Lifeboats of the RMS Titanic Lifeboats of the RMS Titanic The lifeboats of the RMS "Titanic" played a crucial role in the disaster of 14–15 April 1912. One of the ship's legacies was that she had too few lifeboats to evacuate all those on board. The 20 lifeboats that she did carry could only accommodate 1,178 people, despite the fact that there were approximately 2,208 on board. had a maximum capacity of 3,327 passengers and crew. Eighteen lifeboats were used, loading between 11:45 p.m.–2:15 a.m., though Collapsible Boat A floated off the ship's partially submerged deck, and Collapsible Boat B floated away upside down minutes
RMS Titanic 'gigantic'. Built in Belfast, Ireland, in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (as it was then known), the RMS "Titanic" was the second of the three s—the first was the and the third was the . Britannic was originally to be called Gigantic and was to be over 1,000 feet long. They were by far the largest vessels of the British shipping company White Star Line's fleet, which comprised 29 steamers and tenders in 1912. The three ships had their genesis in a discussion in mid-1907 between the White Star Line's chairman, J. Bruce Ismay, and the American