Submitted by ChadExtra t3_10iuu73 in todayilearned
Reply to comment by Old_timey_brain in TIL that Titanic crewman Herbert Pitman made an attempt to row his lifeboat over to rescue people in the water, but was overruled by the other occupants of the boat, who were worried about people swarming them and duly complied. Pitman said that this haunted him throughout his life. by ChadExtra
The lifeboats were deliberately underloaded at the davits, because the crew was worried that they would break apart if filled to full.
From the Senate inquiry:
> Sen. Smith: how many persons will a lifeboat the size of No, 5 hold safely, on a clear night and with no sea?
> Mr. LOWE:
Do you mean to ask what she would hold in the water or what would she hold lowering?
> Senator SMITH:
No; I want you to tell me how many she will hold lowering.
> Mr. LOWE:
That depends upon the caliber of the man lowering her.
> Senator SMITH:
Does it not depend upon the gear?
> Mr. LOWE: It depends upon the gear also, sir. You will say to yourself, "I will take the chance with 50 people in this boat." Another man will say, "I am not going to run the risk of 50; "I will take 25 or 30."
> [...]
> Senator SMITH:
I want that understood. Do you wish the committee to understand that a lifeboat whose capacity is 65 under the British regulations could not be lowered with safety, with new tackle and equipment, containing more than 50 people?
> Mr. LOWE: The dangers are that if you overcrowd the boat the first thing that you will have will be that the boat will buckle up like that (indicating) at the two ends, because she is suspended from both ends and there is no support in the middle.
This is fascinating. I’d actually watch a film about the follow up to the disaster.
Honestly I'd do the same. There's been three different movies made about the WWII Wannsee Conference, clearly audiences are not adverse to watching people in a room discussing historically famous events as they happened.
They could've made the final episode of Chernobyl 6 hours long of the trials and I would've watched it in one sitting.
If you’re ever in the UK, Southampton (where the boat set off) sea museum has an interesting exhibit, including a mock-up of the court and various other x-examinations, including whether 3rd class passengers were indeed treated worse. The really interesting bit of that part of the enquiry is where the judges interview various third class passengers. Oh wait, no they didn’t, not a single one…
One of my super nerdy areas in Titanic studies is post sinking inquiry and litigation. The way they shaped the history, and the reason why, will probably never be undone. It’s great stuff!
Any book recommendations?
About this topic specifically? Most of the books are just copies of the testimony which can be found online for free- check out the Titanic Inquiry Project
That being said, any good research book will have a section dedicated to this- try ‘On a Sea of Glass’, ‘The Ship Magnificent’, even ‘The Night lives on’ which is old and now outdated but does have a very broad overview of the controversy and conspiracy surrounding post sinking.
We keep going back to them because more research, more discovery, means we see threads that dont add up, they make no sense, that may just be downright lies. It’s imperative to understand the litigation of Titanic to begin to understand the testimony. They are entwined together- and that effects “history”
I was watching a documentary: lowering lifeboats and releasing them was extremely dangerous and lifeboats have gone through multiple different designs of lowering systems and releases to increase safety for both the passengers and the crew operating them.
One release system was well known (and feared) by crew because it was famous for cutting fingers off if operated incorrectly.
I suppose you can understand skepticism after sinking on the unsinkable ship.
Fun fact, while popularly called "unsinkable", the closest any official publication got was an engineering magazine calling it "Practically unsinkable" referring to the bulkheads built into the structure. Neither the company nor Andrews, the designer, claimed it.
And tbf, it did sink remarkably slowly compared to others of its time.
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Numerous reasons. It was cold, and people didn't think the ship was sinking that fast.
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