In Britain, it means diddly. It means you're a male, presumably respectable. If you have no other title, then the overly-British will put esq. after your name on an envelope, etc. In America, I believe it's sometimes used after a lawyer's surname. However, I don't see it used much by U.S. lawyers.
Davit systems are most often used to lower an emergency lifeboat to the embarkation level to be boarded. Davits can also be used as man-overboard safety devices to retrieve personnel from the water. The lifeboat davit has falls (now made of wire, historically of manila rope) that are used to lower the lifeboat into the water.
Titanic carried a total of 20 lifeboats, but Alexander Carlisle, one of the managing directors at Harland and Wolff, had suggested using a new type of larger davit, which could handle more boats, giving Titanic the potential of carrying 48 lifeboats, providing more than enough seats for everybody on board.