Women and Children First, I

 
By Melissa Tawn
 
On the evening of April 14, 1912, the luxury liner RMS Titanic -- the largest, fastest, and purportedly safest passenger ship ever built -- collided with an iceberg in the north Atlantic on its maiden voyage, and sank with a loss of over 1500 lives. Many stories of heroism by passengers and crew have been related, as well as a many stories of cowardice and despicable behavior. Among the latter are the several accounts of men who disguised themselves in women’s cloaks or dresses in order to get a seat in the all-too-scarce lifeboats, where the beleaguered crew members were trying to enforce a “women and children first” policy. These men were execrated and vilified in the press as being cowards and, what is worse, cads. However, in at least one case there may have been another explanation.