 Meanwhile, on the other side of the "Elbe", Captain von Goessel had ordered all the women and children to assemble there but no other lifeboats were launched because the ropes on the derricks were all frozen up, and so they perished along with the captain.Within 20 minutes of the collision, the "Elbe" had sunk and the only survivors were the 20 people in the one surviving lifeboat.These people now had to endure mountainous seas and below-zero temperatures and they were 50 miles from land.