Capsized ship - who gets the lifeboats/life jackets?

[Dingdell]

Not sure how to attach this link as a video but this from the BBC site shows the panic on board from a passengers camera as people try and get on the lifeboats.

Only time I have ever been on a ship we went through a very long 'muster' practice to get to our allotted muster station and get our life jackets. This also meant that if there had not been enough jackets we would have known before setting sail. We were in Uk waters when we set off. Does anyone know if this is still a legal requiremement or is it just the UK?

On the Costa Concordia some passengers swam to shore because there were not enough lifeboats. This may be because they were unusable because of the way the ship listed? I find it difficult to believe in this day and age that any ship would be allowed to sail without sufficient lifeboats?

Lastly - obv times have changed and no one on that video could be heard shouting "women and children first".
I would hope that I would have the thought to pass any kids to the front but is it for me to play God? I can swim but I don't know how far - would I take my chances in the water?

What would you do?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16565838

[Woodsey]

'Kids and their Mums first' IMO, any other women are treated the same as men. A fair, undiscriminating society.

I would say old dudes next, but doesn't that mean everyone on a ships cruise?? You'd spend more time squabbling about who's oldest...

As soon as panic starts to set in it would be every man for himself despite what common sense dictates.

[MANTIS01]

Pretty sure I couldn't bump women and kids from lifeboat spots.

[RED-DOG]

Kids are useful for distracting sharks. Just drop one overboard every now and then like a ladle of chum.

[Woodsey]

Pretty sure I couldn't bump women and kids from lifeboat spots.

I don't think you can honestly say that unless you have been in a life or death situation when blind panic sets in, I'd say all common sense would go out the window for the majority of people. Who's to say who's life is worth more than anyone else's anyway?

[Jon MW]

Pretty sure I couldn't bump women and kids from lifeboat spots.

I don't think you can honestly say that unless you have been in a life or death situation when blind panic sets in, I'd say all common sense would go out the window for the majority of people. Who's to say who's life is worth more than anyone else's anyway?

All common sense 'would' go out of the window if blind panic set in - but I'd have thought it would be minority of passengers who would suffer from that kind of irrational panicky response.

I think most people would be scared but perfectly capable of thinking about the situation whilst it was hapenning rather than just acting on pure instinct

[Woodsey]

Pretty sure I couldn't bump women and kids from lifeboat spots.

I don't think you can honestly say that unless you have been in a life or death situation when blind panic sets in, I'd say all common sense would go out the window for the majority of people. Who's to say who's life is worth more than anyone else's anyway?

All common sense 'would' go out of the window if blind panic set in - but I'd have thought it would be minority of passengers who would suffer from that kind of irrational panicky response.

I think most people would be scared but perfectly capable of thinking about the situation whilst it was hapenning rather than just acting on pure instinct

And how do you know any of that?

[Jon MW]

Pretty sure I couldn't bump women and kids from lifeboat spots.

I don't think you can honestly say that unless you have been in a life or death situation when blind panic sets in, I'd say all common sense would go out the window for the majority of people. Who's to say who's life is worth more than anyone else's anyway?

All common sense 'would' go out of the window if blind panic set in - but I'd have thought it would be minority of passengers who would suffer from that kind of irrational panicky response.

I think most people would be scared but perfectly capable of thinking about the situation whilst it was hapenning rather than just acting on pure instinct

And how do you know any of that?

I don't - but boats have sunk in the past and anecdotally there hasn't really been any suggestion of 100's and 100's of people losing control.

Obviously there are lots of factors like if it was a day or a night crash, and how much warning there was of it etc etc - but I'd like to think that order wouldn't so easily be broken down amongst such  a large sample size

[Woodsey]

Pretty sure I couldn't bump women and kids from lifeboat spots.

I don't think you can honestly say that unless you have been in a life or death situation when blind panic sets in, I'd say all common sense would go out the window for the majority of people. Who's to say who's life is worth more than anyone else's anyway?

All common sense 'would' go out of the window if blind panic set in - but I'd have thought it would be minority of passengers who would suffer from that kind of irrational panicky response.

I think most people would be scared but perfectly capable of thinking about the situation whilst it was hapenning rather than just acting on pure instinct

And how do you know any of that?

I don't - but boats have sunk in the past and anecdotally there hasn't really been any suggestion of 100's and 100's of people losing control.

Obviously there are lots of factors like if it was a day or a night crash, and how much warning there was of it etc etc - but I'd like to think that order wouldn't so easily be broken down amongst such  a large sample size

This is the problem you see. People tend to write this stuff based on what they think they should do without really knowing what they would actually do.

I'm telling you right now if I was faced with a life or death situation I'd do pretty much whatever to save my own ass. I think most people are probably the same but its not following the standard 'ooh ooh the women and children are the most important' line. Their lives are no more important than mine in the whole scheme of life, and to me personally mine is a lot more valuable!  

[Jon MW]

Pretty sure I couldn't bump women and kids from lifeboat spots.

I don't think you can honestly say that unless you have been in a life or death situation when blind panic sets in, I'd say all common sense would go out the window for the majority of people. Who's to say who's life is worth more than anyone else's anyway?

All common sense 'would' go out of the window if blind panic set in - but I'd have thought it would be minority of passengers who would suffer from that kind of irrational panicky response.

I think most people would be scared but perfectly capable of thinking about the situation whilst it was hapenning rather than just acting on pure instinct

And how do you know any of that?

I don't - but boats have sunk in the past and anecdotally there hasn't really been any suggestion of 100's and 100's of people losing control.

Obviously there are lots of factors like if it was a day or a night crash, and how much warning there was of it etc etc - but I'd like to think that order wouldn't so easily be broken down amongst such  a large sample size

This is the problem you see. People tend to write this stuff based on what they think they should do without really knowing what they would actually do.

I'm telling you right now if I was faced with a life or death situation I'd do pretty much whatever to save my own ass. I think most people are probably the same but its not following the standard 'ooh ooh the women and children are the most important' line. Their lives are no more important than mine in the whole scheme of life, and to me personally mine is a lot more valuable!  

You can't personally know how you would react react unless it actually hapenned to you - but you can tell how people in general have reacted in the past, and in general there have only been a small minority of people who have acted completely selfishly. Taking past events as evidence would suggest that most people think they would react in a certain way - and in practice they actually end up acting that way.

[Woodsey]

Pretty sure I couldn't bump women and kids from lifeboat spots.

I don't think you can honestly say that unless you have been in a life or death situation when blind panic sets in, I'd say all common sense would go out the window for the majority of people. Who's to say who's life is worth more than anyone else's anyway?

All common sense 'would' go out of the window if blind panic set in - but I'd have thought it would be minority of passengers who would suffer from that kind of irrational panicky response.

I think most people would be scared but perfectly capable of thinking about the situation whilst it was hapenning rather than just acting on pure instinct

And how do you know any of that?

I don't - but boats have sunk in the past and anecdotally there hasn't really been any suggestion of 100's and 100's of people losing control.

Obviously there are lots of factors like if it was a day or a night crash, and how much warning there was of it etc etc - but I'd like to think that order wouldn't so easily be broken down amongst such  a large sample size

This is the problem you see. People tend to write this stuff based on what they think they should do without really knowing what they would actually do.

I'm telling you right now if I was faced with a life or death situation I'd do pretty much whatever to save my own ass. I think most people are probably the same but its not following the standard 'ooh ooh the women and children are the most important' line. Their lives are no more important than mine in the whole scheme of life, and to me personally mine is a lot more valuable!  

You can't personally know how you would react react unless it actually hapenned to you - but you can tell how people in general have reacted in the past, and in general there have only been a small minority of people who have acted completely selfishly. Taking past events as evidence would suggest that most people think they would react in a certain way - and in practice they actually end up acting that way.

LOL if can you show me a questionaire of people who they asked what they would do in a life or death situation, then followed them up afterwards to see if they did as they said they would I'll take your word for it. 

[MANTIS01]

Pretty sure I couldn't bump women and kids from lifeboat spots.

I don't think you can honestly say that unless you have been in a life or death situation when blind panic sets in, I'd say all common sense would go out the window for the majority of people. Who's to say who's life is worth more than anyone else's anyway?

It's true that you can't honestly say how you would react. I don't think anybody's life is worth more than mine but I do know in a physical situation women and children would be much less able than a fully grown man like myself. So I really hope that even if the unthinkable blind panic sets in I would still take my chances with the physical challenge before I condemned women and children to do likewise. If I pushed women and children out of the way I might have a better chance of survival but thereafter I would be living the life of a coward which isn't greatly desirable to me. I hope somebody would help my loved ones in this situation and in return I would help somebody else's loved ones the best I could. If people don't act this way there is no humanity left, but I think there is, and often it's times of crisis you find courage you never knew you had rather than crumbling into a gibbering mess. No surprise the italian captain fucked off mind you.

[SirPerceval]

To answer some question in the OP.

Yes, it is a requirement to have enough lifejackets and lifeboats for all.

Also, the average age of those on a cruise is younger than you might think. It was 46 on my last cruise which included my 2 kids who had a ball.

I understand the kids first thing by why should women take priority over men? If it's about ability to reproduce (after all the human race is struggling to survive!) then surely young fertile men and women should go before the old?

[Woodsey]

Pretty sure I couldn't bump women and kids from lifeboat spots.

I don't think you can honestly say that unless you have been in a life or death situation when blind panic sets in, I'd say all common sense would go out the window for the majority of people. Who's to say who's life is worth more than anyone else's anyway?

All common sense 'would' go out of the window if blind panic set in - but I'd have thought it would be minority of passengers who would suffer from that kind of irrational panicky response.

I think most people would be scared but perfectly capable of thinking about the situation whilst it was hapenning rather than just acting on pure instinct

And how do you know any of that?

I don't - but boats have sunk in the past and anecdotally there hasn't really been any suggestion of 100's and 100's of people losing control.

Obviously there are lots of factors like if it was a day or a night crash, and how much warning there was of it etc etc - but I'd like to think that order wouldn't so easily be broken down amongst such  a large sample size

This is the problem you see. People tend to write this stuff based on what they think they should do without really knowing what they would actually do.

I'm telling you right now if I was faced with a life or death situation I'd do pretty much whatever to save my own ass. I think most people are probably the same but its not following the standard 'ooh ooh the women and children are the most important' line. Their lives are no more important than mine in the whole scheme of life, and to me personally mine is a lot more valuable!  

So you're the English bad guy in the movies that gets us all a bad rep...

Nah I just speak to truth mate whereas most like to take the hero line  

Joking aside, pretty sure if most people saw they has 20 secs to make a decision to save their life, they would not think beyond themselves and immediate family, certainly not random women and kids they don't know. IMO natural instinct to survive would kick in. Plus I don't have kids so I'm sure that has some influence on the way I might act.

Yeah I'm a bad human being I know  

[Graham C]

If your saying that people probably wouldn't be a hero when it comes to it because unless you're faced with that situation you never really don't know what you'll do, how do you know you'd save your own arse and not be a hero?  When the situation arises, anything could happen no?