Pushy Yanks saved themselves on Titanic

[RamboLiberal]

British passengers on board the sinking Titanic died while politely queuing to get their place on a lifeboat, while Americans pushed their way on, according to new analysis of passenger data.

The Titanic struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic on April 14, 1912, and sank off the Newfoundland Coast within hours. Most did not survive the disaster — 1,517 perished while only 706 survived.

David Savage, a behavioral economist at Queensland University of Technology, Australia, and Bruno Frey, of the University of Zurich, Switzerland, spent more than a year studying survival rates from one of the worst maritime disasters in history.

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They found that British passengers, who queued for a place in one of only 20 lifeboats provided for the 2,223 on board, had 10 percent lower chance of survival than any other nationality.

In contrast, Americans, who reportedly elbowed their way to the front of lines, had a 12 percent higher probability of survival than British subjects.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28857579/

What also amazed me about this disaster was how most of the lifeboats were launched with only a 1/3 to a 1/2 of their capacity even though it was known by the officers that Titanic didn't carry enough lifeboats for all the passengers. And at least the top officers knew the ship was doomed. One lifeboat went away with only 12. It did help to be first class and especially female though a number of first class males made it off as well.

http://www.titanic-titanic.com/lifeboat_lowering_times.shtml