Quote Originally Posted by Govinda View Post
The lifeboats didn't get filled properly because of the mad rush to get into them, not because women and children wanted 80% of the lifeboat to stretch their legs in. Are you saying that a fully grown man is as deserving of a place on a lifeboat as a mother and her child?

No, the lifeboats didn't get filled properly because nobody, not even the crew, anticipated that the ship would begin to sink. Even when they were told that it was sinking, they merely put people in live boats as a precaution, because they didn't believe that the ship could sink. But if men were allowed on the boats as well, they would be twice as filled as they were, and hence, saving more lives. The lifeboats had a total capacity of 70 to 75 fully grown men, whereas, some of the life boats were being launched with only 13 people in them. They could have fit plenty more men, women, and children into that.