Collapsible Boat A was a lifeboat from the Titanic. It was one of the last boats launched to sea, over two and a half hours after the Titanic collided with an iceberg and began sinking on 14 April 1912. Collapsible A could not be successfully launched, and it was washed off deck and partially submerged when the Titanic made her final plunge at 2.20 am. Despite being dangerously overloaded by the many people that climbed into her from the freezing water, most died of hypothermia or fell back into the sea. Only about 14 people including one woman were still alive on Collapsible A when they were rescued by Lifeboat No. 14 led by Fifth Officer Lowe.
Collapsible Boat A was located on the starboard side of the ship and was one of the four "collapsible" Engelhardt lifeboats. They were boat-shaped unsinkable rafts made of kapok and cork, with heavy canvas sides that were raised to form a boat. These "collapsible" boats measured long and wide by deep. Their capacities were of and each could carry 47 people. Inspired in a Danish design, they were built by McAlister & Son of Dumbarton, Scotland. Their equipment was similar to that of the cutters, but they had no mast or sail, had eight oars apiece and were steered using a steering oar rather than a rudder.
Two Collapsible Boats were launched between 2.00 and 2.15 am, with only one from each side of the ship getting safely to sea. Collapsible Boat C (starboard) was launched at 2.00 am with about 43 people on board, including J. Bruce Ismay. Captain Smith ordered quartermaster George Rowe to board and take command of the raft. Collapsible Boat D (port) was also successful in its launching at 2.05 am, carrying about 20 people, and under the command of quartermaster Arthur Bright.
Two of the collapsibles were located on top of the Officer's Quarters and needed to be pushed off to be launched. While Collapsible A was brought down upright, Collapsible B fell over upside down. Both boats were not launched but were washed away as the water began reaching the bridge. Collapsible B floated off upside down and would eventually be taken charge off by Second Officer Charles Lightoller. Collapsible B had around 23 survivors when assisted by other lifeboats, including Wireless Operator Harold Bride, Chief Baker Charles Joughin and First-Class passengers Archibald Gracie IV and Jack Thayer. Collapsible A floated away right side up and had no crewmember in charge of it as Officers James Moody, William Murdoch, and Henry Wilde, handling the launch of A, were swept away after a surge of water from the staircase leading below decks.
Collapsible Boat A was located on the roof of the officers' quarters. At around 2.00 am on 15 April 1912, Chief Officer Wilde, First Officer Murdoch, Sixth Officer Moody, Saloon Steward Eward Brown, Barber Augustus Henry Weikman and about two or three more crew members tried to take the Collapsible down by using a makeshift ramp made with two wooden planks, while two or three crewmen stood below on deck to receive the lifeboat. The men put the bow of the Collapsible on the planks and let it slide down to the boat deck below, where it broke the planks but landed right side up about halfway between the deck housing and the davits from where it was supposed to be launched. Due to Titanics list to port, the starboard side of the ship was still free of the water while on the port side, the boat deck was already flooding. This gave First Officer Murdoch the wrong impression that there was still time to properly launch the Collapsible with the davits, going against Sixth Officer Moody's suggestion to let the Collapsible drift off the boatdeck. The crew weren't able to secure the falls to the Collapsible right away due to Titanics port list, but were able to fasten it after slackening the falls. The list however, also made it difficult for the crew to get the Collapsible up the incline to the davits that had previously launched lifeboats 1 and C. By this time, about 50 people including four to five women amongst whom First-Class passengers Edith Evans, John Jacob Astor and George Widener, were gathered at the site of Collapsible A, awaiting its launch. Saloon Steward Eward Brown witnessed Captain Smith coming past the Collapsible at this point with a megaphone in his hand and saying Well, boys, do your best for the women and children, and look out for yourselves. before he returned to the bridge. Only seconds later at about 2.15 am, Titanic returned to an even keel and took a sudden dip, submerging the bridge and sending a wave roaring over the starboard boat deck, washing off Officers Wilde, Murdoch and Moody.
Saloon Steward Eward Brown found himself knee-deep in the rising water, when he jumped in the still fastened Collapsible and started to cut the after fall with his pocketknife while shouting to the man at the forward end to do the same so the Collapsible wouldn't be dragged under with the Titanic. Many of the nearby passengers and crew who had waited for the lifeboat to be launched, now also scrambled into it to escape the rising water until the Collapsible was almost full. The lifeboat was already dragged halfway underwater by the time the falls were cut, and as it regained its buoyancy, the Collapsible sprang up out of the water, throwing her entire complement into the sea. As the Collapsible drifted away from the quickly foundering Titanic, many people were able to climb back onto it. However, in all the chaos, the canvas sides had not been pulled up and as the lifeboat became dangerously overloaded with about 30 to 45 passengers and crew, the Collapsible became awash with knee-deep icy seawater. Steerage passenger Olaus Abelseth swam to the Collapsible and held on to the side for a bit before getting on as the others on board had said to him Don't capsize the boat. He tried to raise the Collapsible's canvas sides, but was unable to. In the lifeboat, Abelseth encountered a dying man who he had shared a carriage on the boat train to Southampton with and tried to keep him alive by telling him to brace himself and that a ship was coming. The man however said to leave him be before succumbing to the cold.
First-Class passenger R. Norris Williams also clung onto the side before being able to climb into the lifeboat and Third-Class passenger Rhoda Abbott was helped into the Collapsible by its occupants. Saloon Steward Eward Brown also made it back onto Collapsible A after spending a lengthy time in the icy water. Swedish Third-class passenger August Wennerström was able to climb into the lifeboat alongside fellow Swedish steerage passenger Edvard Lindell. Lindell's wife Elin had also reached the Collapsible, but was too weak to climb into it and instead held onto her husband's hand until he grew too weak as well and had to let her go. According to Wennerström, Lindell's hair turned all gray in less than 30 minutes following the loss of his wife before he to succumbed to the cold and was lowered overboard. Many more died throughout the night, whereafter their bodies were also lowered overboard as to lighten the unstable half-submerged Collapsible. Some of those on Collapsible A prevented more swimmers from boarding the swamped lifeboat. As daylight rose once again over the Atlantic, steerage passenger Olaus Abelseth could see lifeboat No. 14 with Collapsible D under tow under the command of Fifth Officer Lowe approaching them and said alongside the other survivors in the Collapsible One, two, three, before they all screamed for help. Officer Lowe rescued about 14 survivors from Collapsible A and left behind three bodies of those who had died during the night but had not been lowered overboard. RMS Carpathia ultimately rescued all Titanic survivors on the morning of 15 April.
One month after the sinking on 13 May 1912, the RMS Oceanic encountered Collapsible A floating in the Atlantic near the Bermudas and send out one of their lifeboats to recover it. On the Collapsible, they found the decomposing bodies of two unidentified crewmen of Titanic and that of First-Class passenger Thomson Beattie. They also found the discarded fur coat of R. Norris Williams and the wedding ring of Elin Lindell on the Collapsible, which were returned to Williams and Lindell's father respectively. The bodies were subsequently buried at sea and the Collapsible was hoisted onto deck and taken to New York City, where it was placed together with Titanics other lifeboats in storage at Pier 59 on 16 May.
The full list of survivors who were on board Collapsible A is not known, and most of those who reached the boat died from exposure to the cold during the night. This is a list of known passengers and crew who were saved by Collapsible A.
The full list of people who managed to climb on board Collapsible A is not known, and only eyewitness accounts attest for those believed to have boarded Collapsible A only to die later from exposure during the night. This is a list of known passengers and crew who made it to Collapsible A but weren't rescued in time.
Collapsible A is featured in the 1958 film A Night to Remember where officers Lightoller (Kenneth More), Murdoch (Richard Leech) and Moody (Michael Bryant) can be seen trying to get the lifeboat off of the roof of the officers' quarters, when the Titanic enters its final plunge, washing off the Collapsible and ship's officers. It is featured again in the 1979 TV film S.O.S. Titanic where Collapsible A survivor Olaus Abelseth is portrayed by Nick Brimble and shows the Collapsible being pushed off the sinking ship by the passengers and crew from the (incorrect) port side.
In the 1997 James Cameron film Titanic, Collapsible A is seen when Murdoch (Ewan Stewart) alongside other crewmen take it down from the roof of the officers' quarters. The scene shows it sliding down the oars and breaking them, subsequently smashing onto deck. It is later shown being filled with women on deck as the crew hold back all men with First Officer Murdoch even pointing a gun at them and threatening to shoot any man who tries to get passed him. Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet) her fiancée Caledon Hockley (Billy Zane) then approaches the First Officer about the deal he made with him, upon which the First Officer throws Cal's money back at him stating that it can't save him any more than it can save himself before pushing him back at gunpoint. A man then rushes the Collapsible, causing First Officer Murdoch to shoot the man. Tommy Ryan (Jason Barry) is accidentally pushed forward in the panick, causing him to be shot as well. As he dies on the deck in Fabrizio de Rossi's (Danny Nucci) arms, Fabrizio looks at the First Officer and calls him a bastard. After dealing with all the guilt, First Officer Murdoch salutes his colleague Chief Officer Wilde (Mark Lindsay Chapman) and then proceeds to commit suicide by shooting himself through the temple. Cal, upon seeing this, decides to go and fetch a girl that he had found crying alone on the boat deck earlier, and uses her as leverage to circumvent the women and children only order. Cal is allowed to board Collapsible A by Chief Officer Wilde after tricking him that he is the child's only guardian. As Titanic enters its final plunge while the ship's orchestra plays nearer my god to thee, Caledon Hockley hands over the girl to Rhoda Abbott as Chief Officer Wilde orders the falls to be cut. Fabrizio alongside other crewmen proceed to cut the falls as the Collapsible is being pulled under alongside the Titanic and the lifeboat springs out of the water, spilling its entire complement except Caledon Hockley. He proceeds to prevent some people from climbing on board the Collapsible when the forward funnel collapses, killing Fabrizio and washing the lifeboat away from the sinking Titanic. Shortly after the collision, R. Norris Williams (who would go on to be rescued by Collapsible A) freed a trapped passenger from a cabin by breaking down a door. He was reprimanded by a steward, who threatened to fine him for damaging White Star Line property. This incident inspired a scene in James Cameron's film Titanic (1997).