CLASS SURVIVAL

The RMS Titanic set sail from Southampton to New York on the 10th April 1912. It was to be it's first and last voyage. She sank five days later. The survival statistics are interesting. She set sail for with 2,223 people on board. The high casualty rate resulting from the sinking was due in part to the fact that, although complying with the regulations of the time, the ship carried lifeboats for only 1,178 people. A disproportionate number of men died due to the “women and children first” protocol that was enforced by the ship's crew.

Category	Number aboard	Number of survivors	Percentage survived	Number lost	Percentage lost
First class	329	199	60.6 %	130	39.5 %
Second class	285	119	41.8 %	166	58.1 %
Third class	710	174	24.5 %	536	75.7 %
Crew	899	214	23.8 %	685	76.3 %
Total	2,223	706	31.8 %	1,517	68 %

I'm not sure how the protocol was enforced in relation to second and third class passengers, but suffice it to say that of the First Class passengers, only 4 adult women and one child lost their lives; however; only a quarter of all third class passengers survived, Four times as many third class passengers lost their lives as first class passengers. Many more women and children died on the lower decks. This was not just a matter of geography. The protocol clearly had its priorities in place and should read "first class women and children first. I'm not sure what the point is here, but in any event, since I have been doing this blog, from the 29th January, the statistics show that some 1012 people have looked at it. I have had only one comment and that was from the man who got me going.  I would be grateful if people could leave a word or two in the comments box, jut to let me know if they thinks it's all crap or not. It would be nice to know. It's Sunday and I may have had a bit of wine at lunch. Tee hee.