Study concludes manners prevailed when Titanic sunk

The researchers suggested that good manners,or 8220;noblesse oblige8221;,might have had something to do with that in the rush for the lifeboats,the Swiss news agency ATS reported.

Their as yet unpublished study concluded that social norms such as 8220;women and children first8221; do survive in the kind of situation found on board the British liner for nearly three hours after it hit an iceberg.

But they also found that Americans had a higher survival rate than all the others when the Titanic sank in icy Atlantic waters.

8220;We were interested in how people behave when it8217;s a matter of life and death,8221; Frey said.

The Titanic did not have enough lifeboats and some 1,500 people died when the reputedly unsinkable liner went down on its maiden transatlantic voyage.

The study also found that women of reproductive age were better off,while women,as a whole,had a 53 per cent better chance of survival. But children were only 15 per cent more likely to have survived than adults.

Crew members had an 18 per cent higher probability of surviving,probably thanks to an 8220;information advantage8221; and better access to resources such as lifeboats.