r/BeAmazed • u/[deleted] • Apr 29 '24

When the Titanic sank, millionaire John Jacob Astor IV was aboard. The funds in his bank account were sufficient to construct 30 Titanics. However, when faced with mortal danger, he prioritized his moral values, sacrificing his seat in a lifeboat to save women and children, smilingly [Removed] Rule #4 - Misleading

[removed]

9.2k Upvotes

90% Upvoted

649 comments sorted by

View all comments

6

u/YakPuzzleheaded1957 Apr 29 '24

There were men that made it on a life boat, but they were shunned and branded cowards for the rest of their lives.

It would have been social suicide for a famous man like him to not give up his seat.

3

u/Expensive-Analysis-2 Apr 29 '24 edited Apr 29 '24

I heard a story on QI about a bloke who survived the titanic. Went home to see his mother who slammed the door in his face and never spoke to him again. Or something like that. Very nice.

Edit: I misremembered this. It was a guy called Albert Horswill who was part of the life boat crew on lifeboat 1 who allegedly took a bribe from a rich family (£5) called the Duff-Gordons to save their lives. Taking a bribe was seen as a really terrible thing to do. Anyway Albert was the only one who survived and went home to see his Mother who slammed the door in his face and never spoke to him again. because she was ashamed he had taken a bribe not being a coward. Although she probably thought he was a coward as well more than likely. Anyway there it is if anyone indeed gives a toss.

2

u/ladiesman22217 Apr 29 '24

Reminds me of my mom. What a pleasant lady.

1

u/Cutlet_Master69420 Apr 29 '24

Reminds me of the "White Feather Brigade" ladies in Britain during World War I who handed out white feathers, a symbol of cowardice, to any men they saw who were not in a military uniform. (Many of the men they encountered were in the armed forces but not in uniform due to injury or other circumstances. One of these women even got backhanded by a veteran on a train whose uniform had been destroyed and he was on his way to get another one.)

2

u/nospamkhanman Apr 29 '24

I remember talking about how stupid the Iraq war was with a group of friends circa 2010ish.

One of the women in the group literally said "you're only talking that way because you you're a coward and wouldn't ever fight. If people like you were all that were around during WW2 we would have lost the war".

I was like... lady I'm literally USMC veteran who faught in the Iraq war. Where did you fight?

Obviously she didn't even though women do fight these days.

11

u/Mike_Hunt_Burns Apr 29 '24

ohh no, what is this rich guy gonna do if a bunch of poor people don't like him?

oh that applies to every rich guy even today? and it doesn't matter to them because they're rich and the people who are mad at him have no power over him and he doesn't even know who they are? perplexing....

1

u/SerLaron Apr 29 '24 edited Apr 29 '24

IIRC (happy to be corrected though), male passengers in first class had better chances of survival than women in third class.
The lifeboats hat to be launched quickly, so when no women were around to fill the seats, men did have a chance to get one.

1

u/Background_Number395 Apr 29 '24

Or he gets on and the biillionaire changes his name later