It's easy to be brave in imaginary situations (for instance, I'm sure all of us here would have gladly joined the resistance in any occupied country during WW2), and impossible to say for sure, but I could guess...
If I had friends or family on the boat, I believe that I would have tried to save them before getting on a lifeboat, particularly the women and children.
If I were travelling alone, knowing no one else there, and particularly if there were people depending on me at home - honestly, I would probably do anything to get on one of those lifeboats ASAP, short of anything outright criminal or ridiculously immoral.
