As long as the _Titanic_ is
remembered, an ugly rush for the boats may be feared in case of some
accident. You can't hope to drill into perfect discipline a casual mob
of six hundred firemen and waiters, but in a ship like the _Titanic_ you
can keep on a permanent trustworthy crew of one hundred intelligent
seamen and mechanics who would know their stations for abandoning ship
and would do the work efficiently. The boats could be lowered with
sufficient dispatch. One does not want to let rip one's boats by the run
all at the same time. With six boat-cranes, six boats would be
simultaneously swung, filled, and got away from the side; and if any sort
of order is kept, the ship could be cleared of the passengers in a quite
short time. For there must be boats enough for the passengers and crew,
whether you increase the number of boats or limit the number of
passengers, irrespective of the size of the ship. That is the only
honest course. Any other would be rather worse than putting sand in the
sugar, for which a tradesman gets fined or imprisoned. Do not let us
take a romantic view of the so-called progress.
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