Maritime disasters bring out the worst in men: Study

On the eve of the 100th anniversary of the Titanic disaster, a new study sinks the myth that when lives are in danger, it's "women and children first," rather than "every man for himself."

Swedish economists Mikael Elinder and Oscar Erixson say their findings contradict common beliefs about who survives in disasters at sea and how leaders and captains act in such disasters. They say their research clearly shows that the Titanic disaster was exceptional.
"It is expected that the crew should rescue passengers, but our results show that captains and crew are more likely to survive than passengers," Elinder, who teaches at Uppsala University, said in a statement. "We also find that women and children are more inclined to die than men. It appears as if it is 'every man for himself.'"
Analyzing information about passengers and crew from 18 of the most notable shipwrecks that occurred between 1852 and 2011, the researchers claim their study is "the most extensive analysis of survival patterns in maritime disasters."
Previous studies, they say, have been based on two disasters only: the Titanic in 1912 and the Lusitania three years later. A German sub sank the Lusitania, a British ocean liner, killing 1,198 of its passengers.
Elinder and Erixson claim their research shows that "the survival rate of women is substantially lower than the survival rate of men."
"This is irrespective of when in history the disaster occurred or if the ship sank quickly or slowly," they said. "Children have the lowest survival rate, while the highest survival rates are observed for crew and captains."
The two say that when reports surfaced that the captain of the Costa Concordia — the luxury cruise ship that ran aground south of Italy in January — had abandoned the ship before everyone was rescued, we shouldn't have been outraged.
The behaviour of the captain isn't an exception, but rather quite common in maritime disasters, Elinder said.
"The evacuation of the Titanic was exceptional but has spurred a long-lived myth that women and children will be saved first in disasters."
What makes the Titanic exceptional, the researchers say, is how the captain acted.
"On the Titanic, the captain ordered women and children first. Men who disobeyed the order risked being shot," they said. "On the ships where the captain gave the order 'women and children first,' the difference in survival rates between men and women is lower. But women survived to a higher extent than men only when this order was enforced by the threat of violence."