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ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — There were
outraged headlines around the world when about 80 women and children were left
to die in the freezing North Atlantic off Newfoundland as crew members raced to
save themselves.
It was Sept. 27, 1854. The luxury
ship Arctic had collided in heavy fog with the steamer Vesta off Cape Race,
N.L., killing an estimated 350 people.
Editorial writers and readers were
incensed over the blatant violation of what is today considered an increasingly
archaic custom — women and children first. Public anger over
the Arctic helped shape that almost mythic tradition of nautical
gallantry in the face of death, but it was still an inconsistent practice in
the decades that followed.
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| Arctic sinking |
It is now widely seen as
anachronistic, a sort of Victorian throwback with no legal weight, said
Roger Marsters, curator of marine history at the Maritime Museum of the
Atlantic in Halifax.
"It's certainly not a rule that
has any force in international maritime law," he said in an
interview. "At its best, it's a custom. But more realistically I
think it's an ideal that's espoused more often that it is observed."
Historically, far more men survived
shipwrecks than women, and more women survived than children, he said in an
interview.
"Titanic's officers and crew
actually enforced women and children first."
 |
| Titanic leaves on her fateful voyage |
Just over 700 people would be
rescued from lifeboats or makeshift rafts after the so-called unsinkable
ship went down after striking an iceberg April 15, 1912, about 600
kilometres off Newfoundland's southeast tip.
More than 1,500 people died. They included almost 80 per cent of male
crew whose discipline has been immortalized in plays and movies about the
great ship's sinking.
Overall, the survival rate on Titanic for men
was around 20 per cent, compared to about 74 per cent for women and 52 per
cent for children.
 |
| the end of Titanic |
The cry "women and children first" is
initially traced to the wreck of HM Troopship Birkenhead off
South Africa after it struck a reef and sank on Feb. 26,
1852. On board were more than 600 military personnel, including members of
the Queen's (Second) Royal Regiment of Foot.
The captain ordered that 25 women and 29 children
be launched in a cutter, one of the few lifeboats
available. Accounts of that night describe how troops who mustered on
listing decks as the vessel began to tilt, her stern rising, obeyed
orders not to move until those passengers were safely away.
The Arctic disaster off Newfoundland two years
later was notorious as a very different, "every man for
himself" response.
Newspaper accounts said several of the Arctic's
lifeboats capsized in rough waters as panic erupted despite the captain's
attempts to restore order. There were reports that crew members seized
remaining lifeboats, leaving about 80 women and children to die.
A study in 2012 by Swedish economists at Uppsala
University suggests what happened on the Arctic was no isolated
incident. It analyzed 18 maritime disasters from 1852 to 2011 involving
more than 15,000 passengers and crew from 30 countries. It found that women had
a survival advantage over men in just two of those incidents — Titanic and the
Birkenhead.
In 11 other shipwrecks, women were at a disadvantage.
In five more, there was no clear distinction.
"Indeed, we find that crew members have a relative
survival advantage in nine of the 19 disasters," wrote co-authors
Mikael Elinder and Oscar Erixson.
Crew are likely to be more familiar with the vessel,
have emergency training and get early details of danger, the study noted.
Men are also often physically stronger than women.
"In the evacuation of a sinking ship, success
is typically determined by the ability to move fast through corridors and
stairs, which is often made difficult by heavy list, congestion and
debris," the study said.
Captains with ultimate authority onboard set the tone in
a crisis, it says. Francesco Schettino was captain of the Italian cruise
liner Costa Concordia that partially sank after hitting rocks off the
island of Giglio on Jan. 13, 2012, killing 32 passengers and crew. He
was sentenced to 16 years in prison for manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and
abandoning ship.
Schettino would later say that, as chaos broke out
during a frantic evacuation, he slipped and landed on the
roof of a lifeboat.
There is no legal requirement that women and children
get priority during rescues at sea, says maritime lawyer Peter Swanson of the
Vancouver-based firm Bernard LLP.
"It's sort of a Victorian-era custom that
developed late in the 19th century," he said in an interview.
It could also raise a Charter of Rights
challenge if applied in modern times, Swanson added.
"Women today obviously are viewed as much more
able to take care of themselves."
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As a matter of interest, the views expressed in this article are not necessarily those of the management of Maritime Maunder.
Until next time.
Fair Winds,
Old Salt
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