George McGough

[Ioannis Georgiou]

George I have quoted some survivors from No. 13 in my post # 29 including Dr. Dodge from the same source you use! If you continue the source you quoted you will see that they pushed away the boat with the oars! Dr. Dodge was by the way at the bow of the boat so it must have look to him that the water will flood the boat.
It is clear from others that the discharge exhaust was at water level and that water was the main reason why No. 13 drifted aft (as it was also hold by the ropes).

I do not know why you try to make something new. No one ever mentioned the boat stopped for a long time above the water.

 

[George Jacub]

I do not know why you try to make something new. No one ever mentioned the boat stopped for a long time above the water.

Everything in history and science should be continually reexamined and re-tested. For generations students were taught that Richard III was not a hunchback as depicted by Shakespeare, that the great playwright used artistic licence to dramatize Richard's malevolence with a physical affliction. Then a few years ago they found the king's body. Guess what. He was a hunchback.

I've never said the boat stopped "for a long time" above the water. That's pure imagination. I said, and I repeat, "No. 13 sat above the torrent until the ship settled low enough in the ocean that the discharge was under water." There's no doubt that the lowering of No.13 was stopped after occupants of the lifeboat started yelling to the men on the boat deck as the boat was about 10 feet above the vent. That's roughly one deck up, but how far the lifeboat progressed before it stopped we don't know. The vent was near the level of the ocean, but, as Samuel pointed out, was likely higher as the stern of the Titanic was lifted out of the water.

How long it sat there, I don't know. Long enough, according to you to get the oars out. How long did that take? We don't know. Can someone estimate how long it took for the Titanic to sink a half a deck or a deck? Maybe. But the scenario casts doubt on the idea that No. 15 left A deck a minute after No. 13 did. If that's the argument by Sam. That's why I've asked twice already for clarification.

 

[Gaston Sam]

Alright, updating this thread with a little guesswork:

Summing up, it’s most likely AB Scarrott was mistaken about AB McGough being at lifeboat 14, and that mistake lead Mr. Wormstedt to conceive a wrong lowering sequence. I believe, like many others, that the starboard aft boats were lowered before the aft port boats.

Thinking about who could have been the man that actually lowered the after falls of lifeboat 14 and that Scarrott mistook for McGough, I think a likely answer would be AB John Poingdestre.

Poingdestre confirmed his presence at lifeboat 14 in the British Inquiry. He said he helped load it with women and children, and when asked what was done afterwards with that boat he simply said it was lowered.

Poingdestre could bear some resemblance to McGough, and at any rate they were in the Starboard Watch as Scarrott –though maybe not in the same station- so he would at least merely recognize them both. That’s why he would confuse them, adding to that the poor light condition and the general disorder.

​

Then, Poingdestre never said he lowered that boat himself, neither was asked about that, but I think he didn’t mention that to avoid any responsibilities for the twisted after-fall.

 

[Ioannis Georgiou]

Interesting! They look a little similar and with poor light on deck Scarrott might have mistook Poingdestre for McGough. (I am not sure I might have mentioned it already in my article that he mistook another crew member for McGough.)
However I do not think that Poingdestre avoid to mentioned that he lowered it to avoid that the boat hung up and if I remember right they did not asked him about it, only which officer was at that boat and if he helped with the loading of which he said that he spend about 10 Minutes at boat No. 14 before he turned to his own boat No. 12.

 

[Gaston Sam]

(I am not sure I might have mentioned it already in my article that he mistook another crew member for McGough.)

Hi Ioannis! Which article do you mean? Your lifeboat sequence?

 

[Ioannis Georgiou]

Yes but don't know in which version, English, German or unpublished...

 

[Henry Sincic]

Boat 13 probably left 5-10 minutes before 15 in my opinion.