several passengers from other boats were transferred into boat 12 after the sinking and it was heavily overloaded by the time it reached *Carpathia* with at least 69 people aboard. It was the last lifeboat to be picked up by *Carpathia*, at about 8:15  A.M.. One young man jumped into it when it was lowered and there were two sailors in it, the rest were women.

When they had been in the water for a while, they encountered lifeboat 14 and other boats, and Fifth Officer Lowe distributed his passengers in order to go back to the wreckage to see if he could save anyone. No. 12 probably received ten or twelve additional survivors from No. 14 - also, two or three crew from Collapsible D came into No. 12. This meant that No. 12 now had about 40-45 people in it. When they heard Lightoller's whistle, they immediately rowed off and, together with lifeboat 4, rescued those on collapsible B. About 16 or so came into No. 12 and they reached the RMS *Carpathia*, now under the command of Second Officer Lightoller, with about 60 people. It was the last boat to reach the rescue ship, after eight o'clock in the morning.

## Notable occupants

* Frederick Charles Clench (in charge)\* *Able Seaman*
* John Poingdester *Able Seaman*
* Mary Sloan\* *Stewardess*
* Mrs Anna Abelson\* *Second Class Passenger*
* Miss Lillian W. Bentham\* *Second Class Passenger*
* Miss Dagmar Bryhl\* *Second Class Passenger*
* Florentina Duran y More\* *Second Class Passenger*
* Miss Asuncion Duran y More\* *Second Class Passenger*
* Mrs. L. Davis Parrish\* *Second Class Passenger*
* Miss Alice Phillips *Second Class Passenger*
* Miss Emily Rugg\* (10?) *Second Class Passenger*
* Mrs. Imanita Parrish Shelley\* (10?) Second Class Passenger
* Mrs. Florence L. Ware\* *Second Class Passenger*
* Mrs. Eva Dean *Third Class Passenger*
* Master Bertram Dean\* *Third Class Passenger*
* Vera Dean\* *Third Class Passenger*
* Master Elias Nicola-Yarred\* *Third Class Passenger*
* Mrs. Florence Thorneycroft\* *Third Class Passenger*

###### Collapsible B rescuees

* Charles Lightoller *Second Officer* (took charge when he arrived)
* Charles John Joughin *Chief Baker*
* Cecil William Fitzpatrick *Engineer's Mess Steward*
* Jack Thayer *First Class Passenger*
* Patrick O’Keeffe\* *Third Class Passenger*

\* = not certain