Ian Holbourn

As a young man he became fond of the remote Scottish island of Foula, which he succeeded in purchasing around 1900, thus becoming its laird.

During the voyage, Holbourn befriended 12-year-old Avis Dolphin, who was being escorted to school and family in England by two nurses, Hilda Ellis and Sarah Smith.

Holbourn attempted to insist that Captain William Thomas Turner should take the precautions of ordering lifeboat drills and instructing passengers on how to wear lifejackets.

[4]: 130  When the ship was torpedoed by an Imperial German Navy U-boat during the First World War on 7 May 1915, Holbourn guided Avis Dolphin and her nurses to his cabin where he fitted them with life belts, even offering up his own;[4]: 204  he then steered them through the tilting passageways to the decks above and into a lifeboat.

His hope of reaching the nearest boat was interrupted when he stopped to help a man who was floating helplessly nearby.