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
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