The ironic part of the Titanic's tragedy is that no single life needed to have been lost if she only had been fitted out with more lifeboats and the press would not have claimed that "God Himself could not even sink the Titanic", that her builders had created an "unsinkable ship".
In January 1912 sixteen wooden lifeboats and four "collapsible" canvas-sided lifeboats are installed aboard the Titanic under "Welin quadrant" davits (designed to handle two or three lifeboats).
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Titanic's principal designer, Alexander M. Carlisle (who was no longer in the employ of Harland & Wolff Shipbuilding) had suggested davits capable of carrying more boats, but presented it as an economy measure, and not in the interests of increased safety. Outdated British Board of Trade regulations mean that the Titanic's 20 lifeboats (including four "collapsible" canvas-sided lifeboats) actually exceed requirements by ten percent capacity.
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The Titanic's lifeboats were situated on the Boat-Deck, were they sat on wooden chocks that were hinged to the deck. The forward most boat on the port and starboard side, the smaller "emergency boats", were kept swung out. The "Welin quadrant" davits installed on the Titanic were designed to hold 32 boats, but she carried 16 less than they could have.
The 20 lifeboats were fitted as shown below:
Titanic's wooden boats were manufactured by Harland and Wolff Shipbuilding, the same firm that built the ship. They were designed by the firm's Chief Draughtsman, Roderick Chisholm. Chisholm was aboard the ship on its maiden voyage as part of the 9 man inspection team from Harland and Wolff Shipbuilding led by Thomas Andrews (Titanic's designer). Andrews, Chisholm and the other 7 men went down with the ship.
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In addition to the lifeboats, the Titanic carried 3,560 life belts (jackets) and 49 life buoys. These last two measures were useless in the freezing water.
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The location of the lifeboats is a mystery. After the survivors deserted the lifeboats, they were taken to New York City where they floated by the docks for some time. They then disappeared, never to be seen, or at least recognized again.
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The most popular opinion is that the White Star Line removed the markings and reassigned them to other White Star Line ships.
Why not? They were almost new, being used only once.
Davits are mechanisms designed to support and lower lifeboats from the deck of a ship.
A pivoting armature allows the lifeboats to swing out over the rail, holding it in place for boarding until its locking pulley system is released.
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At the insistence of Alexander M. Carlisle, until 1909 the Managing Director of Harland and Wolff Shipbuilding, the Titanic was fitted with 16 of the best available davits ("Welin quadrant" davits), designed by the Welin Davit and Engineering Co. Ltd. of London. Each was capable of holding four lifeboats.
From the very beginning however White Star Line's Managing Director Bruce Ismay was opposed to carrying more than one lifeboat per davit.
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The Welin Company was founded by the Swedish inventor Axel Welin in 1901. Already in 1912, about 4,000 sets of lifeboat davits were delivered to different type of vessels, among them the Titanic.
This website is dedicated to the eternal legacy of the RMS Titanic and to all of those who needlessly died one cold night in April, 1912...
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