The Carters

William Ernest Carter was born on June 19, 1875. He made a fortune after his father died as a car enterpernual car salesman. His older brother was the owner of the Pennsylvania Railway and the Carters were famous during that time. William married Lucile Polk and had two children William (nicknamed Billy), and Lucile (nicknamed Lucy).

Mr. Carter was traveling home from France on the TITANIC with his family since he had business there to buy a brand new Renault car and also took a vacation. They occupied rooms B-96 and B-98. They also were bringing along two King Charles Spaniels which they had acquired in Paris. As the two children ran around the deck, Billy some crewmen walking the dogs on the poop deck and called out "You take care of my dogs now!". That was the last time that he saw them. The Carters were woken up at around 11:40 but stayed aboard until Boat No. 4 was being loaded. Mr. Carter led his family into the line for the boat, said good bye, and Mr. Carter went to the other side of the ship to help load women and children into Collapsible C. As Collapsible C was being lowered, Mr. Carter stepped into the boat with another man. The man was Joseph Bruce Ismay. On the other side of the TITANIC, Boat No. 4 was being loaded after some difficulty and the Carters hadn't gotten in. There was a shout from the officer that said "No more boys!". Mrs. Carter placed her hat on Billy's head as she was boarding. Billy went looking for his father but was picked up by a man and placed in a different boat. By the time Lucy and Lucile's boat touched the water, Mr. Carter's boat was half a mile from the ship. The family was reunited on the rescue ship Carpathia and Billy was still wearing his mother's hat.

Mr. and Mrs. Carter divorced because Lucile could not stand being married to a coward. Years later, Billy's wife divorced him because there was a rumor that he dressed like a woman. Billy died in 1987. It is not known if he saw the wreck. Nothing is known about what happened to Lucy Carter.




In his testimony , Mr. Carter said this:

Mr. Ismay and myself and several officers walked up and down the deck crying "Are there any more women here?" We called for several minutes and got no answer. One of the officers then said that if we wanted to, we could get into the boat if we took the place of seamen. He gave us preference because we were among the first-class passengers. Mr. Ismay called again, and after we had no reply we got into the lifeboat. We took oars and rowed with two seamen.