BMEWS
 
Death once had a near-Sarah Palin experience.

calendar   Tuesday - May 06, 2008

THEIR DUTY WAS TO SAVE THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN :  Some Brit History worth reading!

I believe this is an excerpt from his book.
It’s one heck of an interesting story and speaks well of what once was.

by, Neil Oliver

On February 26, 1852, HMS Birkenhead, the iron-hulled, ocean-going paddle steamer carrying soldiers to the front line of the eighth Xhosa War, along with their families, was two days away from its final destination of Port Elizabeth. At around 2am, it ran full tilt on to a submerged reef off the coast at Gansbaai near Cape Town, instantly flooding the sleeping quarters of scores of men. Most of them were drowned where they lay. At least three miles from land, they were in water known to be thick with Great White sharks.

Captain Salmond, thrown from his bed by the impact, appeared moments later, half-dressed. As quickly as he made it to the deck, Lieutenant Colonel Seton emerged too, in his night clothes, his sword belted around his waist. He gathered his officers to him then told them that all hope lay with their ability to maintain order.

The manner in which he chose to do this was the measure of the man and the army that had made him. “Gentlemen, would you please be kind enough to preserve order and silence among the men, and ensure than any orders given by Captain Salmond are instantly obeyed,” he said.

Although he never actually used the words “women and children first”, Seton made it clear just who would be taking the first places in the available lifeboats. Wives cried out for husbands, and children for their fathers, but there was nothing else for it. Nothing like this had ever been done before, aboard a naval vessel or any other. Previously when all hope was lost it had been every man for himself. Here, aboard the Birkenhead, the past was erased and the future shaped.

Fearing the worst, Seton positioned himself at the foot of the gangplank leading aboard the first lifeboat and drew his sword. He was ready to repel any would-be boarders - but not one man stepped out of line.

Instead, they remained where their officers had told them to be. Some in night clothes, some half-dressed in their uniforms and some naked, they had come to order. Shoulders back, eyes front and chins up, they looked into the starry southern sky while the women and children were rowed away from the sinking vessel.

The steamer then broke her back upon the reef. She started to lean crazily, but still Seton called for order from his officers and men, willing them to hold their places. And there they stayed, neatly in their lines as the deck bucked and slid.

Not a man broke ranks, though the deck rose beneath them and only the sea and the sharks awaited. The officers took up the call, too, urging their men to hold the line. And so they did. Green youngsters they might have been when they boarded the Birkenhead, but they were men now. Their last remaining duty was to preserve the lives of the women and children and that was what they were going to do.

As the water rose around them, and while the women, children and youngest of the soldiers looked on from the little boats, the officers and soldiers shook hands with one another and said goodbye. One man’s voice rose above the din of the ship’s dying: “God bless you all,” he said. “God bless you all!”

In all, more than 430 men died that morning. Captain Salmond was killed when one of the ship’s masts fell on top of him. Lieutenant Colonel Seton was last seen among his men, and perished along with most of them. Every single woman and child was saved.

News of the loss did not reach Britain until April - but reports from the survivors ensured a place in legend for the officers and soldiers who had given their lives for the sake of the few. When the King of Prussia, Frederik Wilhelm, later the first German emperor, was told of the events, he ordered that an account of it be posted in every barracks of his army. This, he said, was the standard of behaviour he expected from his men.

By their actions, Seton and his men changed maritime protocol for ever. The cry of “women and children first” is more properly described as the Birkenhead Drill. This, then, is their memorial and their greatest monument.
http://tinyurl.com/53wwx8


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Posted by Drew458   United Kingdom  on 05/06/2008 at 09:05 AM   
Filed Under: • Heroes •  
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