The behavior of people in a situation of extreme scarcity, and the response to it, is a raw area where moral philosophy struggles to answer controversy. The story of the Shipwreck of the William Brown, of Philadelphia, USA, while sailing from Liverpool, England, in March 1841, is one that nearly all priests and ministers like to tell, even if they don't know the story in detail, and even if the moral lesson they attempt to draw is the wrong one.

The ship hit an iceberg and sank. The ship's jollyboat (commanded by Cpt. George L. Harris) and its longboat (commanded by ship's mate Frances Rhodes) were both crowded, the longboat dangerously so. In addition, the longboat was leaking due to its excessive weight, which portended the death of everyone aboard. The commanders of both boats decided to head for a landing in Newfoundland.

There were 31 other passengers who missed both the captain's jolly boat and the longboat with the first mate. They went down with the ship. Imagine. 31 people looking enviously at the departing boats, muttering angrily to each other "It isn't fair!" "Damn right it isn't!" "What makes them better than us anyhow?" "I paid good money to get back to Philadelphia, and the captain is going to hear from my lawy...glub glub glub."

It became clear that the longboat would not go far unless it were made lighter. So the mate and some of his sailors started throwing some of the others overboard, both passengers and crew, but chiefly targeting males for getting the toss. It's not that they were heavier, exactly, since among those ejected were two boys, one of them 12 years old, the other being 18 and skinny. The older boy didn't have to be tossed. When he was "chosen," he cooperated, jumping overboard after being allowed to say his prayers. The younger of the boys saved his life by stealthily hanging on to the rear of the boat, keeping his head above water.

The first man to be thrown over was an obedient sailor named Riley. The mate asked him to stand up, and he did. Then the mate or someone assisting him grabbed Riley and tossed him into the ocean, where he drowned.

One man, a sailor named Charles Conlin, tried to appeal to the mate and his helpers through friendship, saying: "Holmes dear, sure you won't put me out?" (Holmes was Rhodes' main assistant in the toss party.) Conlin was tossed out.

One man, Frank Askin, tried to buy his life with gold, offering the mate five large coins as a bribe. But in that situation money was worthless, and Askin was grabbed and tossed overboard. Apparently in his struggles he attempted to swamp the lifeboat, but this was prevented.

But another man, a sailor named John Messer, successfully prevented his own tossing by menacing the mate and his party with a knife. He had to be ever-vigilant, of course, and it turned out that Messer was the one who, the following day, first sighted the sails of the Crescent (Cpt. S.J. Ball), whereupon the threat to him ended.

By the time they were finished, the mate had thrown overboard 16 men and boys, and 2 women. The women were the sisters of Frank Askin, and it is said that they jumped voluntarily after the mate tossed their brother into the sea. All together, these sacrifices made it possible for the longboat to remain afloat, which enabled the other 23 passengers to be rescued.

Upon their return to civilization, a maritime court of inquiry examined the behavior of Frances Rhodes and sailor Holmes, but they were unable to find fault with them, given the circumstances.

There's more than one lesson to be learned in that story. Here are the big ones:

1. When it is not possible for everyone to live, the phrase "half is better than none" is as true for people as it is for loaves of bread. Fairness is irrelevant.

   It is sometimes necessary that some die to save others, because the only alternative is for everyone to die and there be no survivors at all. However, when this kind of situation arises, each person will regard himself as having exceptional merit which puts him firmly in the class privileged with survival. Everyone else might be expendable, but not himself!

   In an emergency, anyone who speaks of "fairness" and believes it is a fool (a bleating sheep). And anyone who speaks of fairness without believing it is a sneaky predator (a jackal). There will usually be bleating sheep, but the jackals will outnumber them.

2. When some must be sacrificed to save others, a dictatorship is necessary.

   There are no other conflicts so intractable as those for which life for some means death for the others. Neither argument nor bribery, will persuade someone to sacrifice himself. An appeal to sentiments, such as patriotism or family love, will sometimes be successful in getting someone to volunteer to be a sacrifice, but not always. Perhaps not usually. When a substantial number of sacrifices is required, they must be taken by violence, and nothing else will substitute...

More: Jenab6LiveJournal.Com - The Morality of the Overcrowded Lifeboat

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