 However, although some events are based on true history, the characters and the storyline are fictional; the characters of Mr. Murphy, Mr. Gallagher, Mr Hoyle, and Jay Yates being composites of several men.Murphy, who leads the steerage girls to the lifeboat, is a composite of several Irish emigrants.Hoyle, the gambler who gets into the lifeboat on the starboard side, is a composite of several such figures, men determined to save themselves at all costs.