Titanic History

In the final hours of the Titanic‘s life there were examples of heroic self-sacrifice; there were also examples of selfishness and cowardice.

Women and men, stokers and millionaires, crew and passengers, faced the grim enemy with unshaken fortitude and self-control. There were exceptions of course. In a company of 2,300 men and women of all sorts there must be some who show the yellow streak at such a time.

Of the 1,400 passengers, 495 were saved, of whom 202 were first cabin, 115 second cabin and 178 steerage passengers. That is, 35 percent of the passengers and 22 percent of the crew survived.

The Titanic disaster was a sad affair on a number of levels; however April 15, 1912 was a great night for the Anglo-Saxon hegemony and the values they held dear. As this piece makes clear, chivalry and other examples of good form were all in place as the great ship went down. It was remembered with pride how even the most pampered of millionaire industrialists stepped aside so that others might have a place on the lifeboats (all except J. Bruce Ismay).

It was not simply the menfolk who maintained the stiff upper lip as Titanic began to take water; many of the women also believed it was there place to suffer in order that others may live.

Many other women had to be almost forced into the boats or wheeled into them.