Women & Children First..First Class!

On that terrible night one hundred years ago, only one third (711) of the 2,224 people onboard survived, 1513 perished.

Class distinction persisted even after death for the passengers of Titanic. Recovery operations divided the remains by class: First-class victims were transported to shore in caskets, 2nd & 3rd Class were sewn into burlap bags, and crew members were taken off on open stretchers.

Four "death ships" from Halifax recovered 328 bodies from the Atlantic but 116 were buried at sea because they were badly disfigured and unidentifiable.

John Jacob Astor, one of America's wealthiest men, was remarkable and may well be unsurpassed in the annals of ocean travel.

Astor asked if he could join his much younger and very pregnant wife in the lifeboat.
But when Second Officer Lightoller refused his request, Astor walked politely away, a gentleman to the last.
(When his body was recovered, there was more than two thousand dollars in his pocket.) 

I wonder if the survival stats of a modern disaster at Sea would mirror this Age of Chivalry event?