After a six-week vacation in Italy with her mother, Gibson was returning on the Titanic to make a new series of pictures for Eclair at Fort Lee. The women had been playing bridge with friends in the lounge on the night of the ship's fatal collision with the iceberg. With two of their game partners (including William Thompson Sloper) they escaped in Lifeboat 7, the first lifeboat launched after she had a fight with one of the crew members and was lifted onto the boat against her will.