Deposition of George Pelham

I made my way to the boat deck & stationed myself at No. 15 lifeboat – the last one on the starboard side to which I was attached. Chief Officer Murdoch was giving orders and the first boat I saw lowered was No. 13 on the starboard side. This was about 1am. Soon after No. 15 having been swung out, he ordered 10 of the crew to man this lifeboat and lower away to A Deck...

...When the boat was quite full I heard the Chief Officer shout "Lower away." On reaching the water we cut away the ropes to get clear. The boat was the last one on the starboard side to leave the ship, but everything was done orderly. The time was between 1:30 and 2am. The firemen and trimmers, who numbered seven or eight, took charge of the boat as there was no officer or seaman. There were a few stewards, at least 25 women and children, and nearly 40 male passengers in the boat. We could see the ship sinking by the head and when about a half mile off we heard two explosions and rumbling noises. Directly afterwards she seemed to break in two and the stern to partly right itself for a brief period. The lights were burning 'til the last and the ship disappeared from view with the cries of the people on board. Five minutes later, all was silent. We were about three quarters of a mile away and felt no suction. As the boat was so crowded, we could not find whether there were any provisions in the boat. We found out afterwards that the boat was provisioned. The only light we saw was the green light from one of the lifeboats, until we saw the two lights of a vessel which proved to be the Carpathia. At about 7:30am all were safely taken aboard the Carpathia, and were treated with every kindness by passengers and crew.

Curator's note: This text was sourced from images from Henry Aldridge & Son's September 2002 auction when the original deposition was sold. Additional references are Paul Lee's Titanic: The Homecoming and Bill Wormstedt's Titanic site.