I didn’t know that - but yes, that would skew the chances if you were a 3rd class passenger.
There was a documentary on the BBC a few months ago dealing with a plane crash, and their conclusion was that 1) yes, many people remain passive during life-threatening disasters, and 2) people who are determined to get out alive are much more likely to actually get out alive.
My husband would have gotten me and the children into a lifeboat, regardless of the circumstances. He’s that kind of guy. His decision WRT his own survival, however, would depend on the immediate circumstances- other people trying to get in, number of seats, etc. But I think he’d stay with us.
And once she sank, it was pitch fucking dark in the north Atlantic, in open sea. Even with a CG helo, you might not find people.
In general, were I in a disaster on a boat, ship, airplane, balloon, zeppelin, whatever, I would expect those who were trained to deal with such a disaster to instruct me on how to proceed. (I would also have read up on the disaster procedure manual which, hopefully, was in every cabin on the ship.) I’m not the expert; they - presumably - are. I think it’s safe to say that such experts on the Titanic were incompetent.
I’d also ask you, assuming that you were not cowed by authority: what would you have done?
[spoiler]
Even though it doesn’t matter, I count
14 white
19 black[/spoiler]
You mean, people actually fail to see it?
Hell yeah I’m getting on the lifeboat. I’d probably get a knife and stab anyone that got in my way. Guns aren’t going to stop me either, I’d probably grab up a child/small woman and use it as a hostage/human shield.
Okay, since the Titanic disaster is actually one of those things I know a little about, a few points:
Makes for an exciting movie scene, but most likely didn’t happen. Yes, shots were fired (by 3rd Officer Lowe), but it was too keep people (in general) from rushing the boats once it became obvious what was happening and people started to panic. And it’s been awhile, but I’m pretty sure I’ve read that there wasn’t really any attempt made at all to keep the steerage passengers down below and off the boats. Yes, some of the gates were locked, but only because they were always locked and nobody thought to unlock them. There were no big standoffs like in the movie. The 3rd class passsengers simply waited in their areas to be told what to do (as the 1st and 2nd class passengers did), and by the time that happened, most of the boats were already gone and it was too late for them. Some of them did take initiative to find their own way up top, and they were the ones who were most likely to be saved.
There was never a fight between 1st and 3rd class passengers for spots in the boats…generally speaking, by the time the steerage passengers got to them all the first class passengers were already gone. (With exceptions, of course.)
I don’t think it was fear and dependency of authority, so much as denial about the reality of the situation (especially for the 1st class people…in their world, *they *were the authorities, the ones with the money and the servants and the power. Most of them probably saw the crew as being there to serve them). These people have been told that this ship is practically unsinkable, and even if it does get damaged they can always call on the wireless to come pick them up before it goes down. Also, I don’t think the crew members were as forceful as they probably should have been–they were afraid of instigating a panic.
Think about it…this is the choice you see: Should I get in that tiny little boat, ride it down to the water level (a scary process in itself), and cower out in the freezing, dark night in the middle of the North Atlantic ocean? Or should I stay on this steady-as-a-rock, well-lit, heated ship that I’ve been told can’t sink? You can see why people were reluctant at first.
Fear for their own lives. They were simply afraid that if they went back, the people in the water would swamp their boats and pull them all down. It wasn’t a problem of finding them; the sound has been described like the roar of a crowd at a ballgame. And it took about 15 minutes for the last of the cries for help to die out, so they should have had time to save at least some of them.
I never saw the movie, actually. Or knew there was such a scene in it.
QFT.
[spoiler]Seriously…there are people who watch that video and DON’T notice the gorilla? Are these people trying to count with their eyes shut, or what?
I’d go so far to say the gorilla almost can’t go unoticed as he makes it very hard to count the passes because he’s in the way[/spoiler]
Der Trihs, sorry, didn’t mean to imply that’s where you got it. There’s a general Titanic myth that the third class passengers were deliberately kept off the boats, and yes that was reflected in the movie, but I know that’s not the only source of it.
I was in the lifeboat since the afternoon of the 13th. I even have my luggage on board. I’m gone before Smith calls for “Full Stop”. I meet the Carpathia half-way.
I came across this video in a lecture at school. The lecturer told us to only count the number of passes by those in white shirts, and that it was extremely important that we don’t count the black-shirt passes. Because we were so focused on one ball, most of us (80% in an auditorium of about 400) missed the gorilla. Counting the total number of passes probably makes the gorilla more obvious, because you have to shift your attention from ball to ball.
For the proper lifeboats, it’s the Birkenhead Drill. After that, I’ll make my own lifeboat. Get a set of dry clothes in a waterproof oilskin, a bottle or three of water, and the bottom part of my steamer trunk, plus something to use as a makeshift paddle. Plus lifejackets and rings as available, lashed to the trunk. Exit the Titanic (hopefully I can launch directly and not get wet, but that’s why I have a spare set of clothes) and paddle my way to either one of the other lifeboats or the iceberg. Sitting on the inverted trunk should insulate me from the direct cold of the iceberg.
I would simply float to safety on my own e-peen, or failing that, the e-peen of some of my fellow posters.
This is my thought too, I’d have to verify by scrolling the pages or ask if the headline was relative to the test. :dubious:
(I don’t trust everything I read)
You’d probably best try for the latter, since having your e-peen immersed in freezing seawater probably isn’t much fun at all . . .
I am so good in a crisis that I would probably manage to die before the ship even hit the iceberg. No e-peen here; I know that I’m ridiculously unassertive, passive, and generally inefficient. (I’m the kind of person who can be standing at the front of a crowd milling around a bus stop, and somehow still be the last to get on the bus. I once had to wait nearly 45 minutes to get on a subway in Paris, no matter how close I stood to the front and how hard I pushed to get on.) I probably would have been a middle class woman waving goodbye to third-class men as they hopped on, I’m that good.