The amount of lifeboats and how they were used was a big issue during the sinking of the RMS Titanic. The ship didn't have enough lifeboats for the amount of people, but had more than needed by law at that time. Before the Titanic disaster the amount of lifeboats needed on a ship was determined by how many tons a ship weighed, not the amount of passengers. This law was changed after the sinking.
The lifeboats could hold 64 passengers each, but in the chaos the lifeboats were not filled to capacity. (see right) Not filling the lifeboats up to their full capacity lead to more people losing their lives. |
Lifeboat - Number of Passengers AboardLifeboat 1- 12
Lifeboat 2 - 17 Lifeboat 3 - 33 Lifeboat 4 - 37 Lifeboat 5 - 34 Lifeboat 6 - 23 Lifeboat 7 - 26 Lifeboat 8 - 27 Lifeboat 9 - 30 Lifeboat 10 - 31 Lifeboat 11 - 38 Lifeboat 12 - 19 Lifeboat 13 - 52 Lifeboat 14 - 38 Lifeboat 15 - 46 Lifeboat 16 - 30 |