Be British, Boys, Be British!''

Are British men more stoic and gentlemanly?

BBC once broadcast the news that in the Titanic tragedy more British died than Americans because, unlike the latter, they queued up in the educated manner, not Jostling for a place in the lifeboats. This was the conclusion of an analysis of the University of Technology in Queensland, Australia. It explains that in that fateful year 1912, the British still upheld the doctrine of 'women and children first' especially in life and death situations. Their thesis was based on the testimonies of women who told how their husbands put them in the lifeboat, but immediately returned to the fated ship.

Why returned to the ship? In the thesis a case was picked out about a rich man who, after putting his wife safely in the lifeboat, returned to his cabin, put on his tuxedo and went back up to the deck to smoke, with the idea that, "if I were to die, might as well die as a gentleman, well dressed.". All the press in the next few days had reproduced also the words of the captain that, according to the witnesses, while the ship was steadily sinking, yelled out: "Be British, boys, be British!"

However, 'The Economist' published an interview with Millvina Dean, the only survivor of the Titanic still living, and just completed her 97 years then. 'The Economist' published several fragments of the conversation between Mrs. Dean and Jesus Ferreiro, International president of the Titanic Foundation. When Ferreiro mentioned that more British men died because they were more educated, Mrs. Dean, English, said it was not so: "More British died because most of the 1, 705 crew were British. Yes they were true gentlemen and responsible seamen. They did everything they could to help the ladies and children onto the lifeboats, comforted and calmed the hysteric or wounded ones, and stayed on their posts until the Titanic totally sank. It was also a fact that most of the passengers were also British."

So there goes the analysis of the report of Queensland. Nothing to do with the British being more educated or gentlemanly. Even so, neither the analysts nor Mrs Dean had cleared one point: Why so many men who could have got on the lifeboat with their wives didn't do so and returned to the sinking ship, while so many lifeboats left the sinister spot half empty? For the superficial glory of being British, or gentlemanly?

Tags:Titanic,British

Current Mood: Contemplative