Titanic's remaining lifebelts

Fosbery & Co. was a limited company founded in the late 19th century to design and manufacture lifesaving equipment such as lifebouys, liferings and lifebelts.  In early 1911 the White Star Line appointed Fosbery & Co. to supply and equip their brand new liners Olympic and Titanic with the latest in life-saving equipment, including newly approved "Fosbery Overhead" pattern lifebelts.

On the night of April 14th, 1912, the Titanic struck an iceberg on her maiden voyage and began to sink.

Passengers were ordered to put their lifebelts on and to go onto the boat deck. 

When the Titanic finally sank at 2:20 a.m. on the 15th, about 650 passengers had boarded the lifeboats and about 60 were able to survive using collapsible boats A and B, four were pulled from the water. 712 survivors were eventually picked up by the Cunard liner Carpathia.  As dawn broke it became apparent that some 1500 souls had lost their lives to the frigid North Atlantic Ocean, many wearing the now famed Fosbery Overhead lifebelts they had hoped would save their lives.

Upon boarding the Carpathia many survivors placed their lifebelts into piles on the deck and in cargo holds of the ship. For unknown reasons Arthur Rostron, captain of the Carpathia, ordered these lifebelts to be cut up and discarded, but some were saved as mementos by the survivors who wore them or kept as a trophy by quick-fingered souvenir hunters. Most have sadly now been lost to time, but through the tireless work and dedication of several world-renowned historians, experts and researchers, fourteen examples have now been found, fully authenticated and catalogued within this website.

The site is intended to be the most complete and definitive resource regarding the topic of Titanic's lifebelts and the company that made them.
I hope you find it informative and educational.

Jerry N. J. Vondeling 

Special thanks to Titanic researcher, collector, and author Steve Santini (The Official Steve Santini Central), Paul Burns, curator of the Pigeon Forge / Branson Titanic  Museum  Attractions (Titanic Pigeon Forge, Titanic Branson), Ken Marschall (TransAtlanticDesigns.com, KenMarschall.com),  Günter Bäbler (www.titanicverein.ch), Craig Sopin (Titanic International Society), Alexander Korthus and others who would prefer to stay anonymous for their invaluable assistance with this article and website.

All efforts have been made to credit and ask permission of all image sources. There has been no intention to illegally use other people’s images.