RMS Titanic and for the ship's operational use. Although "Titanic" had advanced safety features such as watertight compartments and remotely activated watertight doors, it only carried enough lifeboats for 1,178 people—about half the number on board, and one third of her total capacity—due to outdated maritime safety regulations. The ship carried 16 lifeboat davits which could lower three lifeboats each, for a total of 48 boats. However, "Titanic" carried only a total of 20 lifeboats, four of which were collapsible and proved hard to launch during the sinking. After leaving Southampton on 10 April 1912, "Titanic" called at Cherbourg in France and
RMS Titanic alternative theories financial loss for the company. Gardiner proposes that, to make sure at least one vessel would be earning money, the badly damaged "Olympic" was patched up and then converted to become the "Titanic". The real "Titanic" when complete would then quietly enter service as the "Olympic". The "Titanic" indeed had a list to port leaving Southampton. Inadequate trimming of cargo and bunkers would likely result in such and the crew seems to have demonstrated a lack of proficiency on several occasions. A list to port was noted by several "Titanic" survivors including Lawrence Beesley who wrote in his book about