Hello Monica,
I don't have plans of Titanic, only a couple of large photo's and draw from that, my experience and how I see the likely scenario.
From what I can make out, there were ample windows beneath each lifeboat which surely would have opened for that purpose and I'm certain that there must have been bulwark doors, not necessarily obvious from prom
deck plans.
These would be an important feature for rigging gangways apart from boat drills etc.
With respect, I can't see where ''jumping over barriers'' comes into it quite frankly.
The boarding of lifeboats from ''lower decks'' is not quite the way I would put it, but boarding from the embarkation deck or prom deck would be normal procedure.
Open shell doors are a nuisance when lowering boats and can cause capsize although boarding from a shell door when the boat is in the water is a different matter.
To board a lifeboat when on the embarkation deck, if properly bowsed in with ''handy billies'' leaves no gap whatever for passengers to step over, hence once again, safety when disembarking from the prom deck.
Once again, large passenger ships of that era, built along similar lines, and smaller, would have had a ''safe muster deck'' as you put it, as long as abandon ship instructions were as laid down and properly executed by ship's crews.
That would have applied to all nationalities I would presume.
Several ships I have served on had white sisal or manila falls but the sisal had it's own ''inbuilt warning system '' prior to snapping, letting crews know when mooring etc. to stand well clear. Both types behaved differently in wet conditions due to the amount of oil made up in the lay.
In my humble opinion, there are reasons for some passengers boarding at boat deck level and others at prom deck level but I wont go into that at this time.
David H
