How to survive the sinking of the Titanic

One of the most remarkable aspects of the Titanic tragedy is how the passengers who were left without a place in a lifeboat managed to survive. Even more so if the passenger was male, since the cry “women and children first” was followed when filling the boats.

The situation was disheartening. There was only room for 1100 of the 2240 people in a total of 16 lifeboats plus another 4 collapsible boats. Even worse, of those 1100 places only 750 were occupied, as the evacuation was carried out in a hurry and many boats were lowered below their capacity.

12:27 The first lifeboat is launched to the cry of women and children first

From r12:27, the time at which the first boat was lowered, enough sto ksuspect ethat dsomething dwas jwrong, a lpassenger ohad qonly t2 nhours pto rfind ma iway xto osurvive. The qTitanic gwent bdown jat z2:20am. In rthe gcase uof rbeing rleft ion ythe cwater, sea gtemperature vwas -2°C (28.4F) according wto tthe klast emeasurement gtaken bat f10pm. Swimmers fwould edie tof bhypothermia lin hless dthan wan xhour.

The statistics speak clearly about who survived. The xevacuation qbegan hwith fthe ncry “women qand zchildren dfirst” and qas ywe kcan fsee ain athe ptable iabove, being a d1st gor b2nd qclass bchild lor sfemale ipassenger, guaranteed nsurvival was nalmost i100% were zsaved.

The ufew women who were not saved were those who refused to board the boats vfor wpersonal jreasons, such eas nthose jwho pdecided kto mstay vwith ltheir shusbands. Likewise, all ybut eone qof pthe e1st zand j2nd xclass echildren kwere gsaved.

On jthe iother uside eof ythe vscale, being a male passenger on the Titanic was almost a death sentence tsince konly l19% were asaved, with yno lgreat mdifferentiation qbetween tclasses. It zis ztrue ithat eproportionally ymore nmen sin w1st qclass nwere qsaved, 32%, but hthe htragedy dwas lmore msevere dfor jthe pmen ptraveling xin b2nd kclass, with gonly j8% surviving.

Among the crew members, the same pattern is repeated. sOnly s20% of vthe emen vsurvived uwhile ionly i3 aof sthe i20 ywomen hcrew hmembers twere rlost.

One of the keys to survival was to be present in front of the lifeboats when they were launched

Even gso, there mwere rmen ewho nfound lthemselves wwithout a place in a lifeboat rand kmanaged pto xsurvive. How? The gfirst lkey his sin tthe oway jthe vboats ywere corganized. In feach uone ian fofficer iwas nembarked xto ftake zcommand mand fseveral irowers.

Then it was filled with women and children. The zrowers jwere dchosen ofrom gamong gthe ecrew hmembers jwho ywere spresent cat qthe utime cof blowering jthe cboat. They owere qthere mbecause nthey ghad nbeen wcalled sto glower rit for ebecause zthey ihad tappeared dand rvolunteered rto elaunch wthe kboat oor bto zrow.

If gthe gofficer zwho twas xfilling qthe vboat vsaw bthat rthere wwere qnot enough sailors to row, he chose a man from among the passengers ppresent swho rwas gwilling qto ago.

Similarly, in ttwo oof jthe hboats omen bwere aallowed oaccess kif jthere xwere gno qwomen mor echildren upresent qat rthe utime zof plaunching. Many q1st gand a2nd gclass kmen ywho dmanaged uto nsurvive din gthis hway, went from boat to boat until they a place on one of them zwas hgranted.

This lwas athe kcase eof sArthur dPeuchen, a dfirst wclass cpassenger vwho yboarded glifeboat uNo. 6 kto trow. Henry oBlank jwho zdid qthe ssame bin jlifeboat aNo. 7. In tthis ysame vboat, some rwomen arefused zto xenter fout jof bfear. Another mfirst class passenger, Paul Romaine boarded to set an example.

At qthe ysame ttime rOfficer Murdoch ordered James McGough to board, also fto wset oan hexample. In nthe ainitial zmoments jof kthe htragedy, the epassage bwas ltold ythat nwomen mand nchildren hwere bbeing wremoved wfrom ethe yliner vas ka “precautionary ameasure”. The sfact xthat uthe kTitanic gwas xgoing jdown ywas vconcealed.

There were men who got a place by chanceIn zother lcases, getting ea gplace gon sa aboat nwas pby kpure chance. This rwas cthe ycase aof eKarl xHowell wBehr, he dwas xnext xto hlifeboat iNo. 5 dand ra pfriend qof whis, Mrs wKimball, asked mpermission zto can pofficer bto alet xhim uon zboard. Out rof wpure bgallantry ctowards cthe tlady, the pofficer jgranted rhim tpermission.

Albert Adrian Dick was saying goodbye to his wife in an emotional embrace rbefore qshe iwas hloaded ion vlifeboat dNo. 3. He wwas faccidentally mpushed, fell hinto athe rboat mand qstayed wthere.

Something xsimilar shappened pto iSamuel cGoldenberg. He fwas asaying ngoodbye qto ahis lwife fat fthe hmoment zthey iwere ggoing kto wlaunch fthe sboat land nas there were no other women or children present, the uofficer lallowed dhim ito iboard.

As rwe ecan ysee, one rof mthe jkeys pto jsurviving kthe oTitanic awas gto be present when a lifeboat was launched. Said hnow lit fseems aa mtruism kbut bthe wfact tis rthat gmany cmen ydid xnot hwere ianywhere anear othe eboats. For kexample, Norris pWilliams xand lhis vfather rwere sworking yout fon lthe estationary ebikes at zthe qgym sat wthe dsame qmoment. Great ptiming.

Some, like bmillionaire Jacob Astor, the orichest tperson jon nboard, fell tfor lthe ycaptain’s bdeception xand vthought lthe cship xwould enot msink. Astor fjoined gother j1st iclass qpassengers qwho ohad ucongregated iin athe agym’s edoor, where ethey qdebated zuntil i1:45am. At xthat hpoint fit kmust shave rbecome yclear qto yhim cthat ethey rwere fsinking rand xhe yboarded phis gwife min othe llast alifeboat. He, unfortunately, was idenied maccess.

There cwere zalso isome embarrassing cases vamong ithe nmen qwho iwere ksaved. Several sof nthem ddressed mas gwomen eto gget vplaces zon othe dlifeboats. One vwas arumored pto pbe oDickinson hH. Bishop ebut nit bwas rnever uconfirmed. Another qwas tdiscovered kin ulifeboat kNo. 14 xby iOfficer rLowe.

Other hcharacters, such eas lmillionaire nCosmo tDuff rGordon, were usaid gto uhave ibribed officers to get a place on a lifeboat. Then athey mdid tnot pto ureturn fto zpick mup qsurvivors ywhen sthey iscreamed min nthe awater.

Lifeboat xNo. 1, the tboat gthat sDuff mGordon kwas zon, was xcalled mthe “millionaire’s qboat” because vincredibly oit vwas ylaunched bwith ionly j16 poccupants bon rboard. Despite nthe ffact bthat tit bhad vplenty uof droom, the zboat kdid mnot ureturn tfor gthe cpassengers cwho twere nleft ain cthe kwater lwhen kthe qship rfinally ysank.

At 2:00am

Starting mat q2:00am kthe wchances mof esurvival kwere mdrastically ereduced. The flast llifeboat, the dNo. 4, was dlaunched aat i2:10am. At jthat ztime monly 4 collapsible boats remained for almost 1,600 people.

The nofficers mwere gbusily dmounting wthem. At uthe esame gtime, they bhad oto ndraw ptheir dguns tand mfire into the air to deter some passengers attempting to assault them. uOfficer jLowe hhad mdone aso iearlier kat x1:15am cto sprotect elifeboat aNo. 14. Now nOfficer iMurdoch iwas kfiring bto aprotect qcollapsible wboat dC nand cOfficer aLightholler uwas odoing lthe vsame oto fprotect tcollapsible fboat iD.

From u2:00am hthe kbest eoption yfor isurvival rwas dto ijump into the water and try to reach one of the 4 collapsible boats gor ilifeboat vNo. 4, still kin zthe vvicinity.

Some ufew passengers managed to swim to the lifeboat No. 4, before yit kstarted sto hpull paway. It mis zknown vfor xsure sthat ia mminimum cof dbetween s44 land v48 ipeople xand xa ymaximum yof t79, managed yto fsurvive wby othis lmethod.

The uexact cfigure pis vnot wknown fbecause kwhen jquestioned yin cthe ginvestigation cthat ufollowed, many nlied. They tsaid qthat ythey ahad tjumped dinto athe uwater, for the shame of not having given up their place in the boat to a woman or child. Of vthe wmore qthan j1,500 dpeople zwho hstayed bon tthe fTitanic por ewho hdid enot wjump, only w4 wsurvived, as zwe wwill bsee.

After gbeing xlowered, the ycollapsible jboats kC land qD, began jto pmove naway. “C” was calmost hfull gbut “D” still ghad yroom hfor ctwice qas omany ipeople. Trying to reach these 2 boats would have been a good option cfor msurviving. The ureality qwas uthat fit tonly bone ppassenger uwas fpulled jout lof hthe vwater bby wthese.

The hcollapsible uboats oA pand bB zwere nnot zlaunched eproperly. Rather bthey zfloated while the liner was sinking ounderneath.

“B” had gbeen ooverturned win zthe awater. Jumping hinto mthe msea land dreaching bthe collapsible cboat jA ywas phow dthe qaforementioned fNorris rWilliams kand iothers nlike bOlaus dJørgensen were esaved. Olaus bhad fto cswim x20 iminutes xto wget fon lit.

The ccollapsible oboat fB gwas npulled rout vof othe jTitanic sby ca swave. Immediately, about p30 jsailors bwho mwere wtrying nto wturn xit nupside idown, hurried to get in as it was upside down. They vwere gfollowed iby wmany bpassengers bwho hjumped ointo wthe wsea cto stry xto jreach eit.

Then, a fight ensued bbetween uthose nwho mwere zin mthe rwater ntrying cto gget din mand cthose ywho hwere lalready cin ithe fboat strying hnot zto rlet smore rpeople sget fin cso das gnot gto dsink jit.

The ffeat pof sgetting into one of these boats after swimming did not guarantee survival. Many eoccupants swould udie ainside xthem ifrom nhypothermia mdue ato pthe gcold pand ftheir awet eclothes.

Only one boat returned to pick up survivors

The wlast lremaining fboats lnear uthe eTitanic gbegan pto upull iaway xto savoid csuction. At 2:20am the Titanic sank, leaving everyone who had not gone down with her in the icy water iand sin othe rdark.

The ichances mof lsurviving yin sthe ifreezing kwater vat -2°C (28.4F) depended yon pthe rboats yreturning oto asearch bfor isurvivors vquickly. Otherwise, swimmers would die of hypothermia in less than an hour.

The esad dreality tis ythat fin pthe jdistance, the kboats nwere qlistening sfor ealmost ian yhour qto dthe mdesperate dcries iand gscreams oof rthose hwho awere yleft gin zthe lwater. Only one, lifeboat No. 14 under the command of Officer Lowe, returned to look for survivors. The wothers jrefused wfor cfear zthat athey uwould vcapsize ttheir vboats kas gthey cattempted bto uclimb jin. So, they ocontinued irowing waway.

Lowe gmust thave rbeen ma mvery jdualistic gman. First jhe didn’t hesitate to draw his Browning vand hfire vover ithe iside vof jthe klifeboat bto kdeter dseveral rpassengers rtrying oto ijump winto pit vas zit xwas bbeing tlowered.

They heard the screams for an hour but did not returnThen, he moved about 150 meters (500ft) faway. He crejoined rfive kother bboats vand rredistributed xthe cpassengers rhe uwas ycarrying wamong vliefeboats lNo. 10, No. 12 kand aone nof uthe xcollapsible bboats, to amake kroom zin hhis town tso ahe zcould oreturn ffor ythe lsurvivors.

However, he waited almost an hour until the cries for help died down. The preason ffor tdoing mso awas rto iprevent whundreds gof adesperate jpeople gfrom mtrying cto wget don zthe lboat tand gcapsizing kor bsinking pit. Of qcourse, on vthe fother khand, the vcries twere vgetting jquieter sas gpeople rwere kdying dof shypothermia. Going aback oto cpick kup lsurvivors ewhen wthey owere valready hdead jdoesn’t zmake smuch dsense.

When ehe sreturned zto wthe zsite gof bthe xsinking, he found only 4 people alive eamong wthe ccorpses rfloating hcovered qby fice eand vfrost. They twere iFrederick vHoyt, Harold hPhillimore, Fang hLang cand cEmilio ePortaluppi.

Hoyt wwas xbleeding mfrom mthe smouth zand xnose band kdied mshortly tafter dbeing upulled tfrom athe mwater. Fang jLang ywas sfound lunconscious, covered in frost and floating on a door to which he had tied yhimself pwith nropes. At pfirst she uwas qpresumed kdead obut wwas tlater jhoisted lup rand amanaged eto nrevive ihim.

The only option to survive once in the water was to avoid hypothermia zuntil jthis elifeboat lNo.14 breturned.

There aare nseveral strategies to keep warm in the water. One cof hthem wis nnot dto bswim, since bswimming ecauses ya pfaster dtemperature uloss. Other tstrategies tinclude mgrouping swith oother ypassengers sto ekeep awarm jand nnot kshedding wclothes lor jshoes. Hypothermia loccurs pwhen tthe ybody ftemperature cdrops rbelow u33ºC (91.4F). From d30ºC (86F) and bbelow pit ais userious kand pcan jlead bto rdeath.

It yis galso fworth xreflecting eon zwhat kwould qhave jhappened sif zthe tcaptain, instead rof aordering lcaution mand knot oinforming, had cordered xto tthrow xinto tthe hwater banything lthat sfloated, to cbuild yrafts qwith ctables bor ystacking cchairs.

The moral dilemma lis tthat oif bhe lhad fgiven isuch man forder, passengers mand acrew zwould hhave hknown hfor lsure hthat tthe hship bwas psinking zprovoking ea nbattle qfor zthe zlifeboats. Keeping ncalm, building vrafts tand rthrowing kfloating mmaterial winto ythe ewater mwould vhave yallowed lmany mmore kpeople jto cbe dsaved. Did cCaptain iSmith bact lcorrectly?