The Rough Guide
to the Titanic
Titanic,Rough Guide Titanic,Rough Guide to the Titanic,Titanic book review,Titanic books,Titanic book,Titanic best book,Titanic latest book,Titanic new book,Titanic newest book,Titanic good book,Titanic cheap book,Kindle,Titanic Kindle,Titanic e-book,Titanic Amazon,Titanic Amazon book,Rough Guide,Rough Guides,Lonely Planet,DK Titanic,Dorling Kindersley Titanic,Penguin Titanic,A Night to Remember book,A Night to Remember movie,A Night to Remember YouTube,Belfast,Californian,Captain Smith,Captain Smith film,Captain Smith footage,Captain Smith movie,Captain Smith photo,Captain Smith YouTube,Cherbourg,DiCaprio Titanic,Duff Gordon,Harland & Wolff,history titanic,HMS Titanic,iceberg,Ismay,It was sad when that great ship went down,J. Bruce Ismay,Jack Dawson Titanic,James Cameron Titanic,James Cameron’s Titanic,James Cameron’s Titanic re-release,John Jacob Astor,Julian Fellowes,Julian Fellowes Titanic,Julian Fellows,Kate Winslet Titanic,Lady Lucile Duff Gordon,Leo DiCaprio Titanic,Leonardo DiCaprio Titanic,Lightoller,Liverpool,Nearer My God To Thee,Night To Remember Titanic,Olympic and Titanic,Olympic sister ship,Olympic Titanic,real story titanic,real titanic,RMS Titanic,Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon,SOS Titanic,Southampton,SS Titanic,true story titanic,true titanic,Unsinkable,Unsinkable Molly Brown,Titanic 1912,Titanic 2012,Titanic anniversary,Titanic answers,titanic artefacts,titanic articles,titanic artifacts,titanic auction,Titanic author,titanic band,titanic books,titanic built,Titanic Californian,Titanic Carpathia,titanic cast,Titanic centenary,titanic characters,titanic college,Titanic collision iceberg,Titanic conspiracy,titanic conspiracy,Titanic conspiracy theories,titanic crash,Titanic dead,Titanic death,Titanic disaster,titanic discovery,titanic documentary,Titanic Downton Abbey,titanic encyclopedia,titanic engines,Titanic essay,titanic exhibit,titanic experience,Titanic expert,titanic facts,titanic facts and figures,titanic film,titanic first-class,titanic free,titanic fun facts,titanic gifts,Titanic Greg Ward,Titanic history,titanic hits iceberg,titanic how it sank,titanic how many,titanic hymns,Titanic iceberg,titanic images,titanic information,Titanic interview book,Titanic Julian Fellowes,Titanic Julian Fellows,titanic kate winslet,titanic kids book,titanic launch,titanic learn,titanic lesson plans,Titanic Louise Patten,titanic movie,titanic movie facts,titanic music,titanic musicians,Titanic myth,titanic necklace,titanic news,titanic newspaper,titanic on tv,titanic online,titanic online free,titanic passengers,titanic photographs,titanic photos,titanic pictures,titanic plot,titanic posters,Titanic questions,titanic questions answered,titanic quick facts,titanic quiz,titanic quotes,Titanic radio book,titanic re release,titanic read,titanic real facts,titanic real story,titanic re-release,titanic review,Titanic sample answer,Titanic sample essay,titanic school,titanic second-class,Titanic shipwreck,Titanic sinking,titanic sinking,titanic sister ship,Titanic statistics,Titanic steerage,Titanic story,Titanic student,Titanic study aid,titanic summary,titanic survivors,titanic telegraph,titanic the experience,titanic the movie,titanic theme,Titanic theories,titanic third-class,titanic timeline,Titanic tragedy,titanic trailer,titanic true,titanic true story,titanic tv,titanic tv programme,titanic underwater,titanic unsinkable,Titanic victims,titanic victims,titanic voyage,titanic what happened,titanic what really happened,titanic what year,titanic wireless,Titanic wreck,Titanic writer,titanic year,Titanic YouTube,Greg Ward,
What happened on the
“Money Boat”?
Did Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon
bribe his way to safety?
The story of the Titanic’s Lifeboat 1 – later known as the Money Boat – was engulfed in suspicion and speculation. Gossip suggested that even though just twelve people were on board – in a boat that could have held forty – Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon and his wife, the fashion designer Lucile, had bribed its crewmen to row away from the sinking Titanic, rather than return to pick up survivors. They might even have bribed their way off the ship in the first place.
While everyone agreed on the general circumstances of the launch of Boat 1, ninety minutes before the Titanic finally sank, their stories varied. Lookout Symons was astonished when Officer Murdoch allowed it to be lowered less than half full: “I could not tell why he gave the order. I could not criticise an Officer. He gave the order to lower away, and I had to obey orders.”
As for how the Duff Gordons came to be aboard, Lady Duff Gordon described an implausibly civilized exchange: “my husband went forward and said, ‘Might we get into this boat?’, and the officer said in a very polite way indeed, ‘Oh certainly, do; I will be very pleased’”.
Lifeboat 1 was stationary in the water, either 200 yards (according to the sailors and firemen) or half a mile (as Sir Cosmo insisted) from the Titanic when the great ship went down. Everyone on the lifeboat subsequently agreed that shortly afterwards, Lady Duff Gordon consoled her maid for the loss of her possessions, saying “there goes your beautiful nightdress”. A fireman retorted “Never mind about your nightdress madam, as long as you have got your life”.
According to Sir Cosmo, another fireman then said “we have lost all our kit and the company won’t give us any more, and what is more our pay stops from tonight. All they will do is to send us back to London”. Sir Cosmo replied “You fellows need not worry about that; I will give you a fiver each to start a new kit”. The next morning, he kept his promise, writing each man a cheque for five pounds.
Rumours subsequently charged that Sir Cosmo had forbidden the crewmen to row back to help the swimmers in the freezing ocean. By that reckoning, the £5 was either a payment not to go back, a reward for not doing so, or a bribe to keep their mouths shut. There were hints too that Sir Cosmo had paid Murdoch for his seat on the boat, and for launching it as soon as he was aboard.
So when exactly did the fateful conversation take place, and what precisely was being agreed?
for the full story, read the Rough Guide to the Titanic . . .
To read more about the Titanic, click here, or on the links below:
• What really happened on the night the Titanic went down?
• Did the band play on as the ship was sinking?
• Were the third-class passengers locked below decks, unable to escape?
• If the Titanic was unsinkable, why did she never complete
text © Greg Ward, images Library of Congress archives
