Life Boats

Titanic carried a total of 20 lifeboats: 14 standard wooden Harland and Wolff lifeboats with a capacity of 65 people each and four Englehardt "collapsible" lifeboats (identified as A to D) with a capacity of 47 people each. In addition, she had two emergency cutters with a capacity of 40 people each.[57][b] Olympic herself did not even carry the four collapsibles A-D in the 1911-12 season. All of the lifeboats were stowed securely on the boat deck and, except for collapsible lifeboats A and B, connected to davits by ropes. Those on the starboard side were odd-numbered 1–15 from bow to stern, while those on the port side were even-numbered 2–16 from bow to stern. The two cutters were kept swung out, hanging from the davits, ready for immediate use, while collapsible lifeboats C and D were stowed on the boat deck (connected to davits) immediately inboard of boats 1 and 2 respectively. A and B were stored on the roof of the officers' quarters, on either side of number 1 funnel. There were no davits to lower them and their weight would make them challenging to launch.[58] Each boat carried (among other things) food, water, blankets, and a spare lifebelt. Lifeline ropes on the boats' sides enabled them to save additional people from the water if necessary.

Titanic had 16 sets of davits, each able to handle 4 lifeboats. This gave Titanic the ability to carry up to 64 wooden lifeboats[59] which would have been enough for 4,000 people – considerably more than her actual capacity. However, the White Star Line decided that only 16 wooden lifeboats and four collapsibles would be carried, which could accommodate 1,178 people, only one-third of Titanic's total capacity. At the time, the Board of Trade's regulations required British vessels over 10,000 tons to carry 16 lifeboats with a capacity of 990 occupants.[57] Therefore, the White Star Line actually provided more lifeboat accommodation than was legally required.[60][c] At the time, lifeboats were intended to ferry survivors from a sinking ship to a rescuing ship – not keep afloat the whole population or power them to shore. Had the SS Californian responded to the Titanic's distress calls, the lifeboats would have been adequate to ferry the passengers to safety as planned.