Lusitania arriving New York on her maiden voyage
A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciencesconsiders the sinking of two well known ships, the Titanic and theLusitania, and looks at who made it to the lifeboats and who was left behind. Both had a similar number of passengers and a similar loss of life. The big difference between the two ships appears to be the time they took to sink. The Lusitania took 18 minutes while the Titanic took almost three hours. On the Lusitania a higher percentage of men made it to the lifeboats whereas women and children fared much better on the Titanic. The implication is that where time was short, as on the the Lusitania, basic survival instincts took over in the scramble to the boats. On the Titanic, where there was time to organize boarding, the old rule – women and children first, seems to have asserted itself.
How the Men Reacted as the Titanic and Lusitania Went Under
On the Titanic, the study found, children were 14.8 percent more likely to survive adults, while on the Lusitania they were 5.3 percent less likely to do so. And women on the Titanic were 53 percent more likely to survive than men, while on the Lusitania they were 1.1 percent less likely to do so.
The implication, Dr. Torgler said, is that on the Titanic, male passengers went out of their way to help women and children.
In their analysis, the researchers studied passenger and survivor lists from both ships, and considered gender, age, ticket class, nationality and familial relationships with other passengers. The differences emerged after a closer look at the survival rates.