Suggest OddsLifeboats on the Titanic
“She was the largest craft afloat, the greatest of the works of man.” A “floating city,” she carried only as many lifeboats “as would satisfy the law.” Unfortunately, she hit an iceberg, “the only thing afloat she could not conquer,” and thousands were plunged into the icy North Atlantic, “their voices raised in agonized screams.”
This harrowing fictional scenario, contained in a story entitled Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan, was penned by Morgan Robertson in 1898. A mere 14 years later, the scene was played out in real life when the RMS Titanic hit an iceberg shortly before midnight on April 14, 1912.
When the last lifeboat had been launched, only two choices remained for those left behind: to go down with the ship or jump into the icy black waters of the sea. “Until I die, the cries of those wretched men and women who went down clinging helplessly to the Titanic’s rail will ring in my ears,” one survivor wrote. “Groans, shrieks and sounds that were almost inhuman came across the waters” to torment those afraid to rescue those in the water for fear of being sucked into the vortex or swamped.
The Titanic carried far too few lifeboats to accommodate its passengers and crew, which totalled 2,207. There were 20 lifeboats in all, including 14 with a capacity of 65, two emergency boats that could accommodate 40 each, and four collapsible boats that were designed to carry 47 apiece. The odds a male passenger would make it into one of these boats were 1 in 5.91. The odds for a woman or child were four times higher—1 in 1.44 (69%).
Two of the collapsible lifeboats were never launched. If the remaining boats had been filled to capacity, 1,084 passengers (49%) could have been saved. But the crew was on its first sailing together and had not been properly drilled on the emergency procedures. Any passengers did not know where the lifeboats were, and some of those who did manage to make it to the upper decks were reluctant to leave a ship with watertight compartments and a steel hull for a tiny boat on the North Atlantic. There were enough life vests for everyone on board, but since hypothermia occurred quickly in the cold waters (survivors reported no voices after an hour and most froze within 15 minutes) they were useless for survival. In all, only approximately 705 people (32%) survived.
Captain Edward J. Smith went down with the ship. It was soon revealed that a friend who had crossed paths with Smith when he was captain of the sister ship Olympic, had queried the captain as to why there were so few lifeboats aboard the Titanic. Smith himself deplored the fact, and claimed to have gone to Belfast where the Titanic was being built to plead for additional boats. He was rebuffed, though not, he believed, because of the greed of White Star officials, but because they truly regarded their ships as virtually indestructible.
The hearings conducted by the United States Senate and the British Board of Trade exposed the depth of both the the tragic miscalculations and the lack of preparation.
- With sixteen watertight compartments that could be closed off if the hull was punctured, White Star officials believed that the ship would take many hours, if not days, to sink. One official went further when news began to arrive from wireless reports of a collision. “We believe the boat is absolutely unsinkable, and although the hull may have sunk at the bow, we know she will remain afloat.”
- The Titanic was equipped with wireless technology that would allow it to contact other ships on the heavily traveled ship route on which it traveled between Southampton and New York City. Help would soon be at hand.
- British regulations had not been updated since 1898 and did not take into account the large numbers of passengers on modern ships. The number of lifeboats was based on tonnage, and in fact the Titanic carried two more boats than were required.
- Since most shipwrecks happen during storms, it was not thought possible for the crew to launch more boats. Ironically, the Titanic sank into a calm sea.
- Although there was room on the deck for 12 to 20 more boats, it was decided that would make the deck appear cluttered.
Within weeks of the disaster, Congress had ordered all ships docking in the United States to carry enough lifeboats for everyone on board. Compulsory drills were ordered as well. The one scheduled on the Titanic had been cancelled in favor of a church service, at which the following hymn had been sung:
Eternal Father strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave . . .
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!
The BBC has collected the stories of Titanic survivors.
For a look behind the numbers of the Titanic, click here, and also check out our gallery.
Comments (41)
hi
report abuseNews doesn't mean new FYI! It mean North, East, West, South for spreading events. Look it up. The story doesn't have to be new.
report abuseIt makes me laugh that people actually think this website is for news! Just because its not happening 'right now' and just because it's not in your back yard you seem to humour it? The Titanic was a tradgic event and although this article give us no so-called 'news' on the situation it is interesting enough and is a pleasant change from reading about Europe's ash-cloud disaster.
report abuseIt' really hard to critique and talk about something so horrible that happened so long time ago. Evidently not all the puzzles fit together to cause the sinking. I guess if you say if it wasn't for the iceberg --- but saying that would something else happen. We don't know and will never find out. My fathers family had 1 immediate survivor who, was the daughter of my great uncle and her mother, the others were friends of that family. In the life boat they were in was not full. In fact according to what I read they took the women first and then they took the men because no women were available. Although I never talked with any of them I could not imagine the fright of the people left to die.
report abuseI will shortly be setting sail on the SS Hubris. It has no radio, no life boats, and no flares, but it was fashioned out of quartz, which we all know is much stronger than water, and I therefore firmly believe that it is unsinkable.
report abuseOver the years, Captain Smith has been made into a hero, when he is as directly to blame as anyone. He ignored ice warnings, refused to sail on a further southerly heading and then virtually abandoned both crew and passengers when it became obvious the ship was going down. Bruce Ismay, on the other hand, has been villianized, when he, in fact (via eyewitness account) helped people aboard the life-boats and insisted they be filled, but was overruled by on deck officers. As for the amount of life-boats...was not a violation of current maritime law. The BIG error was not doing a lifeboat drill.
report abuseJust a huge distaster...such a shame that all these lives were taken because of such petty, ignorant, selfish rich ones.....life will come to them 3 fold in Gods time but not in our life time....it will never b forgotten and those who felt as if they come before others in the same drastic frantic situation, your selfishness and cowardness will be infront of you with God. Those who died senslesslly, I praise you and honor you.
report abuseMore breaking news: Farts stink.
report abuseIt did not hit an iceberg,she was sunk by a German u- boat.
report abusethis story is what they want people to believe.
a humble man built an Ark that did not sink, proud men built the Titanic we knew what happened.
report abuseWow, breaking news soon as it happens! The miracle of modern technology & communications.
report abuseNew flash...the Titaninc didn't have enough life rafts. In other news grass is green and the sky is blue.
report abuseNews flash...the Titanic didn't have enough life rafts. In other news the sky is blue.
report abuseThey prayed instead of running a drill that will save lives. Where was God when the ship was sinking? The same place he always is, nowhere, except in the minds of those who are naive enough to believe in fairy tales and imaginary friends.
report abuseFor everyone who is complaining: You're not on the New York Times. Last I checked this was not a breaking news site. They do commentary and analysis, they don't do "news."
report abusei think the wreck was one of the worst tragedy of the all time so many people died that they could have been saved, the artifacts should have been left at the bottom of the ocean floor but they were removed it was a grave site to me but i guess people treasure hunt on old ships left on the ocean floor just my thoughts on it
report abuseEveryone knows this story. Man cannot conquer nature and those who think they can are basically fooling themselves by attempting to defeat God in his quest for the best. "Pride goes before destruction" The builders were prideful when they told the world "we built something unsinkable". The truth of the matter is man builds nothing which cannot be defeated. Everyone has seen pride in man defeated. You may think with pride you are the best at something but never forget there is always someone better than you who will come along.
report abuseJust goes to show how much you people know. News? No. There is nothing new in this story. But the story of the Titanic is not about lifeboats or regulations, it's about people. The people who died, and the people who lived with the memories to difficult to convey to those of us who have never had to deal with any type of catastrophy of this magnitude. The official anniversary is not the 14th...it's the 15th, when the ship actually went down. For those of you who find it interesting, you should look more into it. But be careful. Once you're married to the Titanic, there is no divorcing her...EVER!
report abuseI LOVE! anything that has to do with this shipwreck is fascinating to me, all the history and the artifacts is just fascinating......to bad people can't appreciate the richness of this story and cherish it.
report abuseOdd....how one hundred years later, 2012, you now hear so much about the end of the world.
report abuseHow newsworthy can a story about any century-old event be? It's commemorative. The ship went down 98 years ago today. Maybe things outside the 24-hour news cycle should never be written about, huh?
report abusehey here's some more breaking news....Elvis died.
report abuseWHAT?!?! I thought the Titanic was just an awesome movie. Are you telling me it was a real event?
report abuseWas Jack's body ever recovered? Where is Rose buried?
Not news. Anyone familiar with the Titanic knows there weren't enough lifeboats, but that they had what was required at the time.
report abuseBRINGING THIS STORY UP AGAIN AFTER SO MANY YRS , SOMEBODY
report abuseWANTS TO MAKE SOME MONEY.
Uhmm, Why is this even a new story? The fact that the Titanic didn't carry enough lifeboats has been know since the day it sank. I mean, a little history lesson is nice now and then, but this isn't even a mostly unknown story. It's a integral part of the story of the Titanic Disaster.
report abuseSo nice to know, why tell the passengers of the Titanic, I mean I am sure they need this information.
report abuseFrom a site admin: The original story posted did have the error of the date of striking the iceberg as 1914, and has subsequently been updated to the correct date of 1912. Thanks to the anonymous poster for pointing the error out.
report abusethe person that says the wrong date is quoted in the article(anonymous 2 hours ago),what are you on about? i've read and re-read and it clearly says 1912. not 1914
report abuseThe article DOES say that the ship sank in 1912 on APRIL 14. This is an Anniversay/Memorial story ... stupid ... anonymous ... whomever you are. Double duh!
report abuseITHINK ITWAS SAD THAT MANY PEOPLE LOST THERELIVES IWISH THEY ALL COULD HAD BEEN SAVED VIVIANSASSY.
report abuseUh....how is this 'news'...this fact was known when the accident happened?
report abuseok last one did catch everything I put in...should be;
report abuseAt 12.15 AM, one of the S.O.S calls from the Titanic reached its sister ship, the Olympic. The calls for help were heard by many ships but the closest ship, the Carpathia, was 4 hours away from the sinking Titanic. Titanic sank 2 hours before the Carpathia arrived to rescue survivors. Some survivors died of hypothermia shortly after they were recovered. The Carpathia arrived at New York on the April 18, 1912.
The British ship RMS Titanic sank at 2.20 AM on April 15th 1912, having collided with the iceberg just before midnight on April 14th. At 12.15 AM.
report abusewouldn't common sense tell people to equip enough life boats for everyone on the ship indestructable or not?
report abuseall i can say is woops
report abuseJust wanted to note the article has the wrong date that it sank, it was 1912, not 1914 although it did acknowledge that it was 14 years after 1898, which would be 1912.
report abuseeveryone was glad about the great titanic why so many faults now think great think big and keep gooing on a lot of life has paid for for us to make things better .keep gooing.
report abuseSadly, it seems to take a major tragedy to ramp up regulation.
report abuseAlways mystified by the story. The Robertson information was chilling. This is a good article. Thank you.
report abuseDidn't know that about the Titanic being in compliance with British regulations.
report abuseThe part about about the fictional story by Moran Robertson was very interesting as well.