 The surviving soldiers mustered and awaited their officers ' orders . Salmond ordered Colonel Seton to send men to the chain pumps ; sixty were directed to this task , sixty more were assigned to the tackles of the lifeboats , and the rest were assembled on the poop deck in order to raise the forward part of the ship . The women and children were placed in the ship 's cutter , which lay alongside . Two other boats were manned , but one was immediately swamped and the other could not be launched due to poor maintenance and paint on the winches , leaving only three boats available . The two large boats , with capacities of 150 men each , were not among them . 
