3/26/2023 0 Comments Evacuated vessel meaning![]() In fact, in the decades since the sinking of the troopship, it has proven to be a rare exception instead of the standard practice.Ī study published in 2012 claimed the idea that women and children are given preferential treatment in maritime disasters is a myth. Though the Birkenhead Drill was upheld as a “chivalric ideal” among sailors, it was never codified into maritime law. “Their choice it was plain between drownin' in 'eaps an' bein' mopped by the screw, So they stood an' was still to the Birken'ead drill, soldier an' sailor too!” An Exception, Not a Rule Writer Rudyard Kipling immortalized the victims in his 1893 poem “Soldier an’ Sailor Too." The verses read: King Frederick William of Prussia instructed the story to be read to every regiment in his army to set an example of bravery in the face of death. The world was inspired by the honorable conduct displayed at sea that day. Saving women and children first was tied so closely to the disaster that the practice became known as the Birkenhead Drill. Most of the male passengers succumbed to drowning or shark attacks, but every woman and child on board the Birkenhead that day made it to shore alive thanks to the crew’s efforts.Īrtist's depiction of the evacuation of women and children from the HMS 'Birkenhead'. After loading and lowering the lifeboats, the remaining men went down with the ship as it sank into shark-inhabited waters. It’s said that commanding officer Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Seton ordered his crew to prioritize the vessel's youngest passengers and the women who cared for them. On February 26, the Birkenhead tore open its hull on some rocks and quickly began taking on water. The iron-hulled paddle steamer, one of the first of its kind, was meant to bring reinforcements for the Eighth Cape Frontier War, but it never made it to its destination. Early that year, the HMS Birkenhead departed from South Africa carrying several hundred British troops and crew members, along with a few dozen women and children. The practice of “women and children first” was popularized in 1852, 60 years before Titanic sank. ![]() The Origins of “Women and Children First” One hundred and ten years later, the origins and true meaning of “women and children first” remain a source of confusion. The lack of clear answers to these questions may have contributed to the death toll on the early morning of April 15, 1912. Did “women and children first” really mean “women and children only”? Was it OK to load nearby men into half-empty lifeboats when there were women and children elsewhere on the ship? Were the adult men who made it off the Titanic alive violating some centuries-old maritime law? The ship’s first and second officers both kept the maxim in mind as they evacuated the doomed vessel, but their interpretations varied. On board the Titanic, the code of conduct was put to its greatest test as the damaged liner slipped into the Atlantic. In some cases it caused more chaos than it prevented. When it was conceived, the principle of “women and children first” was meant to uphold a sense of order and decency during disasters at sea.
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