Lifeboats of the RMS Titanic the ship. The boats were supposed to be stocked with emergency supplies, but "Titanic"s passengers later found that they had only been partially provisioned. No lifeboat or fire drills had been carried out since "Titanic" left Southampton. A lifeboat drill had been scheduled for the morning before the ship sank, but was cancelled, allegedly because the ship's captain, Edward Smith, wanted to deliver one last Sunday service before he went into full retirement. Lists had been posted on the ship allocating crew members to particular lifeboat stations, but few appeared to have read them or to have known what they
British Wreck Commissioner's inquiry into the sinking of the RMS Titanic was initially some confusion in both the United States and the UK over the extent of the disaster, with some newspapers at first reporting that the ship and the passengers and crew were safe. By the time "Carpathia" reached New York, it had become clear that "Titanic", reputed to be unsinkable, had sunk and many had died. Official inquiries were set up in both countries to investigate the circumstances of the disaster. When news of the disaster reached the UK government the responsibility for initiating an inquiry lay with the Board of Trade, the organisation responsible for British maritime regulations