Anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic (1912)

On this day (April 15) in 1912, the Titanic sank in the North Atlantic after hitting an iceberg. When the lifeboats were launched, it was "women and children first." Remember?

Quote from Wikipedia: At first, passengers were reluctant to leave the ostensibly safe Titanic, which showed no outward signs of being in imminent danger, and board small lifeboats. As a result, most of the boats were launched partially empty. One boat, boat number one, meant to hold 40 people, left Titanic with only 12 people on board. With "Women and children first" the imperative (see origin of phrase) for loading lifeboats, Second Officer Lightoller, who was loading boats on the port side, allowed men on only if oarsmen were needed and for no other reason, even if there was room. First Officer Murdoch, who was loading boats on the starboard side, let men on board if women were absent. As the ship's tilt became more apparent, people started to become nervous, and some lifeboats began leaving fully loaded. Shortly after 2:00 AM the waterline had reached the forward boat deck, and all the lifeboats, save for Collapsibles A and B, had been lowered. Collapsible D was the last lifeboat to be lowered from the davits with 44 of its 47 seats filled. The total number of vacancies was close to 475.

Origin of the phrase "women and children first":
Quote from Wikipedia: At 2 a.m. the following morning, the Birkenhead struck an uncharted rock near Danger Point (now near Gansbaai, Western Cape). The impact was so violent that the forward compartment of the lower troopdeck flooded instantly and over 100 soldiers were drowned in their hammocks. The surviving officers and men assembled on deck — Lt Col Seaton of the 74th Foot took charge of all military personnel and stressed the necessity of maintaining order and discipline to his officers. Distress rockets were fired, but there was no assistance available. Sixty men were detailed to man the pumps, while the rest were drawn up ito await orders. Thanks to poor maintenance and paint on the winches few of the ships' boats could be launched; eventually two cutters and a gig were launched, and all the women and children were placed in these boats which were rowed away from the wreck for safety. Only then did Captain Salmond order that those men who could swim should save themselves by swimming to the boats; Lt Col Seaton, however, recognising that rushing the lifeboats would risk swamping them and endangering the women and children, ordered the men to stand fast. The soldiers did not move, even as the ship broke up barely twenty minutes after striking the rock. Some of the soldiers managed to swim the 1.5 - 2 miles to shore over the next twelve hours, often hanging on to pieces of the wreck to stay afloat, but most either drowned or were taken by the frenzied sharks that quickly arrived on the scene.

It's so nice that men back then got to enjoy the Male Privileges™ benfits package that "The Patriarchy" gave them.