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Traditions, Customs and Beliefs
Introduction
The Captain of the sinking ship, HMS Birkenhead, shouted "every man for himself",
but the troops stood on the doomed ship and calmly waited their fate as they knew
that if they stormed the three serviceable lifeboats, the women and children in them
would surely drown. They stood in their ranks even as the ship split in two. The ship
then tilted and the soldiers were thrown overboard. Some drowned and others faced
an even worse fate as the waters were infested with sharks. Of the 638 people who
sailed on the HMS Birkenhead, only 193 survived. And that is where the saying
"women and children first" comes from. Gold reputed to be worth in excess of
300,000 pounds went down with the ship, but to this day if any of it has been
found, it has not been reported to the authorities.
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