The pathetic reluctance of her passengers to leave the _Titanic_ for the lifeboats was justified, surely, by the seeming security of the one and frailty of the other. Perfectly natural was their belief that the mighty ship would survive, at least until the rescuing steamers should reach her vicinity and render the transfer of passengers a safe operation. Did not the _Republic_ remain afloat for many hours after a collision scarcely less terrible than this, and was not the _Titanic_ twice her size and, therefore, good as a lifeboat for many an hour to come? [Illustration: PROVISIONING THE BOATS DURING A BOAT DRILL] [Illustration: Courtesy of _Scientific American_ LOADING AND LOWERING BOATS, STOWED ATHWARTSHIPS] In considering the excellent service rendered by the lifeboats of the _Republic_ and the _Titanic_, it should be borne in mind that the weather conditions happened to be very favourable. The launching of lifeboats in rough weather is a difficult and perilous operation. Frequently the sinking ship will have a heavy list; if she lists to starboard, the boats on that side can be launched well clear of the ship, but the boats on the port or higher side cannot be so launched. As they are lowered, they will come in contact with the side of the ship and be damaged or capsized. Furthermore, should the ship be rolling, the boats are liable to be swung violently against the vessel and their sides may be crushed in or heavily strained, rendering them unseaworthy. Had a heavy sea, nay, even a moderate sea, been running at the time of the _Titanic_ disaster, how long would her heavily loaded boats have survived in water that was infested with ice floes? Their helplessness will be more evident when we remember that they weighed between one and two tons, and that when they were loaded down with sixty-five people, the total weight must have been about six tons. Now a craft of six tons' displacement requires considerable handling, and the two or three sailors allotted to each boat, jammed in, as they were, among crowded passengers, would have been powerless in heavy weather to keep the boat from broaching broadside to the sea and capsizing. The demand, then, for unsinkable ships is justified by the fact that the lifeboat is at best but a poor makeshift--that to put several thousand people adrift in mid-ocean is to expose them to the risk of ultimate death by starvation or drowning. [Illustration: Courtesy of _Scientific American_ BOAT DECK OF TITANIC, SHOWING, IN BLACK, PLAN FOR STOWING EXTRA BOATS, TO BRING TOTAL ACCOMMODATIONS UP TO 3,100 PERSONS]