Posted on 04/13/2012 3:05:52 PM PDT by WesternCulture
Scientists at Uppsala University have found that the widespread belief that women and children are saved first in maritime disasters is a myth, unless the men are threatened with physical violence like on the Titanic.
“It is expected that the crew should rescue passengers, but our results show that captains and crew are more likely to survive than passengers,” said Mikael Elinder at the Department of Economics, Uppsala University and at the Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN) in a statement.
“We also found that women and children were more inclined to die than men.”
This, the scientists think, indicates that when disaster strikes it is very much every man for himself.
For the study, researchers Mikael Elinder and Oscar Erixon analyzed a database containing information about passengers and crew from 18 of the most notable shipwrecks during the period 1852 to 2011, containing information about the fates of more than 15,000 people.
Elinder and Erixon found that that the survival rate of women was substantially lower than the survival rate of men.
Children had the lowest survival rate, while the highest survival rates were observed for crew and captains.
However, there is still a widespread popular belief that in a disaster, women and children will be saved first.
This, argue the scientists, is because the foundering of the Titanic, being the most researched shipwreck, has shaped our beliefs about what happens in maritime disasters, not in the least through popular culture.
And during the evacuation of the Titanic, the men stood back while women and children were given priority to board the lifeboats.
As a consequence, the survival rate of the women and children in this particular accident was much higher than that of the men.
The scientists questioned what made the Titanic so different.
One possible explanation is how the captain acts under the circumstances, according to the researchers.
On the Titanic, the captain ordered women and children to board the lifeboats first.
Men who disobeyed the order would be shot.
The scientists found that on the ships where the captain gave the order "women and children first", the difference in survival rates between men and women was lower.
But women survived to a higher extent than men only when this order was enforced by the threat of violence, the researchers found.
“The evacuation of the Titanic was exceptional, but has spurred a long-lived myth that women and children will be saved first in disasters,” said Elinder.
Many years ago my husband and I along with my mother and step father were involved in a flood in South Dakota. My husband and I survived, but my mother and step father were killed as they had to swim for their lives.
When it came to settle the insurance for them, I did not receive any of the money because the insurance company said that because he was a man my step father more than likely outlived my mother, and therefore only his family would receive the money. My mother was a strong swimmer so I know that of the two she would have survived longer, but that was their policy.
My Grandmother and son would have been on that ship, except for a last minute glitch.
They would not have been on first class.
And even if they did, modesty would have prevented their taking off those long skirts and petticoats which must have exerted serious drag in the water.
Just goes to show that the phrase, “There is no greater love than for a man to give his life for another” is an ideal in courage and love and has nothing to do with the average base man when confronted with his own impending demise.
No less an authority than Jesus Christ Himself said it, then He laid down His life voluntarily for many.
“I think it matters that we Scandinavians, by tradition and perhaps even by genetics, are more accustomed to cold weather and rough seas.”
I’d think that Scandinavians also knew more than others that in water that cold you literally have minutes; the rescue ships were too far away, and anyone that thought they’d do the “Jack thing” from the movie (clinging to a raft, with your body immersed) was completely ignorant of that.
I imagine many things are bolted down on a ship, but with plenty of time why didn’t they unbolt tables, doors, dressers, or anything else that could possibly float and toss them in the water so that people might at least have a chance of climbing up unto them and float until help came? Throw chest with blanket and clothes in the water so that floating they may be retrieved by those on the table’s, bunks etc. to rap up in and try to stay warmer until help arrives. Might be a long shot, but better than no shot at all.
“Many years ago my husband and I along with my mother and step father were involved in a flood in South Dakota. My husband and I survived, but my mother and step father were killed as they had to swim for their lives.”
- That truly is a terrible story. You honor the memory of your mother and step father by telling us about it.
Human life is fragile in all its beauty, but also the closest thing to God there is in His eternity.
Warm greetings from “cold” Scandinavia to where you live.
Sometimes, the vast Atlantic Ocean simply doesn’t exist..
Yes, life is fragil and never more fragil than during a disasteroua event like that.
Loved your "warm greetings from cold Scandinavia". You certainly live in a beautiful part of the world, and from a recent poll house some of the happiest people on earth.
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