During the US inquiry into the disaster, Hichens denied the accounts by the passengers and crew in lifeboat 6. These events would later end up being depicted in the Broadway musical and film, The Unsinkable Molly Brown. After a last attempt by Hichens to keep control of the lifeboat, Brown threatened to throw him overboard. Although Hichens protested, Denver millionaire Margaret "Molly" Brown told the others to start rowing to keep warm. By this time the other people in the lifeboat had lost patience with Hichens. When the RMS Carpathia came to rescue Titanic 's survivors he said that the ship was not there to rescue them, but to pick up the bodies of the dead. At least two boat 6 passengers publicly accused Hichens of being drunk: Major Arthur Godfrey Peuchen and Mrs Lucian Philip Smith. Later it was alleged that he complained that the lifeboat was going to drift for days before any rescue came. He would also testify to have been given direct orders by second mate Charles Lightoller and Captain Edward Smith to row to where a light could be seen (a steamer they thought) on the port bow, drop off the passengers and return. Hichens was later to testify at the United States Senate inquiry that he had never used the words "stiffs" and that he had other words to describe bodies. Passengers accused him of refusing to go back to rescue people from the water after the ship sank, that he called the people in the water "stiffs," and that he constantly criticised those at the oars while he was manning the rudder. Hichens gained notoriety after the disaster because of his conduct in Lifeboat No. JSTOR ( April 2018) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message).Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.įind sources: "Robert Hichens" sailor – news Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. This section needs additional citations for verification.
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