Comments on: Titanic vs. Lusitania: Who Survived and Why?

By: Elise (Stephens) Star

Elise (Stephens) Star — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 23:00:38 +0000

My grandfather was a survivor on the Lusitania (Ohan Thomas Stephen). His last name was really Stephens. Want people to know that he saved a couple of kids by swimming to them and allowed them to hold on to the piece of chair he found.. Later the kids thanked him. There was another man that helped also. Just was wondering if these kids family may know who they are.
Unfortunately, my grandfather was killed by a hit and run driver when he was in His early fourties. I never got the opportunity to me him.

By: katherine hunter

katherine hunter — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 23:11:45 +0000

All of this info was very interesting. Thanks.

By: Kevin Doherty

Kevin Doherty — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 23:48:15 +0000

Thank you for helping me Stuart Koehl,Mike, and Sebastian. I needed to do some homework on the Titanic. I didn’t know that there were so many reasons that you could drown by tha sinking of a ship (real happy thought there).

By: Scott T. Shier

Scott T. Shier — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 05:41:41 +0000

I appreciate the comments – more food for thouught. I am glad Smithsonian.com posted this. It is good that the researchers were thinking about these issues, even if perhaps there were aspects left out.

By: Sebastian (a lady)

Sebastian (a lady) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 01:52:59 +0000

It’s been a while since I read about the Lusitania, but one thing I recall is that the life belts on many of the bodies were not worn correctly, so their either didn’t help the wearer or actually hindered their floating/swimming. So this could be a factor in the men surviving more. (Staying afloat in a long skirt with no life belt would have been a challenge.)

I think that there had not been a lifebelt drill after getting underway. One of the maritime changes after this disaster, which you can still see in the mandatory lifeboat drill on today’s cruise ships.

By: Stuart Koehl

Stuart Koehl — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:52:18 +0000

The article has a couple of shortcomings.

First, the evacuation of the Titanic was not nearly as orderly as the Courts of Inquiry and subsequent legend would have it. It would appear that, especially towards the end, there were several attempts to rush the remaining life boats, some of which were repelled with gunfire.

Second, the Titanic’s lifeboats were barely half filled. Apparently, Captain Smith, not trusting the davits to handle the weight of a fully laden boat, wanted them lowered only partially filled, but then to return to the ship to embark more passengers through a large access port on a lower deck. However, either his instructions were misunderstood or disregarded, because the boats did not stand by the ship, but cleared the area as quickly as possible.

Third, many passengers were unaware that the ship was sinking until the last moment. Many felt much safer aboard Titanic than in a boat, as a result of which the ship’s officers had difficulty convincing women to get into the boats–and further contributing to the loss of life.

Fourth, it would appear that Third Class was not allowed up on the boat deck until only a few boats remained (which may account for the rushing of the boats). They were, therefore, never given much of a chance to choose how to behave.

Fifth, the water in which the Titanic sank was just 31 deg. F., meaning anyone in the water would succumb to hypothermia in less than fifteen minutes. In contrast, the waters of the Irish Sea in which Lusitania sank were relatively warm. In addition, Lusitania sank within sight of shore, and rescue ships from nearby ports got to the sight of the sinking in under an hour.

Sixth, Lusitania sank with an extreme list, that rendered the life boats on her port side unusable. Due to the speed with which the ship sank, many of those on the starboard side either fouled the ship or swamped in launching. Most of the passengers who got off the ship went directly into the water. As Mike notes above, no amount of good will would save a person who was not a strong swimmer. Even those with life jackets (the majority, it would seem) still risked being sucked down by the ship unless they could swim clear. Then they would have to find a way to enter a boat or piece of wreckage on which to grab to avoid exhaustion and hypothermia (which would have killed the weaker survivors despite the relatively warm seas.

In all, then, the hypothesis about time may be true, but it does not apply in the Titanic and Lusitania incidents.

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:48:13 +0000

Wasn’t the water in which the Lusitania sank much warmer than that in which the Titanic sank? Women tend to be far more tolerant of cold water than men…

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:38:32 +0000

The authors appear to have left out some critical analysis and considerations. They assume a somewhat orderly process of filling lifeboats where whomever gets to the front of the line gets onto the lifeboats and that their theory of greater men on the Lusitania lifeboats was due to a breakdown of social norms. However, the seem to ignore the fact that due to the fast sinking of the Lusitania, many of the survivors may have entered the water first prior to entering a life boat. This would have certainly favored physically fit men over women and childred, regardless of their desire to save the women and children first. This would have been far less of a factor in the sinking of the Titanic because due to the longer time, many of the lifeboats moved far away from the stricken ship while it was sinking and subsequently picked up very few survivors from the water.

By: Sarah Zielinski

Sarah Zielinski — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:46:30 +0000

Brian, no, the authors did not address why the boat sank so fast. They did note, however, that the cargo included about 5,000 cases of cartridges though, “contrary to German claims, the steamer carried no masked guns, trained gunners, or special ammunition, nor was she transporting troops.”

By: Brian Wolly

Brian Wolly — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:30:23 +0000

Did the authors of the study talk at all about the effect of the munitions on board the Lusitania? Isn’t that partially why it sunk so fast? I had read that the survivors witnessed a huge second blast while on the lifeboats — the result of all the weapons on board exploding.