When the British Inquiry was questioning the parties involved the night of the sinking of Titanic, management and regulators did everything they could to rationalize their way out of any blame the press was throwing at them. At the investigation, Charles Lightroller had been the senior surviving officer aboard the Ship. Lightroller was taken to task for not filling the Number 6 Lifeboat to capacity. He stated that he believed the mechanisms designed to lower the lifeboats into the ocean were not strong enough to hold the boats had they been filled completely. Lifeboat Number 6 was designed to carry 65 people, but left with just 40.
It’s chilling to think of the panic and the pressure Lightroller could have been under knowing that the Ship was about to go down. In his testimony, Lightroller claimed that he noticed the Ship lilting for the first time while he was loading Lifeboat Number 6. He didn’t count the passengers as he filled the boats, and no one will ever really understand exactly why. It might have been panic, or it might have been negligence. During his testimony, Lightroller insisted that he filled Number 6 to what he believed was a safe capacity as he felt the Ship sinking under him.
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