25. What Happened to the Lifeboats?
During the rescue of the Titanic survivors by the Carpathia, 13 lifeboats were brought back to Pier 59. Pier 59 is where the Titanic was scheduled to dock. Plates were removed from the lifeboats which had their numbers and the Titanic name. Lifeboat 8’s plate was removed by Able Seaman Tom Jones, a surviving crew member, and was sent to Lucy Noël Martha, the Countess of Rothes.
After that, the fate of the 13 ships is a bit of a mystery. Most assume they were put to use on the Titanic’s sister ship, the Olympic, but there is no confirmation as to what truly happened to the 13 that made it back. The other seven floated in the Atlantic, which included 3 wooden boats, 4, 14 and 15, as well as four collapsible boats, A through D. It was only a few days later that a Canadian ship by the name of Mackay-Bennett, saw collapsible lifeboat B floating in the water and tried to bring it on board, but was unsuccessful.