I have had a rethink about the entire scenario that eventually led to the deaths of Hudson, Bess and Loraine Allison. As discussed in other threads, I still believe that it was due to a combination of Bess' insistence of not leaving her husband and Hudson's own dithering, but above all (contrary to my own previous belief) because
the three of them remained on the port side of the ship till the end, not realizing that men were allowed where there was room on the starboard side. This may seem unlikely with hindsight, but on a ship the size of the
Titanic, people might not have realized what was going on in parts of the ship away from their own positions. Just like how very few Second Class passengers, if any, went to the forward parts of the ship during the sinking. But of one thing I remain certain; the Allisons were not searching for
baby Trevor, whom they knew was safe with his nurse
Alice Cleaver.
Alice Cleaver and probably
Sarah Daniels informed the Hudson and Bess about the danger to the ship and soon after wards Daniels left on Lifeboat #8 launched at 01:00 am. I believe that Alice Cleaver picked-up
Trevor Allison, who was her responsibility anyway, right in front of Bess and as she left, almost certainly ran into
Hudson Allison as she claimed later. That would mean both parents knew where Trevor was and left the cabin themselves soon afterwards with Loraine. That would have been the only way by which Bess and Loraine managed to get into Lifeboat #6; Hudson very likely bundled the two of them into the lifeboat and stood back on the deck. But when Bess realized that her husband was not going to be allowed into the lifeboat, she got out with Loraine, as witnessed and reported by both
Major Peuchen and
Colonel Gracie.
I originally assumed that Bess then spent time searching for her husband and kept missing him in the crowd. But given the timeframes, I began to feel that this was unlikely; even if Bess had momentarily not seen where Hudson was when she got out of Lifeboat #6, I think she would soon have found him.
Hudson then very likely spent time trying to persuade Bess to get into a lifeboat with Loraine while the woman stood her ground in refusal to go without him. During that argument, if the family had moved aft while remaining on the port side, they could have ended-up where Lifeboats #16, #14 and #12 were being loaded but again with the "women and children
only" protocol. That could have been when Winnie Troutt, who was very likely rescued on one of those 3 lifeboats, saw Bess "holding Loraine's hand and screaming".
All that could very easily have made Hudson and Bess assume that the situation was the same on the starboard side, although we now know that men were allowed there if there was room. After Lifeboat #12 was lowered at 01:30 am and Lifeboat #10 not even loading yet, the Allisons most likely went down to
A-deck to the vicinity of Lifeboat #4 around which a large number of their contemporary
First Class passengers were gathering. But the situation there and later around
Collapsible D would have been the same with
Hudson Allison not being allowed and Bess Allison refusing to get into a boat without him. After that, it was too late for any of them.
