From dream to reality
In addition to Abraham Lincoln Salomon, Lucy Duff-Gordon, a leading fashion designer and her sister, the daring novelist Elinor Glyn, her husband Cosmo Duff-Gordon, and her secretary Mabel Francatelli, were passengers in lifeboat No. 1.
Describing the catastrophe unfolding before their eyes, Lucy Duff-Gordon explained "I was in bed for at least an hour, the lights were all off, when I was woken by a strange rumble. It was nothing like anything I had ever heard before. It was like a giant hand playing balls, rolling them along the boat. Then the boat stopped and immediately there was a frightening noise and steam escapes, and I heard people running past my cabin, but they were laughing and cheerful." (Titanic Voices: 63 Survivors Tell Their Extraordinary Stories, Holman 63 survivors tell their extraordinary story).
When her secretary Mabel Francatelli noticed that the water was seeping into her cabin on deck E, she went upstairs to tell her employer "A man came up to me and put on a life jacket, telling me he was just taking precautions and not to be alarmed... When we arrived on the upper deck, the lifeboats were lowered to starboard. I noticed then that the sea was closer to us than during that day and I said to Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon,"We're sinking" and he said,"Stupid, come on!" (According to Francatelli's affidavit given to the British investigation, quoted in the Encyclopedia Titanica.)
Passengers ready to do anything to save themselves
However, the reality of the situation became clear for the Duff-Gordon and Francatelli. According to Lucy Duff-Gordon's account To port was a scene of indescribable horror. Boats after boats were lowered into the noise of the running passengers, fighting for a place on board, tearing each other apart, trampling under their feet, women and children. The Lascars[South Asian sailors] on the bridge below, were taken by a fit of madness and fought like devils around the remaining boats. While we were standing there, people rushed at us in a thoughtless crowd, to go anywhere, far from the hell of this struggle, crowds howling and there were screams from a boat, too quickly launched, whose occupants were killed in the black depths of the water". "We'll go around the starboard side" said Cosmo "Maybe it'll be better there. It can't get any worse."
"It was better, because even though there was a crowd, there was no confusion. The lifeboats have quietly filled up with women, while officers and male passengers help him launch them." (op. Cit Holman). Lucy Duff-Gordon refused to abandon her husband on the Titanic "Suddenly, we saw that everyone in the neighbourhood had dispersed, except a few sailors, who were launching a small boat. We then discovered that it was not a lifeboat, but rather the captain's emergency boat." . The crew, many of whom were firefighters or"stockers", invited several passengers, including Francatelli and Duff-Gordon, to join them in the boat.
The privileged rich
Around one in the morning, the Duff-Gordons, Francatelli, "and the two Americans whose names we discovered were Mr Stengel and Mr Solomon" had joined the seven crew members in lifeboat No. 1, a 40-person lifeboat, tipped over along the starboard side of the Titanic, ready to hit the water quickly. Seeing no other passengers on the starboard side of the deck, the vessel was launched with only 12 passengers at approximately 0115. It was the fourth lifeboat launched and the passengers rowed away from the perishing liner and decided not to return to rescue the helpless passengers in the icy water, which later became a matter of controversy.
From the lifeboat, the small group watched, in shock, at about 2 o'clock in the morning, the Titanic crack in two and dive into the black water. According to the later testimony of the Titanic fireman, Robert Pusey, on the Lady Duff-Gordon lifeboat, commented on the loss of Francatelli's nightgown, encouraging Pusey to complain that he and his sailors had not only lost their belongings, but their wages as well, when the ship sank. Sir Duff-Gordon promised the crew one month"a five-pound ticket each to start a new kit", once the lifeboat was safe. (Testimony of Robert W. Pusey," British Wreck Commissioner's Inquiry: Day 11, Titanic Inquiry Project).
At about 4:10 in the morning, they were rescued by the Carpathia and the next day Duff-Gordon kept his word and authorized Francatelli to give each crew member of lifeboat No. 1 a cheque for $5. Unfortunately, this gesture was misinterpreted by the journalists who explained that it was a reward for rowing away from the Titanic, without saving any other passenger, for fear of being overwhelmed. The press soon nicknamed the lifeboat number one as the"Silver Boat" and the"Millionaire's Boat"
