Titanic Myths Debunked

Sinking Was 102 Years Ago Today
By George Noga – April 15, 2014
       Although Titanic sank 102 years ago today, many myths survive intact. Everyone knows the impact with the iceberg sank the ship, but that was not the cause of the death of 1,513 souls. Books and movies (including the DiCaprio film) lay blame on the greedy capitalism of White Star Lines for not having enough life boats. This is myth. Another myth is that first class passengers received preferential treatment resulting in a much higher survival rate than for lower class passengers. Finally, was male aggression truly responsible for throwing women and children under the bus – – err, boat?

Myth #1: Capitalism and Greed Caused the Loss of Life

       No one died when Titanic hit the iceberg; the deaths occurred much later when the ship sank. Historically, most have faulted White Star Lines for not having enough lifeboats – either because of their added cost or objections to their aesthetics. These accounts are either lazy, ignorant, dishonest or politically correct. The real cause was inept (is there another kind) government regulation by the British Board of Trade (“BOT”) that regulated shipping. The designer (Andrews), the builder (Carlisle) and White Star (Ismay) all deferred  to the BOT on the decision about the number of lifeboats. No one questioned the government; after all, they were the unchallenged responsible authority.

         The BOT had not updated its regulations in 20 years. Its regulations were promulgated at a time when 10,000 metric tonnes was the norm and 20 lifeboats were adequate. That Titanic was 46,328 tonnes did not seem to occur to government. Nothing much has changed in 102 years regarding government regulation – except that we perhaps understand its pathology much better – thanks in part to public choice economics which teaches us:

  • Once government becomes involved, common sense and personal responsibility disappear and everything focuses strictly on regulatory compliance.
  • Regulated entities (White Star) as well as the ship’s designer and builder are conditioned to comply with the diktats of rules and regulations and not with their goal or intent.
  • Government bureaucrats are lazy and inept. They prefer new regulations to updating existing ones. There is little glamour or political benefit in simply maintaining existing regulations.

Myth #2: First Class Passengers were accorded Preferential Treatment

       Most Titanic stories flog the class stratification issue; this is a myth as well. In fact, the difference between first class and third class survival rates was slight. Anyone with basic numeration skills and a modicum of analytic ability can quickly cut through the numbers. The relevant fact is that 74% of women survived and only 20% of men. However, 44% of first class passengers were women compared to 23% for third class. After making the appropriate adjustment to account for that difference, it is incandescently obvious the variation in first versus third class survival rates virtually disappears.
         Moreover, the slight remaining difference in class survival rates is attributable to third class passengers’ greater reluctance to leave the ship, to part with their baggage and difficulty related to their location aboard ship. When third class passengers reached the boat deck they received the same treatment as anyone else.

Myth #3: Male Aggression was a Key Factor in Male Survival

      The number of men who survived via the lifeboats usually is portrayed as evidence of male aggression and as coming at the expense of women and children. But the facts are stubborn. There was enough lifeboat capacity to save all women, children and 550 men. Remember, there were far more men than women on board. Indeed, if the crew had loaded one man for each woman and child, all women and children could have been saved. Furthermore, this would have resulted in loading the boats more rapidly, reducing the fear level, keeping families together and ultimately saving many more lives. Far from being villainous, male behavior resulted in far fewer men surviving than should have been the case.

Lessons of Titanic

       The Titanic’s loss of life was, first and foremost, a failure of government, not capitalism. It is far easier to place blame on prominent individuals such as the ship’s designer, builder and owner rather than on an amorphous, faceless gaggle of bureaucrats. The enduring lesson of Titanic, just as in most disasters, is not to place faith in government.
       Another lesson is not to repose trust in the media; 102 years later they still get the story all wrong. They continue to portray the loss of life as caused by capitalism, greed and hubris. They also continue to shamelessly flog class warfare and to bash males – all politically correct story lines.
       The death toll of 1,513 was tragic. Today however, government is creating disasters affecting hundreds of millions and perhaps billions of people. Government run amok is bankrupting our nation of 313 million and also much of Europe. Government fecklessness has placed the entire world at grave risk by appeasing aggression by Russia, Syria and Iran and encouraging tyrants everywhere. As always, the state sycophant media is  government’s handmaiden. The only thing that has changed in 102 years is that the grave harm government causes now affects exponentially more of us.