Lifeboat cables and fixtures

[Bryan Ciobanu]

Sorry, I did not know were to put this thread.

I really do not understand what the lifelines were for. In Camerons' movie an officer in the boat is just holding it.
It is attached to the Davit span (wire rope). But I still Do not understand what it is for...
Could someone help?

And then, how were the lifeboats attached to the blocks? In Camerons' movie it looks like they used this kind of link;
{99256,???}

Anybody?


B.A. Ciobanu\popattach

 

[Bryan Ciobanu]

oh sorry, I will try again

...This kind of link;

<table border=1>[tr][td]

????
namnlös.bmp (21.0 k)[/td][/tr][/table]​

 

[Bryan Ciobanu]

I hope you can see what I mean...

 

[Paul Rogers]

Hello Brian.

I've moved your thread here, as this seems to me to be the most appropriate location. I've also re-named the thread to make it more specific to your precise query.

 

[Dave Gittins]

Bryan, the thing in your drawing is just a common shackle, such as is used for attaching anchors to cables and other similar jobs.

The boats were attached to the lower blocks by latches, which could be opened as needed. I've never seen the details of the mechanism used on Titanic but it seems to have worked much like other systems. The latches were kept closed by wire ropes which were under tension, supplied by an overlocking lever. (Yachties call it a Highfield lever) The lever was kept in the closed position by some kind of a safety catch. When the boat was close to the water, the safety catch was released. The lever was then thrown over and the tension was taken off the wires. That allowed the latches to open and the boat was freed from the bottom blocks and fell into the water.

I might add that, other than Harold Lowe, few of the crew knew how to work the release. We read of people cutting the falls to release boats.

I don't understand the first part of your question and I'm not going to hunt through Cameron's chick flick to look for it. Can you quote a precise scene?

 

[Bryan Ciobanu]

Dave, Is this the lever you mean?

http://www.svsarah.com/Sarah/ABI%20Highfield%20Lever.jpg


Bryan

 

[Bryan Ciobanu]

Well in the scene where Rose is lowered in a lifeboat...
The officer in the boat is just holding the lifeline, and it does not look like it is attached to anything.

B.A. Ciobanu

 

[Bryan Ciobanu]

It does not look like it is attached to anything in the boat.


Regards

B.A. Ciobanu

 

[Dave Gittins]

Bryan, that's the sort of thing I mean. It's a rather fancy type and seems meant for a high load. Much simpler and cheaper levers can be had for sailing dinghies. I'll check out the scene with Rose.

 

[Dave Gittins]

After some messing about, I think I've got a handle on the line mentioned by Bryan.

The setup can be seen better in a shot that follows the scene in which Murdoch shoots himself. It shows the davits that were going to be used for collapsible A. There's also a shot that comes just after the scene in which the stern starts to rise from the water. It is taken from the starboard quarter and shows the aftermost set of davits from close up.

The tops of the davits were joined by a tight wire rope, which was attached by shackles at each end. Two ropes, which I call safety lines, were suspended from the wire rope, to which they were fastened with eye splices. They could slide along the wire.

I presume they were used for additional handholds, or for dropping extra hands into the boats. I use to think they were a modern addition, but they show up in some photos of Titanic. The photo below shows how the lines were set up. The safety line is coiled up and attached to the falls. The tails of the falls were lead to bollards and secured before being lead into the boats and coiled down.

 

[Bryan Ciobanu]

Thank you very much for the information, Dave.

So the safety lines, were just there so you could slide down on them...?

Regards
Bryan

 

[Dave Gittins]

Bryan, I've since had a look at some old RN material.

It's hard to fully understand without lots of pictures, but the RN had two other uses for them. They were used when a boat was hoisted from the water, especially the emergency boats. The ropes, which the RN called life lines, were evidently used to temporarily secure the boat close to the davit heads while the falls were tidied up. The weight of the boat was then transferred back to the falls. The emergency boats had more than two life lines, depending on how many seats they had. When a boat was being hoisted, most of its crew clung to the life lines, thus taking their weight off the boat and making it easier to hoist.

It seems we need an ancient RN man to tell the full story.

 

[Bryan Ciobanu]

Thank you Dave