Titanic AfloatBut The Weather Turns

[steve b]

There was a lot of speculation on a recent thread that centered on the weather the following day. I think this would be an interesting hypothetical angle to cover, since what if Titanic was still afloat, but the weather had taken a bad turn for the worse later in the following day, like many have speculated? I think its interesting because, if ships werent in such close relative proximity, or even if a fog had decided to roll in that night, and making the arrival of other ships to Titanics rescue delayed, what would have been the outcome had that storm hit, and you have a crippled ship and people having to ride it out? I know there are a lot of variables that come into play here, but what im wondering first and foremost is how many would have been in lifeboats? And would they have withstood the pounding of high winds and torrential rains? Food for thought

 

[Michael H. Standart]

Launching the lifeboats may well be impossible depending on how bad the storm is. Recall that we're talking about 30ft long wooden boats propelled by oars, not modern lifeboats which are covered over or motorized. A ship that's pitching, heaving and rolling is not the easiest thing to launch a boat from. And the worse the storm was, the likelier it is that any of these boats would have been battered to matchsticks in any attempt to launch. The two cutters and the four collapsibles would not have fared any better.

If the Titanic had not been so severely damaged as to sink in two hours forty minutes, they probably would have had to try and ride it out until things calmed down, then transfer the passengers and any unnesseccery crew as soon as conditions permitted.

It's just as possible though, that a storm could have aggravated the damage and caused the ship to sink all the more quickly. Had this been the case, the loss of life would have been even more appalling then it was in the real world. Any ships arriving to help might have succeeded in fishing a handful out alive, but it's unlikely that any of this pitiful band would have escaped uninjured.

Cordially,
Michael H. Standart

 

[Dave Gittins]

Talking of lifeboats, can anybody think of a case in which the passengers and crew of a large ship, say more than 1,000 people, have been saved by taking to the boats in a peacetime accident?

Personally, I can't, except that I seem to recall a few recent cases in which the boats have been used as temporary refuges in cases of fire. These cases may not count, as the passengers may have survived anyway.