Seb:
The Board of Trade up until 1912 was operating under statutory regulations which were woefully out of date. The British Wreck Commissioners Inquiry into the Titanic Disaster highlighted a number of failings in the revision and amendments of the Merchant Shipping Act of 1894-1906. Under this Act, a table showing the minimum number of boats to be placed under davits, and their minimum cubic contents (10 cubic feet per person) were issued. This table was based on the gross tonnage of the vessels to which it was to apply, and not upon the numbers of people carried, and it provided that the number of boats and their capacity should increase as the tonnage increased. The table, however, stopped short at the point were the gross tonnage of the vessels reached "10,000 and upwards" or at 16 lifeboats.
The Board of Trade regulations didn't specify the design of lifeboats, or rafts for in sufficient detail for a manufacturer to work a 'standard design'...it was free-for-all...open to interpretation. They specified the cubic capacity of craft and their life-saving equipment including air containers for reserve buoyancy. All-in-all it was basically up to the careful master and conscientious owner of vessels to ensure that they carried enough lifeboats and life-saving equipment for all the crew and passengers.
Ironically, Shackleton gave expert testimony at the Titanic Inquiry. He was invited as a result of his seamanship and navigational acumen in the ice-strewn waters of the Antarctic having sailed with Captain Scott in 1901-1904, and later on his own independent expedition 'The Nimrod Expedition' 1907-1909. If anyone knew anything about navigating ships through ice, it was him. Sir Ernest was questioned over and over...he was cross-examined many times during the proceedings and in the end he came out with the most famous of all comments (taken from the actual transcript):
25103. And you know we have had evidence as to the practice existing among gentlemen who have been in the trade for 25 years?
Shackleton: Yes; I think the gentlemen that have been in the trade for 25 years have been acting under the instructions of their owners.
25104. Have you any ground for saying that?
Shackleton: No more than a general feeling that I have had, and the feeling I have had that when the owner is on board you go.
25105. And supposing the owner is not on board?
Shackleton: I do not want to make surmises and I do not want to lay down any particular rules, but there is a general feeling amongst people at sea that you have to make your passage. If you do not make your passage it is not so good for you. That is only my own personal point of view. I do not know whether I should not refuse to answer this particular question.
Seb continues:
Shackleton was one of the most important subject matters experts invited to the Inquiry, he highlighted many failing is the ship's operation, the lookout positions, the careless use of speed, and the negligence in ignoring wireless iceberg warnings!
The end result of the Titanic Wreck Inquiry was the revision of the entire Merchant Shipping Act 1894-1906. This revision was the most important document to be passed into maritime law: The Safety of Life at Sea Convention (SOLAS). The new SOLAS regulations were agreed upon by every major maritime power (with Britain leading the way). This document was passed into law on January 20th, 1914, and later published globally in February 1914. The new regulations had to be fully embodied into every vessel covered by the SOLAS convention...this included Shackleton's new ship Endurance. They were fully embodied by July 1915 but WW1 delayed it till September 1916.
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