At 12:55am, Lifeboat 5 is the 3rd boat to be launched. Only 41 of it's 65 seats are occupied. Shortly after, the first distress rocket is fired and Boat 3 is launched with only 33 people on board.
At 1:10am, Lifeboat 1 is the 5th to be launched. This boat leaves with only 12 seats occupied, among them is Sir Cosmo Duff-Gorden and his Wife Luceile. It would later be said that Cosmo bribed the other people in the boat with £5 to not return and rescue people, a story he would never be able to live down.
The owner of Macey's Department Store, Isadore Straus, attempts to put his wife into a lifeboat, however she refuses to leave him. "Where you go, I go".
Lifeboat 8 is then launched with only 28 people. The officers do not realise how they are affecting the number of lives that will be lost.
Thomas Andrews has noticed the lack of people in the lifeboats and at around 1:15am he demands that the boats be filled. He stresses that the boats were tested with 70 men back in Belfast so there is no reason to not fill them.
The steerage passengers below begin to panic. They are still not allowed up to the boat deck and they sense their time is running out. The water is rapidly filling the lower levels and they have no way out.
1:20am, Lifeboat 10 is the 7th boat to leave the Titanic, it is launched with 55 seats occupied, an improvement on the other boat's load of 20 or more.
1:24am, the Titanic is resting lower in the water. Passengers begin to panic as the deck tilts more and more. A lot of people try to storm the boats. 2nd Officer Lightoller threatens to shoot any passenger who tries to climb into the boat. Lifeboat 16 and 14 are the 8th and 9th to be launched with 40 and 45 seats occupied respectively. First class passengers try to rush boat 14 which is commanded by 5th Officer Lowe, a seaman pushes passengers back with a tiller and Lowe fires 3 warning shots out to sea for those who have already jumped into the boat. The Titanic is not as safe as it once felt.
To be continued....
1:20am, Lifeboat 10 is the 7th boat to leave the Titanic, it is launched with 55 seats occupied, an improvement on the other boat's load of 20 or more.
1:24am, the Titanic is resting lower in the water. Passengers begin to panic as the deck tilts more and more. A lot of people try to storm the boats. 2nd Officer Lightoller threatens to shoot any passenger who tries to climb into the boat. Lifeboat 16 and 14 are the 8th and 9th to be launched with 40 and 45 seats occupied respectively. First class passengers try to rush boat 14 which is commanded by 5th Officer Lowe, a seaman pushes passengers back with a tiller and Lowe fires 3 warning shots out to sea for those who have already jumped into the boat. The Titanic is not as safe as it once felt.
To be continued....
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