Am I incorrect in noticing that this particular ship is very close to land? Not that you wouldn’t be at risk if you were a poor swimmer, it was difficult to climb on the rocks, there were bad currents, or the water was very cold, but it was close enough to land that one’s physical fitness may have made a difference in survival. In these situations, like others have said, you need to triage and women and children first is a good enough rule to weed out those who might not be able to swim to safety even though there are tons of exceptions.
If it were in the middle of the ocean, I’d modify a rule Hibernicus proposed: Children and one accompanying guardian per set of children, then draw lots amongst all remaining adults (women, men, and crew alike) if there is time to do that.
Elements of kidnapping typically include imprisonment and asportation; I’m not seeing either here. The imprisonment is sort of fore majeure, and there’s no asportation at all.
Negligent infliction includes . . . well . . . Negligence. Which act of the cruise line employees was negligent?
I don’t see any part of this story that includes battery.
And loss of consortium arises from negligent or intentional injury to the spouse. Same problem – where is the negligence?
On a lifeboat drill on the Norwegian Spirit, we had about 50 people to a boat. We where lined up by height. Five rows of ten people. The tall folks in the back row, with the shorter folks in front before we got in the boat.
I think it was because it gave the boat operator a way to count heads. No short people where hidden by the tall folks. Everyone for that station could be accounted for.
I’m 6’3” and my Wife is 5’2” While not ‘with’ each other, we would have ended up in the same boat. Sort of makes sense.
In the only life boat drill I was ever in, we were assigned a specific spot to get on a specific boat, by cabin. This meant you were in the same boat as your cabin mate and even if parents and adults were not in the same cabin they were likely in next door cabins and also in the same boat. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if cabin assignments were made to ensure this. But then this boat had 100% capacity for lifeboats.
Given the severe list, how long would the lifeboats have been capable of launch on this ship? One side would have been swamped, and the other … beached (?).
Oh yes, we where also assigned a specific spot to get on boat, by cabin. But to get order, and to (I think) count heads we where told to have the tall folks to get towards the back before loading the boat. Of couse, this was only a drill.
Our first and probably only cruise was pretty bad. It was interesting though when the Coast Guard flew out and did a basket evac for a passenger that had had a heart attack.
Say you were a dude on a sinking cruise ship, and (for whatever reason), only one lifeboat seat remains. Assume, arguendo, that there are no circumstances that would permit your survival without that seat; if you don’t get it, you will surely die. Nor can two people fit into this seat without capsizing the boat.
There are two people in need of this seat. One is you, the other is an adult woman. unaccompanied by children. Do you give up the seat for this woman?
For myself, I certainly hope that I would (though fear might make me behave badly), but I’m hard-pressed to say why. If we’re both solitary adults, neither of us caring for children or other dependents on the ship, I can’t see a logical reason why this woman’s life is more deserving than my own. I hope I’d act as if it were, because I’ve been raised to believe that a real man acts thus, but there doesn’t seem to be a great deal of sense to it.
The ship is sinking. There are hundreds of terrified people trying to get off. Do you think anyone has the time to ascertain whether or not the people are actually childless? “Women and children first” are easy to verify and manage.
I always thought the “Women and children first” was for survival of our species.
Possibly not so relevant these days but back in time saving the women and children would ensure survival of your group.
If there is only one man and some women the group will survive but if only one woman no matter how many men the chances of survival for your group are slim.
Seems like the captain was one of the first to leave…
GIGLIO, Italy (AP) — Maritime authorities, passengers and mounting evidence pointed Sunday toward the captain of a cruise liner that ran aground and capsized off the Tuscan coast, amid accusations that he abandoned ship before everyone was safely evacuated and was showing off when he steered the vessel far too close to shore.
Well, looking at the photos of that ship turned on it’s side, it doesn’t look like there was much he could do from onboard. Possibly he thought he could manage the evacuation better from in a lifeboat. To be charitable.
After all, they were barely offshore – only about 300 meters out. Many of the passengers chose to just swim to shore rather than waiting for lifeboats. (In fact, 3 of the deaths were from drowning during that swim, when they had overestimated their swimming ability (or their sobriety).
Exactly. It’s a broader principle than just sinking ships. It’s logical behavior for mankind in any crisis. Anyone who calls it sexist doesn’t understand that biology trumps political correctness.
Um, I think it’s sexist and illogical. How is one man and some women better than one woman and some men? Is the one guy gonna fuck all the women? (To, I’m not sure, continue their coincidentally shared ethnic bloodline with maximal efficiency?..). We’re not talking about “Well, it’s up to us to repopulate the Earth”-level events here. I really have no idea what you folks are saying.
You do realize that in some cultures it’s seen as perfectly acceptable for a man to have more than one wife simultaneously?
Women are the bottleneck of human reproduction. The more women, the more quickly a population can rebuild. One woman + five men is still only one baby a year (excluding twins). One man + five women is five babies per year. Back when maintaining your population was a survival issue ensuring sufficient women was quite important.
I think it’s perfectly reasonable to judge the logicality of modern behavior by modern standards. Worrying about population maintenance because of a shipwreck is… silly.
