At last the woman was hauled in. once she was in, orders were given to pull the boat away. There was an element of panic in the decision, for the lifeboat was only three-quarters full and women were still left clinging to the ladders and the lifelines. When the boat had gone about 300 yards the men stopped rowing and streamed the sea anchor. Some of the other early boats were going away with no more than 50 people in them, though some were built to hold 86.
Orders were given for them to cult to slide down a lifeline with it. If it were simply a question of skirt or safety, this was not the time for false modesty. “Would you rip it for me?” she asked the seaman.
He stared at her for a moment in astonishment. Then with a grin he caught hold of the skirt and pulled the cloth clip.
With her skirt split like a Chinese cheongsan, Barbara Bailey let herself down the lifeline. All went well until her feet touched the ledge at the Plimsoll Line. She paused for a moment, before deciding to let go and jump into the boat, but a wave suddenly swept the boat away from her.
As she hung there waiting for it to ride in again, the old despair gripped her. Here she was dangling from the end of the rope, the Atlantic waves licking only a few feet from her. It could easily be the end.
She let her feet slip from the ledge, her hands still clinging to the rope. Where was the boat now? “I might as well jump and finish it anyway,” she thought.
Then a pair of hands gripped that if she suddenly did go down they would not be sucked down after her.
Both refused, they appeared to have lost their nerve, and lay in the bottom of the boat with their arms round their wives.
Taylor Tried to sing them into action by shouting insults, and once or twice it looked as if his policy might succeed. One of them made a half-hearted attempt to rise. But his wife held him back, shouting: – ‘Don’t leave me- don’t leave me!”.

THEY STARTED TO SING
By two minutes past nine only two boats were left. One was no. 7a, held firmly on its chocks by the list which had now grown to 12 degrees. The waiting “Abide with me” all around was the dark sea.

WAITING THEIR TURN, THE LAST FEW SING ‘ABIDE WITH ME’
With the waves, the men would grab a woman on the ladder by the legs. At the same time people in the lifeboat would yell at her to let go.
It worked until suddenly a big 14-stone woman fell into the sea with a tremendous splash. ‘she came up shouting. The she turned over on her back and floated, still calling for help. In the boat her 12-year-old daughter added to the row with her screams.
Two men reached out and caught the struggling woman and tried to pull her in, but her enormous weight and intense upon lying rigidly on her back defeated them. … To be continued- (In the next Sunday edition of the Guyana Chronicle.)