Ruth Becker

[Arun Vajpey]

It is likely that Ruth was sent to go back to the cabin for the extra blankets before the loading of Lifeboat 11 occurred. She might have stood behind her mother at that point, while her siblings were loaded on to the lifeboat. Either way, Ruth was left on the ship, and checked to see if she could get into Lifeboat 13, which she was able to do so.
If the lifeboats were loaded at both the Boat and Promenade Decks, then the Beckers would have boarded at the latter, as Ruth said that she was one of the last persons in Lifeboat 13.

Thomas Krom
Her mother had followed the two younger children into No. 11, only realizing as it was being lowered that Ruth was still on the ship. She called up to her daughter to get into another boat. Ruth moved down the deck, and saw Moody loading No. 13. She asked if she could get into the boat. "He said 'sure', and he picked me up and dumped me in. I evidently was the last one put in that boat because they started lowering right away." Ruth did not know the officer's name, but for the rest of her long life she would tell story of how James Moody had swiftly picked her up and placed her in the boat - an old woman recounting a story about a young ship's officer lost in the early years of the century, before the first World War

There are a few problems with that collated scenario that I see if we take into consideration other related survivor witness accounts like Leading Fireman Barrett. But before we come to that, I would like to look at the whole picture.

If Ruth Becker had returned with the blankets and was standing behind her mother when the latter followed the two smaller children into Lifeboat #11 and Ruth herself was not allowed in because there was no room, it certainly would have to be on the A-deck where the final loading of that boat took place. But in that case, would Ruth have been able to "move down the deck" and get into Lifeboat #13 and still be one of the last to board that lifeboat? I don't want to get the debate of which Lifeboat Launching Sequence I believe in but suffice to say that in the two most widely accepted (yet somewhat different) works on this subject, there is a 7 minute difference between the launch times of Lifeboats #11 and #13 respectively in one sequence and 5 minutes in the other. Considering that by then everyone on board the Titanic knew that the ship was sinking and all lifeboat loading and launching activity was rather frenetic, 5 to 7 minutes would have been quite a 'long' time.

So, my question is - when Lifeboat #11 started its final lowering to the sea from the A-deck, had Lifeboat #13 already arrived there? Even if it had, would #13 have been already so full so that Ruth was just about to find her place before it started to lower away like she claimed? Although there are no specific comments to that effect (as far as I know), reading between the lines of survivor accounts suggests that there were quite a few places still left on Lifeboat #13 (unlike Lifeboat #15 shortly afterwards) when it arrived on the A-deck where it took on more passengers. That would also explain those 5 to 7 minutes difference that I mentioned above before Lifeboat #13 followed Lifeboat #11 to the surface of the ocean. In fact, just as Lifeboat #13 was about to be lowered from the A-deck to the sea, Lifeboat #15 arrived on the A-deck and took on a few more people before it also was finally lowered, resulting in the well known descent issues with #13, which had by then not yet reached the sea. By then Lifeboat #11 had rowed away quite a few minutes earlier.

There is also the statement by Leading Fireman Barrett, who arrived on A-deck just before Lifeboat #13 was lowered and was ordered into the boat and "take an oar" by the man in charge - Boatswain Nichols. Barrett said that there was no officer on A-deck at the time but he could hear (but not see) one issuing orders above on the boat deck, which IMO could only have been Moody at Lifeboat #15, which was still on that level at that stage. While it is possible that the then 12 year-old Ruth Becker could have mistaken Nichols for an officer and later assumed him to have been Moody, it still does not explain how she could have been 'one of the last' to board that lifeboat before it started to lower.

 

[Thomas Krom]

There is also the statement by Leading Fireman Barrett, who arrived on A-deck just before Lifeboat #13 was lowered and was ordered into the boat and "take an oar" by the man in charge - Boatswain Nichols. Barrett said that there was no officer on A-deck at the time but he could hear (but not see) one issuing orders above on the boat deck, which IMO could only have been Moody at Lifeboat #15, which was still on that level at that stage. While it is possible that the then 12 year-old Ruth Becker could have mistaken Nichols for an officer and later assumed him to have been Moody, it still does not explain how she could have been 'one of the last' to board that lifeboat before it started to lower.

Hello my friend,



I disagree with the officer being identified as boatswain Nichols. Ruth mentioned that it was a young officer, with Nichols being nearly double Moody his age (with Nichols being 47 and Moody being only 24) I don’t believe it would refer to him. Then we also have the account of lookout Reginald Robinson Lee (1870-1913):

2527.	Sir Rufus Isaac	You mean there was scarcely anybody in No. 13 boat?
	Lookout Reginald Robinson Lee	- Yes. Mr. ---- , I cannot tell you what his name is - a tall Officer, about 6 feet in height, fresh complexion - I forget his name; I could not remember his name - he was there attending to passing the passengers into the boats.
2528.	Sir Rufus Isaac	Was it Mr. Wilde, the Chief Officer?
	Lookout Reginald Robinson Lee	- No, He is about the Sixth Officer, or the Fifth Officer.
2529.	Sir Rufus Isaac	At any rate, he was a very tall man, according to you?
	Lookout Reginald Robinson Lee	- Yes, tall and spare. I think he was drowned.

Let us take Lee his description into perspective

• A tall officer, about 6 feet in height: James Moody was 5’11” in height, being about 6’0”. Sadly there are presently no documents on boatswain Nichols his height.
• Fresh complexion: James Moody was described in his certificate as having a ‘fair complexion’. Moody always had been clean shaven as far as photographic evidence goes, while Nichols through the majority of his adult life had a moustache.
• "He is about the sixth or the fifth officer": Fifth officer Lowe had already left the Titanic in lifeboat number 14 at around 1:30, Moody was still on-board. The uniforms of the officers and the boatswain were different too.
• Tall and spare: If one compares the photographs you can see that Moody was a tall and thin/spare youngman with Nichols being built bit buff:
  
  
  
  
  
  Another important note to have mentioned is that Lee knew Nichols BY SIGHT too:
  

  2488a.	Sir Rufus Isaac	Did you get any orders to go on the boat deck?
  	Lookout Reginald Robinson Lee	- No, but I heard the boatswain call the other watch.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

I disagree with the officer being identified as boatswain Nichols. Ruth mentioned that it was a young officer, with Nichols being nearly double Moody his age (with Nichols being 47 and Moody being only 24)

Thomas, you are wrong if you thought that I believed Ruth Becker mistook Nichols for an Officer while referring to the man whom she saw and was helped by into Lifeboat #13. I merely considered it as an unlikely possibility in my post #31; age differences apart, for the man to have been Nichols, Ruth must have boarded Lifeboat #13 on the A-deck, which is what I questioned in post #28 earlier. I said that my opinion (no more) is that both her family (Lifeboat #11) and herself (Lifeboat #13), got on board on the boat deck and she meant something else altogether when she said that she was the 'last to get on board'.

I believe what happened was that while Ruth was fetching those blankets, Marion and Richard Becker were ushered into Lifeboat #11. The boat was well loaded at that time but not full even though it might have given that impression. With the kids in the boat, Nellie must have decided that she could not wait for Ruth any longer and boarded #11, which started to lower even as the girl appeared with the blankets. That is when Nellie must have screamed at Ruth to get into another boat, not realizing that Lifeboat #11 would briefly stop at A-deck level to take on a few more passengers.

For her part, Ruth moved aft to where the young officer, Moody, was loading Lifeboat #13 and he helped the girl into it. If Murdoch or Moody than gave the order to lower the partially loaded Lifeboat #13, Ruth's statement that she was one of the last passengers to board would also be acceptable, even though #13 also stopped at the A-deck level to collect a few more people. If Lifeboat #11 was on the water by then - which is possible - then almost all survivor witness statements with regard to Lifeboat #13 tally, including those of Lee that you have quoted above and Barrett, who thought that there was an officer giving orders on the boat deck (Moody).

I think it all depends upon how far Lifeboat #11 was loaded on the boat deck before being lowered to A-deck to take a few more passengers. It was the first lifeboat to be dual-loaded and if there were already close to 50 people in it (for example) on the boat deck, the it could have appeared 'full' to Lee, prompting him to move aft to Lifeboat #13 which was still in its early stages of loading at the time. Ruth Becker did the same thing in my opinion.