Safety design meets commercial pressure

Alexander Carlisle's proposed protective arrangements exceeded the safety margin of the completed liner. His scheme paired extensive bulkheads with 16 davits able to handle four boats each, offering capacity far beyond the legal minimum. Titanic was expected to earn on a fast Royal Mail and passenger route, where ships also competed with the telegram for valuable communications traffic. Carlisle resigned as control of construction passed to accountants, while publicity retained the original design's promise of an exceptional, effectively unsinkable liner. Commercial pressure shaped the visible passenger spaces and the less visible safety systems beneath them. Legal compliance can lag behind what technology makes possible, even while publicity continues to promise exceptional safety.