Lifeboats

[Rachel Walker]

I heard in a documentary that the lifeboats were not intended for carrying all of the passengers in the event of an evacuation. They were actually there in case a ferry sank and those passengers needed to be taken onto the titanic. Is this true? I also found out that captain smith had canceled the lifeboat drill and that’s why the crew was untrained in the procedure. Why didn’t they receive training with lifeboats prior to the maiden voyage? If they had, maybe they would have known to fill the boats and that they did not have to be in the water before being entered. (I heard that a crewmember did that.)
Rachel

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>I heard in a documentary that the lifeboats were not intended for carrying all of the passengers in the event of an evacuation. They were actually there in case a ferry sank and those passengers needed to be taken onto the titanic. Is this true?<<

For the most part, yes.

>>I also found out that captain smith had canceled the lifeboat drill and that’s why the crew was untrained in the procedure. <<

I think in this case, it helps to know that the word "untrained" in this instance can be very misleading. The crew of the Titanic certainly wasn't used to working with each other, and it's true that for some unknown reason, the boat drill was canceled. However, it's well to bear in mind that the people assigned to the boatcrews included able bodied seamen and one doesn't get a title like that by being untrained. They had plenty of experience gained over careers spent on a wide veriaty of vessels and I think on this night, it showed. The fact that they managed to get 18 of 20 safely away in the time they had speaks very well of them.

 

[Bob Godfrey]

Rachel, I think that what you heard was not a reference to sinking ferries, but to the intended use of the boats to 'ferry' people to a rescue ship - ie to take one load and then go back for more until all had been transferred. It was assumed, of course, that if a ship the size of Titanic was in trouble it would take a very long time to sink, if it sank at all, so there would be plenty of time to make several round trips with the boats.

 

[Rachel Walker]

Thanks for the help!

 

[John Melish]

Hello all,

Maybe someone with more knowledge could answer this. Forgive me if this has been brought up in another thread.

If the Titanic had been fitted with enough lifeboats for all passengers and crew, do you think there would have been enough time to get everyone in a lifeboat before the breakup and sinking?

 

[Michael H. Standart]

Bluntly....no.

Remember that in the real world accident, they only launched 18 of the 20 they had "by the book" with the remaining two floating off as the ship plunged. I think that in this instance, having sufficient lifeboat capacity for all aboard would have made a difference insofar as there would have been no reason not to load to capacity the boats that they could have gotten away.

Boats for all isn't really a bad idea, but in this instance, I tend to view it as a sort of misdirection. The sad reality is that in most shipping casualties, people are going to die. The surest way to avoid all this is to avoid the accident to begin with.