Past Ship Safety
- The number of lifeboats required on a ship was determined by the ship's tonnage, or amount of people, goods, or weight on board the ship. The number of lifeboats was also determined by the size of the ship.
- Because ships from the early 1900's were not nearly as big as the Titanic, the required number for lifeboats aboard most ships were 12 lifeboats. Because the rules had not been revised for a ship the size of the Titanic, the Titanic was only required to have the same number of lifeboats as any other cruise ship: 12. The Titanic should have had around 30 or 40, but they only had 16, which was actually more than what was required.
- Lifeboat drills were not required or invented yet.
- Wireless operators went to bed at night, and turned the wireless set off over night.