Talk:Lifeboats of the Titanic

Main Page appearance on 15 April
Please note that I have nominated Sinking of the RMS Titanic to appear on the Main Page next month on 15 April. In conjunction with that, it is proposed that this article will also be linked from the Main Page on the same day. Please see Today's featured article/requests for details. Prioryman (talk) 23:17, 23 March 2012 (UTC)
 * I hope you push this article to GA or higher. Very good work! Brad (talk) 14:33, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

"S.S." Titanic
It should be noted that the lifeboats were branded with "S.S. Titanic". There has been some controversy as to the SS designation being deemed erroneous as seen in movies, etc. -- but that was the designation used. I do not know the reason for this seeming inconsistency. If memory serves right the lifesavers also carried the "SS" moniker. For reference, see this plaque from lifeboat #2

~Thanks,
 * Update: I've noticed that the WP photo here shows the purported lifeboats with "R.M.S. Titanic" -- However, the printing seems a bit too good, I've read that it was common in those days for publishers to airbrush or modify photos "for clarity"; and that many purported Titanic photos were (are?) actually doctored RMS Olympia photos.
 * Edited photo caption to include: Purportedly, ... -- See also, my discussion here.
 * I've checked this, and the picture is genuine, and it is of the Titanic boats. I've found the original version of the picture without the doctoring; it's one of a sequence of pictures taken on 20 April 1912. The people you see standing in the boats are White Star Line workers removing equipment from the boats. However, if you look closely at the picture (it's not easy to see because of the resolution, unfortunately, but easier with my offline copy of the photo) you can just see the word "Liverpool" on the "bow" of the lifeboat, above the White Star Line flag and immediately below the gunwales (or below and to the right of the "C" in the doctored name). I say "bow" because the lifeboats actually had two bows; this one's where the stern would be if it wasn't a double-ended boat. The name "S.S. Titanic" would have been on a plate at the other end. Prioryman (talk) 20:01, 7 April 2012 (UTC)
 * Thanks for verifying, clarifying, and changing the photo's caption.

"S. S." vs. "R. M. S."
If someone could cite an explanation for the "S. S. Titanic" designation on the lifeboats, I believe this would make an interesting addition to the article. I'm sure that I'm not the only one who is curious.
 * Titanic was a steamship (hence SS) under contract to the Royal Mail to carry post (hence Royal Mail Ship or RMS). As I understand it, RMS was effectively a courtesy title. She was registered as the SS Titanic and official documents such as tickets, restaurant menus, crew contracts etc all referred to the ship by her proper title, SS Titanic. I would guess the same thing applied to the lifeboats. Prioryman (talk) 23:22, 8 April 2012 (UTC)
 * As a side-note, the tickets, (such as the only known surviving Launch ticket, w/stub attached) identified ship only as "TITANIC", with description: "White Star Royal Mail Triple-Screw Steamer".

Reference passenger / crew lists?
Since some lifeboats have a few notable occupants listed here, there should probably be a link to the complete passenger and crew lists, with reference to the lifeboat column. Perhaps in a 'See also' section at the bottom? Or, (at the top) something like: "To see the complete list of passengers with their lifeboat occupancy, refer to the lifeboat column on [link]; for crew see [link]." -- That is poorly worded, but you get the idea.

Also:

There seems to be an inconsistency -- some lifeboats have notable passengers listed in bullet-form, while others do not. (The former is much easier for finding names.)

Page views on the centenary day
This article was one of eleven Titanic-related articles linked from the Featured Article box on Wikipedia's Main Page on 15 April 2012, the centenary of the Titanic disaster. I thought editors here might be interested to know the level of usage the articles got on that day:


 * RMS Titanic - 430,012 page views
 * Sinking of the RMS Titanic cscr-featured.svg - 177,040
 * Titanic (1997 film) Symbol_support_vote.svg - 132,054
 * Passengers of the RMS Titanic - 38,273
 * RMS Carpathia - 33,952
 * Wreck of the RMS Titanic - 30,051
 * Lifeboats of the RMS Titanic - 13,270
 * List of films about the RMS Titanic - 10,226
 * Crew of the RMS Titanic - 9,541
 * RMS Titanic in popular culture - 8,418
 * Changes in safety practices following the RMS Titanic disaster - 4,095
 * Total page views for Featured box articles - 886,932

Well done to everyone who contributed to making Wikipedia's commemoration of the Titanic such a big success! Prioryman (talk) 23:48, 16 April 2012 (UTC)

Caption
The caption for the photo of the 'Collapsible Boat D' states: Overloaded and ...; however, I count about 30 occupants, and the article states that they had a capacity of 47. Removed "Overloaded and" for consistency. ~Eric F 184.76.225.106 (talk) 01:16, 18 April 2012 (UTC)

Boat 13
The account by Sylvia and Albert Caldwell (with their infant son, Alden) could be integrated with the article's account by Washington Dodge; re: lifeboat 13. -- Per this Sunday, April 15, 2012 The Roanoke Times article: Survivors share lifeboat; descendants share local ties. I've added one quote, but someone might want to do more with this. ~Eric F 98.26.28.41 (talk) 07:58, 2 May 2012 (UTC)

Andrea Doria
IMO, the following is anachronistic in context with its section, (Lack of lifeboats and training) Third paragraph from bottom: "...during the sinking of the Italian liner Andrea Doria in 1956 it took nearly 8 hours..." -- However, changing this would require ce for the part following: "However,..." - Especially since none of that is cited. - Opinion? ~Eric F, new IP= 74.60.29.141 (talk) 02:16, 11 October 2012 (UTC)

Introducing new picture
Enjoy. --Maxrossomachin (talk) 06:14, 28 April 2014 (UTC)

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Move discussion in progress
There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:Titanic which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 18:33, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

Article name
Per WP:SHIPNAME I think this article should be moved to "Lifeboats of Titanic". Definite article before a ship's name is not normal English use convention, and is not recommended. Canterbury Tail talk 21:29, 15 December 2020 (UTC)

Boat 14 and Charles Williams
Times article states that he claimed he was in water for 8 hours which does seem too long unless he was clinging to something meaning his chest was above the water line. The article says it was fortunate that he was a very strong swimmer which suggests the 8 hours is not referring to being in a lifeboat for that time. Anyway adds interesting conundrum that he may have been the unidentified person who was brought into the lifeboat. Racingmanager (talk) 20:18, 24 January 2021 (UTC)

Numbers
"1,503 people did not make it on to a lifeboat and were aboard Titanic when she sank to the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean. 705 people remained in the lifeboats until later that morning when they were rescued by RMS Carpathia."

Earlier, the article says about 2,208 people were aboard the ship before the collision. Is it really true that everyone who was not rescued was aboard when the ship sank? Can't be. Grassynoel (talk) 16:01, 2 March 2021 (UTC)


 * this is something that may never be known I do know that many of the third class passengers but not all were locked below decks and some crew and second class were blocked by watertight doors PlasmaticGrain (talk) 15:11, 3 March 2022 (UTC)


 * If you don't cite sources you don't have any leverage in changing the text. Binksternet (talk) 17:20, 3 March 2022 (UTC)

Boat 4 and Emilio Portaluppi
Portaluppi most likely wasn’t picked up by lifeboat 14 as previously suggested. The more likely version is that Portaluppi had been picked up by lifeboat 4. He had stated in his interviews that the boat that picked him up had about 30-35 people and that around 3 of them had died when rescued, this tally’s the description and casualties of lifeboat 4. Another reason would be that Lamp trimmer Hemming said that one of the swimmers picked up from the sea was a foreign passenger who spoke English well. This could very well have been Emilio Portaluppi who was an Italian that had lived in the U.S. for many years. Portaluppi rather embellished, granted – accounts to his family he claimed to have been saved by the lifeboat that had Madeleine Astor in it, that is Boat 4 from the water. In another of his interviews he claims to have been pulled up with a second swimmer alongside him which could be the second unidentified swimmer that had been picked up by lifeboat 4. 2601:C2:600:9D70:21B2:9898:5F05:A30E (talk) 19:28, 26 August 2023 (UTC)


 * The section on Boat 4 is a bit of a mess and needs copy-editing. "It picked up six or seven more men (trimmer Thomas Patrick Dillon, Seaman William Henry Lyons, Stewards Andrew Cunningham and Sidney Conrad Siebert, storekeeper Frank Winnold Prentice, Two (Siebert and Lyons) later died of exposure. and one or two more unidentified swimmers." The punctuation here is all wrong, as is the sentence beginnng Portaluppi rather embellished, granted - accounts..." Muzilon (talk) 11:54, 29 October 2023 (UTC)