Lifeboats: A Necessity On The Titanic

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Lifeboats, A Necessity On The Titanic “...the Titanic hit the iceberg at 11:40 pm and sank at 2:20 am” (Lord 173). April 12, 1912 marked the fateful night the RMS Titanic vanished into the vast Atlantic Ocean. The Titanic only had enough lifeboats for only ⅓ of the 2208 people on board. This survival rate is so low because the appearance of the Titanic was given more priority than its passengers’ safety. Captain Edward Smith figured having too many lifeboats would look “cluttered” on deck. The Titanic also had the proud title of “unsinkable ship” because of that, the captain thought lifeboats wouldn’t be neccesary but indeed they were needed. The impact of the lifeboat shortage on the Titanic forced the captain to call the Birkenhead drill, caused men to dress as women, and prompted passengers to participate in bribery. …show more content…

It was currently 12:05 and Captain Smith became more aware of the disaster as it was becoming more progressive. The lifeboats were getting uncovered and he knew there were not enough lifeboats for all the passengers, so he called the “Birkenhead drill”. This drill originated when the HMS Birkenhead troopship was sinking off the coast of Africa. The Birkenhead drill meant that as people were boarding lifeboats, women and children would go first, then followed by men. Because of this protocol, 73% of the survivors on the Titanic were women and 50% were children, compared to 20% of men survivors . This procedure showed how women and children were supposed to boarded onto the lifeboats first followed by men. Passengers on board, soon became aware that there were not enough lifeboats for everyone. The men's anger increased rapidly because they were the crew’s second priority. The shortage of lifeboats caused captain Smith to call the Birkenhead

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