Collapsible Boats

It was A and B that were stored on the roof, Bruce. I'm afraid we don't really know what the thought processes were with the officers involved, as they didn't survive. Loading on top of the roof would have been difficult...firstly to get the passengers up there, and then to hope that the dynamics of the sinking didn't swamp or damage the boats with a load of passengers as water reached their level. Floating them free from the roof without passengers would have posed potential issues as well.

It may be that the crew did at some point intend to float them free - when Hemming attempted to pass Moody the block while the Sixth Officer was on top of the officers quarters, Moody responded "we don't want the block, we will leave the boat on deck." What, precisely, Moody meant is unclear. It may be that from his vantage point on the roof, he realised that there would not be time to hook Collapsible A up to the falls, load and lower it...which leads to the possibility that they may have intended to float the lifeboat free (as work seems to have continued at A until the last minute, it does not seem that efforts at the boat were ever abandoned - or, if they were, they were swiftly resumed). Moody might have meant that they did not want the block at that moment, as they were still trying to clear the collapsible. There are several interpretations that could be placed on the comment. Hemming, surveying the situation, thought that there was "no chance" of clearing collapsible A, so he made good his escape on the port side.
 
perhaps this might help?

Fs 4815 titanic4813
 
Hey guys!I think the fall of the funnel 1 help the boats A and B float farther.In the movie, the funnle crash in to the water,crushing some swimmers,and created some waves ,pushing the boats nearby away.At this point,some people climb on the boat.PS:B is 1/4 flooded.

Haowei
 
I always assumed that the boat Rose got on was Collapsible D. The panning shot seems to establish that it's the last boat (aside from the collapsible boats atop the officer's quarters) left on the ship; and when she leaves the boat, you see a man subsequently jumping into it and another man jumping into the water, consistent with the events of the three men jumping into the boat as it was being lowered.
 
So, I am looking at some of the lifeboats and I can't help wonder: Why is there a lifeboat on a davit, and one behind it? It's near the bow. Is this a collapsible? Wouldn't two be too complicated? Explain, please. :confused:
 
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The boat on the davits is not a lifeboat as such - it's an 'emergency cutter', kept permanently swung out and uncovered for use if, for instance, somebody fell overboard. There were two of these, one on each side of the ship. They could of course be used as lifeboats, in which case the two collapsibles stored on deck alongside them could be lowered from the same davits. Given time, two more collapsibles stored on the roof of the officers' quarters could then be lowered, again from the same davits. This last possibility turned out to be wishful thinking. Of course it would have been more convenient and certainly quicker for the lowering to have a separate set of davits for every boat but the four collapsibles wre something of an afterthought, not required by regulations and it was never envisaged that they would ever be needed.
 
Bob Godfrey said:
The boat on the davits is not a lifeboat as such - it's an 'emergency cutter', kept permanently swung out and uncovered for use if, for instance, somebody fell overboard. There were two of these, one on each side of the ship. They could of course be used as lifeboats, in which case the two collapsibles stored on deck alongside them could be lowered from the same davits. Given time, two more collapsibles stored on the roof of the officers' quarters could then be lowered, again from the same davits. This last possibility turned out to be wishful thinking. Of course it would have been more convenient and certainly quicker for the lowering to have a separate set of davits for every boat but the four collapsibles wre something of an afterthought, not required by regulations and it was never envisaged that they would ever be needed.
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So when the ship sank, people used the emergency cutter for a lifeboat? And then put the collapsible's on the davits and lowered them? The ones near the emergency cutter, not on the roof of the officer's quarters
 
Yes. They tried also to lower the collapsible lifeboats on the roof, but I believe those were both washed off as the ship sank. At least one of those was the upside-down lifeboat that Officer Lightoller and others stood on top of. They were trying to get it ready it when a wave washed over it and flipped it over.
 
No boat was overturned by a wave. When it was manhandled off the roof collapsible B landed on the boat deck upside down, and there was no time to right it.
 
Well, any of them really. But I was thinking specifically of his story of high adventure and daring do as recorded by the newspapers. His whole story seems to me to be, well... ornate. I, personally, rank him fairly low for reliability as a witness. But I believe he testified at the American hearings that he had been in that collapsible boat when he said a wave turned it over and threw him under it.

That's where I got that factoid from, thought I wouldn't be surprised if it were fabricated.
 
'Unreliable witness' is certainly a phrase that comes to mind! With the newspaper accounts the variations in detail could be at least partly due to journalistic licence, but even when testifying at the two inquiries he manages to contradict himself time and again. I don't recall him ever claiming that the boat was overturned by a wave, but he does tend to use the terms 'in' ond 'on' (the boat) interchangeably. Possibly the closest to an unvarnished account is the long letter he wrote to his Marconi traffic manager, in which he makes it pretty clear that the collapsible was already 'upturned' when he and it were washed off the deck.
 
On Day 10 of the American hearings, there is this interchange:

Mr. BRIDE.
No, sir; I think I was the only one that was in it.

Senator SMITH.
When did you get in, before it left the side of the Titanic?

Mr. BRIDE.
I was not exactly in it, either; I got hold of it. That was as far as I got.

Senator SMITH.
You got hold of it?

Mr. BRIDE.
Yes.

Senator SMITH.
And as it fell into the water it fell over, upside down; is that correct?

Mr. BRIDE.
Yes, sir.

Senator SMITH.
So that you were down under this overturned boat?

Mr. BRIDE.
Yes; sir.
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On day 14, American Hearings, Senator Smith reads a letter from Bride to the Marconi company which includes this text:

I now assisted in pushing off a collapsible lifeboat, which was on the port side of the forward funnel, onto the boat deck. Just as the boat fell I noticed Capt. Smith dive from the bridge into the sea.

Then followed a general scramble down on the boat deck, but no sooner had we got there than the sea washed over. I managed to catch hold of the boat we had previously fixed up and was swept overboard with her.
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Ah, Bride in conversation with Senator Smith. A recipe for ambiguity and confusion! And it doesn't help that the Senator is putting vague words into Bride's mouth. Which, incidentally, could be taken as literally true - "as it fell into the water it fell over, upside down" - the boat deck was already awash when the collapsible was tipped off the roof. Lightoller stated in his memoirs: "We had just time to tip the boat over, and let her drop into the water that was now above the boat deck, in the hope that some few might be able to scramble on to her as she floated off." Which is presumably what Bride attempted to do.
 
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