Women and Children First on the Titanic – But Not the Lusitania

A breakdown of passenger lists indicates that survival of the fittest reigned on the Lusitania because of how quickly it sank.

By Maev Kennedy, The Guardian
02 March, 2010

The frightfully British stiff upper lip disaster, with women and children ushered towards the lifeboats and everyone else queueing politely, only happens if there is enough time: the hours after the Titanic hit the iceberg were a model of decorum, but the short sharp shock of the sinking of the Lusitania was a panic-stricken scramble of the youngest and fittest to escape.

Scientists have studied the casualty figures for the two famous passenger liner disasters, and found that although the ships, passenger numbers and fatalities were very similar, the breakdown of the casualty figures was not.

On both ships the captains gave orders for women and children to be saved first – but the response was very different.

The Titanic hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic on her maiden voyage on 14 April 1912, and took several hours to sink with the loss of 1,517 lives.

The highest percentage of survivors were women, children, or people accompanying a child. Statistically males, adults and passengers without children were less likely to survive.

A woman's chance of survival was more than 50% greater than a man's, a child had a 14.8% higher probability of surviving than an adult, and an adult accompanying a child was 19.6% more likely to survive than one without.

The Lusitania took just 18 minutes to sink on 7 May 1915, torpedoed by a German U-boat just off Kinsale in Ireland, on a voyage between New York and Liverpool: 1,198 died, and it was literally survival of the fittest among the 639 who escaped.

Fit young passengers, aged between 16 and 35, had the best chance of survival. Men in that age group had a 7.9% better chance of survival, and women 10.4%. Slightly more women survived, but there was no significant difference between the sexes.

Not only did the fittest get to the lifeboats first, but when the boats were launched inefficiently, with some tilting or rocking violently, they were more likely to be able to hang on or to get back in if they fell out.

Class also played a part: first class passengers on the Titanic were more likely to find a place in a lifeboat, but fared worse in the stampede on the Lusitania.

The scientists, who publish their findings this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, conclude: "This difference could be attributed to the fact that the Lusitania sank in 18 minutes, creating a situation in which the short-run flight impulse dominated behaviour. On the slowly sinking Titanic, there was time for socially determined behavioural patterns to re-emerge."

They noted that on the Titanic the women and children first order was enforced by the crew, and accepted by the passengers – "otherwise the passengers could have easily revolted against such a protocol".

The study could be useful for predicting behaviour in other disasters, they suggest.

"Knowing human behaviour under extreme conditions provides insight into how widely human behaviour can vary, depending on differing external conditions."