so..there's a couple of issues floating around about the life boats...
1) were there purposely not enough to give the promanade a nicer view?
2) did they know they weren't equipped with enough boats to save the passengers and crew?
3) were they "faulty"?

there where not enough lifeboats to 2,200 souls in titanic.

There where less boats to allow the first class passengers more room. The ship was thought to be unsinkable so no need for enough boats. As far as I know the life boats where launched without any problems. Appart from the crying women being taken away from their husbands etc.

1) were there purposely not enough to give the promanade a nicer view?

The accusation has been made, to my knowledge it was never proven. It was known that the ship's designer Mr. Andrews was greatly concern about the issue of the number of boats and had gone back to the drawing board to redesign the boat davits to allow them to launch multiple boats. It was unclear if the redesigned davits were installed by the time she sailed but it was clear that it was intended to have enough boats installed eventually.

2) did they know they weren't equipped with enough boats to save the passengers and crew?

Yes but they had more than the number of boats required by the current regulations at the time. The emergency scenarios considered by the designers all led to an assumption that the ship would stay afloat for many hours, enough time for assistance to reach the ship. It was therefore considered that there only needed to be enough boats for an orderly transfer to another ship with the assistance of that ship's boats.

3) were they "faulty"?
No, there was no report of any boat failing during the incident, the boats were tested fully loaded at the shipyard and passed with no problems. The Titanic's crew however were not adequately trained or practiced at launching boats at sea. It was the maiden voyage and there had been no lifeboat drill. This lead to many boats being launched without being fully loaded by crew unsure of how to load the boats and inadequate management of the passengers to direct them to available boats.

I totally agree with you on the lifeboats. However,popular opinion
of the time might have influenced a lesser amount of lifeboats.
Like you said,people thought Titanic was 'unsinkable';why worry
about lifeboats? Somewhere I read an article about Thomas
Andrews wanting more lifeboats,but someone rejected the idea.
Originally,there was supposed to be enough lifeboats on board for
about 1,500 total people. Maybe you won't find the reason why
the idea was rejected,but I can guarantee you the 'safety' idea
wasn't on anyone's mind,except Andrews. It's really a shame.
Even if there were enough lifeboats for everyone on board,it
wouldn't have mattered. Titanic's crew wouldn't have had
adequate time. She had 20 lifeboats,and only 18 were actually
launched. Two drifted off as the bridge went under.

thanks for the insight folks

I've been doing a little more research and it seems that Bruce Ismay (ever the villian it seems deserved or not) was the lead voice for "not cluttering up" the sun deck with extra lifeboats. Although there were several other factors involved also. Of course the bottom line always revolves back to that the had more than the number of boats actually required by the unfortunately badly outdated regulations that determined the requirement based on the size of the ship and not the number of passengers and crew.

Quote:


Read on Fourth officer Boxhall's testimony: Day 3 American
Inquiry.

Sen. SMITH. Were there any drills or inspections to your knowledge, from the time the ship landed at Southampton until her departure?

BOXHALL. Yes; there were inspections and drills the morning of sailing.

Sen. SMITH. This occurred the day you sailed?

BOXHALL. Yes, sir; within an hour or a couple of hours of the ship's sailing.




Titanic Inquiry.org

Yes I just discovered that site and its fascinating what I'm finding out. I stand corrected. I was particularly interested to read Mr. Lightohlers (sp?) account of why he didn't fill boats to capacity starting out, its fascinating reading.