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I also think that Quatermaster Hitchens was a real nerd. However, I think this because of his bickering nature with Molly and the rest of the women on board, and his pessemism (he kept saying they were doomed).

However, I do not blame him for not wanting to return to the scene and trying to pick up survivors of the sinking. It was just too dangerous for the 40 or so passengers he did carry in Lifeboat 6.

Think about it. 1523 people died that night and were in the water. If Hitchens, or any other boat tried to go back into the wreck area right after the ship went under, the boats would have risked being grabbed by more people that they could handle and therefore swamp, and then what do you have---more people die.

If Hitchens went back to try to save people, we could have lost 1563, Molly Brown included.

If all the liveboats went back, there is a great chance that fewer than 705 would have survived. That act of human compassion could have just deepened the scope of the disaster.

When it comes down to it, self preservation becomes a person's greatest life instinct, as much as we like to think of ourselves trying to be heroic.

The odds were too great, especially trying to navigate in the pitch dark.

Now, with that said, Officer Lowe did return in Lifeboat 14, after he transfered most of his people out of his boat to others. However, he waited "till they were half dead" as a line from A Night To Remember goes. And even he sometimes gets critisized for waiting too long. But who can blame him when lives that are already safe from immediate danger could be risked?