I know boats were lowered with less than half the capacity. That's all I need to know to show me they were incompetent at their jobs for whoever was running that show. I'm not talking about crewmen handling the ropes. I'm talking about management. If the ships designer tells you you got an hour, hour and half left then toss the friggin rule book and decorum and do what it takes to get the boats full. If nobody was sure of the capability of the boats then that's reflects poorly on the WSL and their training. They should have known that beforehand not trying to guess about it when the ship was sinking. I know it's all hindsight and monday morning quarterbacking. But the results speak for themselves. They could have gotten more people in the boats. But we obviously have a different take on the situation and that's ok with me. Cheers and thanks for the response.
I have to say it, Seven - that's a crock.
The book I referred to was not a Rule Book - it was, and still is, a training manual for seaman.
What you and so many other lands folk forget is that every bit of equipment on a ship, including a lifeboat, is finite... you can't order a replacement on the net. Consequently, a good seaman will always take action to ensure that the equipment will do what it is designed to and be capable of doing it more than once if necessary.
Although the hour and a half lifetime opinion was given, that is all it was - an educated guess. Early on, no one could be sure the ship would sink or whether the boats would need to be recovered back on board when the excitement was over. If you read the evidence carefully, you will find there were those who thought that - including the Third Officer.
The ship's designer was not on board, Steven, and if he had been, he would not have had any say in the matter, but the opinion of any other likewise qualified individual, would have been welcomed.
All Masters and Extra Masters were trained in ship stability... every officer on T
itanic was so qualified.
Not until the soundings were taken and after a sufficient time to estimate flooding rate had been determined, would anyone with sufficient technical knowledge be able to estimate life-span of the ship.
I have shown you the limitations of the gear in use and the weakest link...the rope falls. No competent seaman would have permitted a boat to have been launched with full capacity thus creating a potential problem until the risk of drowning was greater than having everyone spilled out of one end of the boat and the boat being rendered useless thereafter.
Titanic's boats were not designed to be launched with a full complement and that had damn all to do with any member of her crew.
Modern launching systems were upgraded to prevent what was possible in
Titanic. Try to imagine what would have happened if only one rope fall had broken just after launch? I don't have to, I have seen the result and that was with a modern, twin wire, automatic system. It was not a pretty sight.
Then we have the people themselves.
Have you ever had the job of marshalling crowds of people who don't believe what is happening to them? Nothing has changed -just look around you today and see how many shrug off or even recoil from the ideas of masks and shots.
