Emily Geiger
How Mrs George Widener, whose husband and son perished after kissing her goodbye and helping her into one of the lifeboats ( Lifeboat # 4), rowed when exhausted seamen were on the verge of collapse, was told by, maid of Mrs Widener who was saved with her. The girl said Mrs Widener bravely toiled throughout the night and consoled other women who had broken down under the strain.
Mrs Lucille Carter
Mrs William E Carter and Mrs John B Thayer were in the same Lifeboat ( Lifeboat # 4) and worked heroically to keep it free from the icy menace. Although Mrs Thayer’s husband remained aboard the Titanic and sank with it and although she had no knowledge of the safety of her son until they met, hours later, aboard the Carpathia, Mrs Thayer bravely labored at the oars throughout the night.
In telling of her experience Mrs Carter said :
” When I went over the side with my children and got in the boat there were no seamen in it. Then came a few men, but there were oars with no one to use them. The boat had been filled with passengers and there was nothing else for me to do but to take an oar. We could see now that the time of the ship had come. She was sinking and we were warned by cries from men above to pull away from the ship quickly. Mrs Thayer, the wife of the vice president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, was in my boat and she took an oar too.
It was cold and we had no time to clothe ourselves with warm overcoats. The rowing warmed me. We started to pull away from the ship. We could see the dim outlines of the decks above but we could not recognize anybody.”