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The lifeboats of the RMS ''Titanic'' played a crucial role in the disaster of 14–15 April 1912. One of the ship's legacies was that she had too few lifeboats to evacuate all those on board. The 20 lifeboats that she did carry could only take 1,178 people, even though there were about 2,223 on board. ''Titanic'' had a maximum capacity of 3,327 passengers and crew. Sixteen lifeboats were used, loading between 12:40–2:10 a.m., although Collapsible Boat A floated off deck partially submerged, and Collapsible Boat B floated away upside down minutes before the ship upended and sank. Many lifeboats carried only half of their maximum capacity; there are many versions as to the reasoning behind half filled lifeboats. Some sources claimed they were afraid of the lifeboat buckling under the weight, others suggest it occurred because the crew were following the strict maritime tradition to evacuate women and children first. Additionally, doors and hatches were locked to prevent passengers from lower decks accessing and storming the boats. Few men were allowed into the port side lifeboats, but the starboard side allowed many men into boats after women and children first. Some final lifeboats were over-filled, and passengers noted the seawater was near the rim of some lifeboats. As the half-filled boats rowed away from the ship, they were too far for other passengers to reach, and most lifeboats did not return toward the wreck, due to protests from passengers or crewmen to avoid being swamped by drowning victims. Two lifeboats returned to pull survivors from the water, but some of those later died. The RMS ''Carpathia'' did not reach the lifeboats until 4 a.m., two hours after the Titanic sank to the bottom of the sea, and the rescue continued until the last lifeboat was collected at 8:30 a.m. The survivors among the men were relatively more crewmen, then more First Class and Third Class, with 92% of men dying from Second Class. However, the third-class women and children also died in relatively high numbers, with 66% of those children dying.〔 〕 Although the sinking showed the number of lifeboats insufficient, Titanic was in compliance with maritime safety regulations of the time (albeit the Titanic disaster proved the regulations outdated for such large passenger ships). The Inquiry also revealed White Star Line wanted fewer boats on the decks, to provide unobstructed views for passengers and give the ship more aesthetics from an exterior view. It was also believed in the event of an emergency, ''Titanic''s design would enable her to stay afloat long enough for her passengers and crew to be transferred safely to a rescue vessel. It was never anticipated that all passengers and crew would have to be evacuated rapidly at the same time. Compounding the disaster, ''Titanic''s crew were poorly trained on using the davits (lifeboat launching equipment). As a result, boat launches were slow, improperly executed, and poorly supervised. These factors contributed to lifeboats departing with half capacity. Around 1,500 people did not make it on to a lifeboat and were aboard ''Titanic'' when she sank to the bottom of the sea at 2:20 a.m. on 15 April 1912. Around 705 people, mostly women and children, remained in the lifeboats until later that morning when they were rescued by the RMS ''Carpathia''. Those aboard the lifeboats were picked up by ''Carpathia'' over the course of 4 hours & 30 minutes, from about 4 a.m. to 8:30 a.m., and 13 of the lifeboats were also taken aboard. The lifeboats were returned to the White Star Line at New York Harbor, as they were the only items of value salvaged from the shipwreck, but subsequently vanished from history. == Number and types of lifeboats == ''Titanic'' had 20 lifeboats of three different types: * 14 clinker-built wooden lifeboats, measuring long by wide by deep. Each had a capacity of and was designed to carry 65 people. The rudders were made of elm – chosen because it resisted splitting – and were thick. The exterior of the boats were fitted with "grablines" for people in the water to hold on to. They were fitted with a variety of equipment to aid the occupants, comprising 10 oars, a sea anchor, two bailers, a painter (effectively a tow-rope) long, two boat-hooks, two tanks of fresh water, a mast and sail, a compass, a lantern and watertight metal provision tanks which contained biscuits. This equipment was not kept in the boats, for fear of theft, but in locked boxes on the deck. In many cases, the equipment was not transferred into the boats when they were used on 15 April and ended up going down with the ship. Blankets and a spare lifebelt could also be found in the boats. Apparently unknown to many officers and crew, these boats were reinforced with steel beams in their keels to prevent buckling in the davits under a full load. * 2 wooden cutters intended to be used as emergency boats. They were of a similar design to the main lifeboats, but smaller, measuring long by about wide by deep. They had a capacity of and could carry 40 people. They were equipped similarly to the main lifeboats but with only one boat-hook, one water container, one bailer and six oars each. * 4 "collapsible" Engelhardt lifeboats. These were effectively boat-shaped unsinkable rafts of kapok and cork, with heavy canvas sides that could be raised to form a boat. They measured long by wide by deep. Their capacity was and each could carry 47 people. The Engelhardts, built to a Danish design, were built by the boat-builders McAlister & Son of Dumbarton, Scotland. Their equipment was similar to that of the cutters, but they had no mast or sail, had eight oars apiece and were steered using a steering oar rather than a rudder. The main lifeboats and cutters were built by Harland and Wolff at Queen's Island, Belfast at the same time that ''Titanic'' and her sister ship ''Olympic'' were constructed. They were designed for maximum seaworthiness, with a double-ended design (effectively having two bows). This reduced the risk that they would be flooded by a following sea (i.e. having waves breaking over the stern). If a lifeboat had to be beached, the design would also resist the incoming surf. Another safety feature consisted of airtight copper tanks within the boats' sides to provide extra buoyancy. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Lifeboats of the RMS Titanic」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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