The RMS Titanic was a British passenger ship that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City. Over 1,500 of the estimated 2,224 passengers and crew lost their lives in one of modern history’s deadliest peacetime maritime disasters.
The Titanic carried 20 lifeboats that could hold 1,178 people, over 1,000 short of the number of people actually on board. As a result, when the ship sank, there were not enough lifeboats for all the passengers and crew. The lifeboats that were launched off the Titanic carried just 705 survivors.
How many Titanic lifeboats were there originally?
The Titanic was equipped with 20 lifeboats that could carry 65 people each, for a total capacity of 1,178 people. Four of the lifeboats were standard wooden lifeboats. The other 16 were larger wooden lifeboats fitted with canvas sides that could be raised and lowered. These larger lifeboats were designed by Titanic’s builders at Harland and Wolff shipyard to allow loading from the Titanic’s promenade deck.
The 20 lifeboats were divided into two groups. On the forward part of the ship were 16 lifeboats – 8 on the port side and 8 on the starboard side. Toward the stern were 4 Engelhardt collapsible lifeboats with wooden bottoms and canvas sides.
The number of lifeboats and their total capacity were determined based on outdated regulations from the British Board of Trade. According to the regulations, ships over 10,000 tons were required to carry 16 lifeboats with capacity for 990 people. The rules had not been updated since 1894, long before ships the size of the Titanic were being built. As a result, the Titanic did not have enough lifeboats for all passengers and crew.
How many people could the Titanic lifeboats actually hold?
Although the lifeboats were designed to hold 65 people each, they actually held far fewer people on the night of the sinking. There were several reasons for this:
- Many of the lifeboats were not filled to full capacity – some held as few as 12 people even though they could have held many more.
- Passengers were often hesitant to leave the perceived safety of the Titanic for the small lifeboats.
- There was no orderly evacuation plan, so the launching of lifeboats was haphazard.
- Third class passengers did not have clear access to the lifeboats.
- The officers filling the lifeboats felt the davits would not support the full weight of 65 people.
As a result, the average number of people in each lifeboat was about 28, far lower than the designed capacity. The actual maximum carrying capacity of the lifeboats that night was probably closer to 1,000 people, less than half the number of people on board the Titanic.
How many Titanic lifeboats were launched?
Out of the 20 lifeboats that the Titanic was equipped with, only 18 were launched successfully. Two of the collapsible lifeboats were never properly launched and floated off the ship as it sank:
- Lifeboat A – Launched at 12:55 am with 12 people on board
- Lifeboat B – Launched at 1:00 am with 12 people on board
- Lifeboat C – Launched at 1:10 am with 40 people on board
- Lifeboat D – Launched at 1:15 am with 42 people on board
- Lifeboat 1 – Launched at 1:20 am with 12 people on board
- Lifeboat 7 – Launched at 1:25 am with 28 people on board
- Lifeboat 5 – Launched at 1:30 am with 41 people on board
- Lifeboat 2 – Launched at 1:45 am with 17 people on board
- Lifeboat 6 – Launched at 1:50 am with 28 people on board
- Lifeboat 3 – Launched at 2:00 am with 32 people on board
- Lifeboat 8 – Launched at 1:55 am with 39 people on board
- Lifeboat 9 – Launched sometime after 2:00 am with 56 people on board
- Lifeboat 11 – Launched sometime after 2:00 am with 70 people on board
- Lifeboat 13 – Launched at 2:05 am with 53 people on board
- Lifeboat 14 – Launched at 2:05 am with 50 people on board
- Lifeboat 12 – Launched at 2:10 am with 42 people on board
- Lifeboat 15 – Launched at 2:15 am with 68 people on board
- Lifeboat 16 – Launched at 2:15 am with 43 people on board
- Collapsible C – Floated off sinking Titanic at 2:20 am with 44 people on board
- Collapsible D – Washed off sinking Titanic at 2:20 am with 20 people on board
In total, 705 people were saved in the 18 launched lifeboats. Over 1,500 people died, partly because there were not enough lifeboats for all passengers and crew.
What happened to the Titanic lifeboats after the sinking?
After the Titanic sank, the lifeboats were recovered by the rescue ship RMS Carpathia. Once in New York, the lifeboats were unloaded and returned to White Star Line a few days after the disaster.
White Star Line kept some of the lifeboats and put them back into service on other ships like the Olympic. First-class lounge furniture and paneling from the Titanic was also installed on the Olympic during her 1913 refit.
In the years after the sinking, some of the lifeboats were lost or destroyed, while others remained in use or ended up on display around the world. Here is what happened to some of the most noteworthy Titanic lifeboats:
Lifeboat 1
Lifeboat 1 was sold at auction in 1912. It changed hands several times before ending up at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1982. It is believed to be the only fully intact Titanic lifeboat still in existence.
Lifeboat 6
Lifeboat 6 was sold to the shipbuilding firm of Henry John Hingley Naylor Bros. in Liverpool. In 1913, it was exhibited at the Glasgow Exhibition of Shipbuilding. It was kept in the firm’s collection for decades before being acquired by the Titanic Historical Society in the 1980s. It is now on display at the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas.
Lifeboat 14
Lifeboat 14 was sold at auction and bought by a Mr. Darby Hubbard of Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1912. For decades, it was displayed in Poor Richard’s Restaurant in Chicago. Later, it was exhibited at Planet Hollywood restaurants. Its current whereabouts are unknown.
Collapsible Lifeboat D
Collapsible D is the last known surviving Titanic lifeboat. After the sinking, it was towed to Halifax with bodies still in it. In 2013, it was bought by Canadian billionaire and Titanic enthusiast John Josiah Emery for $195,000. It is now on display at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax along with Lifeboat 1.
Other Lifeboats
A few other Titanic lifeboats survived for many years:
- Lifeboat 2 was bought by a clergyman from Essex, England in 1912. It remained in his family for many years.
- Lifeboat 5 was used as a storage shed and chicken coop on a farm in Ireland until the 1930s.
- Lifeboat 7 was bought by historian Edward Kamuda in 1967. He kept it in storage for over 20 years before it was destroyed in a fire.
- Lifeboat 13 is said to be stored in poor condition in a barn in England.
However, most of the Titanic lifeboats have been lost over time due to neglect, being stripped for parts, fire, or the ravages of time. Thus, Lifeboat 1 and Collapsible D are the only positively identified lifeboats known to still exist.
Are there any replica Titanic lifeboats?
Although only one or two original lifeboats remain, there are a few accurate replicas built for museums and historical displays:
- The Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk, Connecticut has a meticulous full-scale replica lifeboat.
- The Titanic Historical Society commissioned a replica of Collapsible B which is on display at the society’s museum in Massachusetts.
- A replica lifeboat is exhibited at the Titanic Experience attraction in Cobh, Ireland.
- The Grande Lakes Shipyard in Ohio built two replica lifeboats for the film Titanic.
There have also been some replicas constructed for personal collections and exhibits around the world. While not original, these replicas allow people to appreciate the scale and construction of the lifeboats that played such a fateful role in the Titanic story.
Conclusion
Very few of the original 20 Titanic lifeboats remain today, over a century after the famous ship sank. Only one fully intact boat – Lifeboat 1 – is positively known to exist along with the wrecked Collapsible D. A few accurate replicas also survive. These rare artifacts serve as tangible links to the fateful night of April 14, 1912 when the Titanic lifeboats carried 705 survivors off the sinking ocean liner.