The Titanic's Lifeboats

There is a question that I have seen over and over again when discussing the sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic. Would everyone have survived if there were enough lifeboats onboard? My answer: no.

Placement of lifeboats on deck

The Titanic was fitted with 20 lifeboats of various size and design. This was actually four more boats than they were required to have. Only 16 were usable during the evacuation. Most of the lifeboats were not filled the whole way and there are varying reasons for this. One reason is that people were afraid that if they filled the boats up to capacity, that they would buckle. The boats were reinforced with steel beams on the bottoms to prevent buckling, but the crew was largely unaware of this. Another reason that is often cited is that one side of the ship was only letting women and children onto the lifeboats, but the other side was letting everybody on. However, even if the boats had been filled to capacity, which would have required some passengers to stand, they could only have evacuated 53% of the people onboard.

Cutaway of ship

The regulation number of lifeboats at the time was 16 for ships that weighed over 10,000 tons, but the Titanic weighed over 46,000 tons and failed to take this into account. One of the reasons for the sparse presence of lifeboats onboard was due to the airy design. The Titanic was designed to accommodate 64 lifeboats, but designers felt that too many lifeboats would crowd up the deck. The lifeboats were located on the highest deck which the 2nd class and steerage passengers had not been allowed to go up to. Many of them got lost finding their way there.

Part of the problem that the Titanic faced was due to the ship's sponsor, J.P. Morgan. He allegedly put pressure on the builders to use cheaper materials, like cheaper, thinner iron. The  lifeboats were also supposed to have emergency supplies, but were only partially stocked. There are also rumors that there were not enough rivets used to keep the ship together, and the rudder was undersized, which made turning and stopping difficult. J.P. Morgan was intended to be on the voyage, but had backed out earlier that day.

 There were also more passengers than originally intended. Some of the passengers were intended to be on the R.M.S. Gigantic, which was unable to sail at the time. There were about 1,500 people, and only 705 survivors made it to the lifeboats. 92% of the men in 2nd class died. Only two of the 16 boats went back for survivors.

Another problem was underpreparedness of the crew. The crew came onboard only about an hour before everybody else and some were nit given their jobs until they had already set sail. Most of them were not even seamen and could not even row a boat, much less lower a lifeboat. In fact, only one lifeboat drill was ever performed. They only lowered two lifeboats and only rowed it for a couple minutes. No fire drills were ever performed. The test runs performed on the ship were also not thorough. They only tested it sailing a small stretch and turning a few times, and never at full speed. 

Their technological advancements may have also worked against them, in the end. They used a relatively new communication system, and it is possible that other ships didn't know how to use it or didn't understand their transmissions.

All of these shortcuts and oversights can be attributed to one thing. Nobody thought that the Titanic could sink. There was a backup safety system in case the ship took on water. There were watertight doors that meant that the ship could fill up four levels with water and continue to sail. At the very least, they thought that these doors would keep the ship afloat long enough for the lifeboats to take people to safety and come back for the rest of them. It was never considered that a ship of that size could sink fast enough to require an immediate evacuation. Unfortunately, the ship sank too fast for any of this to happen.

People did not believe the ship could sink, even while it was sinking. Some passengers refused the lifeboats and preferred to stay on the ship and wait for help to come. Lifeboats, at that time, were not considered a serious safety measure. It was then believed that a ship should be its own lifeboat. While this tragedy might have been assisted with the presence of more lifeboats, there were so many things that simply were not up to par, there is almost no way that everyone could have been saved.

If you have any questions please leave them in comments and I will do my best to answer them or find someone who can.