84:

NICHOLLS'S SEAMANSHIP AND  NAUTICAL KNOWLEDGE

all her boats were launched leisurely and deliberately, filled with their
full complement of people and ordered to stand by around the ship.
The ship, however, settled down slowly and eventually sank, 2| hours
after striking the berg3 taking with her 1531 souls who stood helpless on
deck as there were no more boats or rafts left for them to embark upon.
"Wireless telegraphy was not then compulsory nor was a continuous
wireless watch kept at that time, and the crowning tragedy of th$
Titanic was the presence only 8 or 10 miles away of a wireless equipped
ship whose operator was of? duty while the S O.S. of the sinking
liner was searching the ocean for aid which arrived four hours after she
foundered.
Large liners are now equipped with a multiplicity of life-boats
and buoyant apparatus having a floatable capacity capable of supporting
the total number of persons on their passenger certificate plus 25 per
cent.
DAVITS.

,Fig. 1,—Radial Davits, a Liner's Boat Beck.
Note tackle and springs on the funnel guys to allow for expansion,
The most expert and ingenious of naval architects and engineers
have applied their brains to the problem of providing simple and reason-