RMS Titanic headed for the French port of Cherbourg, a journey of . The weather was windy, very fine but cold and overcast. Because Cherbourg lacked docking facilities for a ship the size of "Titanic", tenders had to be used to transfer passengers from shore to ship. The White Star Line operated two at Cherbourg, the and the . Both had been designed specifically as tenders for the "Olympic"-class liners and were launched shortly after "Titanic". ("Nomadic" is today the only White Star Line ship still afloat.) Four hours after "Titanic" left Southampton, she arrived at Cherbourg and was met by the
Crew of the RMS Titanic It should be noted that the "Hometown" field may be misleading. Many crew had secondary or temporary addresses in Southampton, which they gave when signing the crew list, and others may have only recently relocated there. In particular, the number of crew from Merseyside is understated; for example, Chief Engineer Joseph Bell and Chief Steward Andrew Latimer lived with their families in the Liverpool area. Dr. Alan Scarth, in his book "Titanic and Liverpool", identifies 115 crew members with close connections to the city, of whom only 28 survived. The "Titanic" employed: a lifeboat and take charge of that boat