As amazing as it might sound, many passengers aboard the Titanic refused to get into the lifeboats, because they simply did not believe the ship was going to sink. It didn’t matter that they were told that it was absolutely necessary for them to board the lifeboats. It was a frightening prospect for them to think of leaving the luxury of the bright and comfortable ship to get into a rowboat and be lowered 60 feet to the dark and freezing ocean below. But the bottom line was that they simply did not believe the Titanic would sink. After all, many had claimed it was “unsinkable.” Had they believed the prediction of the ship’s engineer and captain that the ship was, indeed, going to sink within two hours, many if not most would have been more than willing to take a seat in a lifeboat. As it was, some of the women were literally forced into the lifeboats, kicking and screaming! Because of the passengers’ reluctance and the difficulty in getting them to enter the lifeboats, most of the boats were lowered with less than half of the people they were designed to carry, dooming many more to certain death in the cold waters of the Atlantic. For many, it was only as the bow (front) of the ship disappeared beneath the ocean that they realized the Titanic would, indeed, sink. But it was too late.
Many of the lifeboats didn’t have full capacity because people simply didn’t believe the ship would sink.
Sounds like someone should have been knocking heads to shut up the idiots and load them like cattle.
Yes, but all the lifeboats were lowered. Some of the ones launched first had room for many more people, but there still wouldn’t have been enough for all passengers and crew. I always wondered why they didn’t build rafts when they realized there weren’t enough boats.