Collapsible A's Canvas Sides

[Adam Lang]

Hi everyone. I'm enjoying ET a lot!

I was watching Titanic yet again when I noticed Collapsible A. Various resources indicate that when Collapsible A was being used its canvas sides were down, but in the movie they are clearly up. Is this another blooper or am I missing something?

I also had another question regarding Collapsible A. Collapsible A was attached to the davits but then removed when the Bridge went under. You'd think the canvas sides would be up so it would be ready for loading. Why weren't they?

-Adam Lang

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>Is this another blooper or am I missing something?<<

You're missing something.

Collapsibles were stored with the sidewalls down until needed and in this case, there just wasn't time to get them up. The ship sank from beneath them befor anyone had a chance to complete the job of raising them.

>>You'd think the canvas sides would be up so it would be ready for loading. Why weren't they?<<

Because generally, there was no need. Founderings notwithstanding, the only time lifeboats would ever be launched were in tests conducted inport. Collapsibles were stowed with the sides down for ease of storage. You could pile several on top of each other that way under a single set of davits.

What it boils down to is saving space, which is always at a premium on any ship, and being able to store up to four or five boats or rafts in the space needed by one had an obvious appeal. Unless there was an emergency or a test in progress, there was just no reason to have the sidewalls up.

 

[Adam Lang]

Thanks Michael.


It's interesting why the crew didn't prepare A and B earlier in the sinking. If they had freed A and B and also lowered boats 1, 2, C, and D earlier, then they could have attached both A and B to the davits and lowered them. Does anyone know why they didn't?

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>It's interesting why the crew didn't prepare A and B earlier in the sinking.<<

They were in a really lousy position to do that. The stowage arrangement on the roof was very awkward and would have required scarce manpower to untie, then rig up tackle to move them down to the boat deck. The actual numbers of seamen aboard Titanic trained to do this were few and got smaller with each boat launched as some were needed to man the boats. Since they didn't know exactly how long the ship had to live, they had to give first priority to those boats which could be quickly prepared, loaded and sent away. Collapsibles C and D were already under davits and had to be prepared and lowered first befor the ones stowed on the roof could be.