collapsible boats {Why were they on board?}

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There havn't been too many historical questions (my favorites) for the last week or so, so I'll get the ball re-rolling with one of my own. Kip and Peter, if you guys (and everyone else here) don't know this, then we'll have to take it to the other discussion group.

Why was the Titanic carrying four more lifeboats than the 16 legally required? Whose idea was it? Andrews? Alexander Carlisle? Someone at White Star? This last possibility would surprise me, given that the general attitude at WS seemed to be that they were never even going to need to use all the boats the law required, much less extras. Did the Olympic carry similar extra boats until the sinking? And finally, whose bright idea was it to store two of the extra (collapsible) boats on top of the officers quarters, with absolutely no plan for how to get them down? This sounds too dumb to be an Andrews idea, but whatever the answer, I'm curious.

-- Thomas Shoebotham (cathytom@ix.netcom.com), March 20, 1998

Answers

Response to collapsible boats

Interesting question that you pose! The collapsibles were stored there because it was felt they would never be needed.The idea that they would be fitted into an empty davit, is ridiculous as these things must have weighed more than a little bit. As for whose idea it was to have them in the first place, I would have to say White Star. I say that because it was probably in support of their advertising of the ships (Titanic and Olympic) as being the safest on the seas and having the "extra" boats just added to the warm and fuzzy feeling that they wanted their prospective passengers to feel. I'm afraid I can't back that up with documentation, but it seems logical to me. I will now begin reading my copy of "The Titanic Disaster Hearings: The Official Transcripts of the 1912 Senate Investigation" that I purchased today and maybe that will give us some more info. Great question!

Regards, Peter

-- Peter Nivling (pcnivling@capecod.net), March 20, 1998.


Response to collapsible boats

Hi Tom!

As to who gets the "credit" for the four collapsibles, my guess would be Alexander Carlisle, who was Managing Director of H&W during the design and early construction of Olympic and Titanic. It was he who claimed credit for installing the Welin Quadrant davits, capable of handling up to 64 boats.

In "The Night Lives On," Walter Lord states that, during two all day planning and design meetings, the subject of lifeboats consumed all of about 10 minutes; it may be that the collapsibles were authorized during those meetings. Or, H&W may have just "slipped" them aboard under the terms of their cost-plus contract with White Star. Again, though, that's all just an educated guess on my part.

As for the stowage of collapsibles A & B atop the officers' quarters, I'm not aware of anyone claiming credit for that feat of engineering genius.

Cheers!

-- Kip Henry (kip-henry@ouhsc.edu), March 21, 1998.


the boats were on board for show

-- samantha (gryffindor24@sbcglobal.net), November 10, 2003.

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