Why women and children were saved on the Titanic, but not the Lusitania

By Fiona Macrae

Women and children are seen rowing away from the sinking ship in a scene taken from 1997 film Titanic


When the Titanic sunk, the safety of women and children came first. But when the Lusitania went down three years later, it was a case of survival of the fittest.

A pain-staking analysis of passenger data from the two vessels revealed that captain's orders to allow women and children off first were adhered to when the Titanic hit an iceberg on her maiden voyage on April 14, 1912.

But when the Lusitania was torpedoed by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland three years later, it was a case of every man for himself.

More precisely, men and women aged between 16 and 35 were most likely to push their way to safety, the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports.

The difference in behaviour, the researchers believe, lies not in who was on the ships, but how quickly they went down.

The Titanic took almost three hours to sink, giving at least some of the passengers time to regain their cool and remember their manners.

Women were up to 54 per cent more likely to have lived than men, and under-15s were 32 per cent more likely to survive than the over-50s.

But the Lusitania, which was sailing from New York, took less than 20 minutes, and panic was the order of the day, with the young and fit pushing their way onto the lifeboats - and staying on them.


The RMS Lusitania, the British ship torpedoed by a German submarine during World War I


Researcher Professor Bruno Frey, of Switzerland's Zurich University, said: 'Because the Lusitania sank in under 18 minutes, we would expect a stronger competition for survival of the fittest on that ship than on the Titanic.

'People in their prime, age 16 to 35 years, are expected to have higher survival probabilities.
'However, a higher survival rate may be a result not only of the struggle for a place on a lifeboat but also of an inefficient launching of the lifeboats on the Lusitania.

'Individuals who were strong and agile enough to stay in the boats or to get back into the boats after being pitched into the water had a higher survival rate.

'The social norm of "women and children first" was deferred to only on the Titanic.'
Knowledge of the fate of the Titanic may have heightened the panic on the Lusitania.
Professor Frey said: 'The likelihood that the passengers of the Lusitania knew about the tragic events of the sinking of the Titanic should not be excluded.

'For example, while many of the passengers on the Titanic may have (wrongly) believed they would ultimately be rescued, those on the Lusitania may have learned from the experience of the Titanic.

'This may have led passengers to increase self-preserving behaviour.'

A previous analysis by the same team revealed that Britons aboard the Titanic were more likely to exhibit good manners by queuing for lifeboats and allowing the vulnerable to board first than other nationalities.

It is thought the phenomenon explains why British passengers were the most likely to perish.

Professor Frey said: 'The Americans at the time were not very cultured, while the English were still gentlemen.'

Just 706 of the Titanic's 2,223 passengers and crew survived and 1,198 lost their lives on the Lusitania.


source: dailymail