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Why did so many people die on the Titanic?
The Gash
• Gash along the fore starboard
hull, popping rivets and springing plates
apart
• 5 compartments punctured and flooded
Bulkheads only as high as E deck
• Andrews gave the ship 2 hours before it
sank
Lifeboats
Only 16 lifeboats and 4 collapsible boats
(capacity, 1,178)
The ship was unsinkable; lifeboats needed
only to ferry passengers to rescue ships
Ship owners wanted deck space
The Atlantic was no place to lower 50 to 60
lifeboats
People accepted the risk of going to sea
Disorganisation
• Only 707 made it to the lifeboats; first boat lowered had 28;
boat 1 had only 12
• Reluctance to leave safety and warmth of ship
• No drill; passengers not assigned lifeboat stations so
manning of boats was haphazard
• Steerage (3rd class) held back
• Crew had no experience of handling davits; some believed
they could not lower full boats
• Lightoller on port loaded only women & children; Murdoch
on starboard loaded women and children first
• Panic at the end: officers fired warning shots and there
were accounts of two men shot dead
The Water temperature
• 28 degrees Fahrenheit / -2 centigrade
• Most people froze to death
• Only a few people were pulled out of the
water alive
• The lifeboats rowed away from the scene;
• Swimmers were prevented from climbing
aboard the lifeboats
• The Carpathia was 4 hours away