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Helen Ostby, 1st Class Passenger

Helen R. Ostby wrote to Walter Lord on March 7 1956:

"...As to boat 5, I well remember the fact of some men jumping into it as we started to be lowered. How they happened to do it I do not know - but it certainly frightened many people as it made the lifeboat, in its precarious positions, sway quite a bit. After the Titanic went down, I remember hearing a man, probably Pitman, at the other end of the boat from me say that we would pull towards the wreck - but immediately a woman's voice followed by the voices of several men and women, asked him not to, giving the same reason that other people evidently did - fear of being swamped themselves. Undoubtedly Officer Pitman should have used his training and asserted his authority, but the whole situation that night was so completely unusual it is not be wondered that some things were done contrary to the best judgement. When we reached the Carpathia I had the great surprise of finding some Providence friends on board, they were Mr and Mrs. Howard chapin [?], going to Italy on their wedding trip."


Notes:


1. Spelling and punctuation have been preserved, where possible.


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