When people think of the sinking of the Titanic, they will most likely think of the great Hollywood blockbuster movie that was more a love story then a historical movie with documentation of what happened on that cold night of April 14, 1912. Historians like to tell people what happened from the facts that are given to them, and eye witness accounts of what had happened on the ship the night it plunged to its deep dark grave. Everyone knows that the ship sank and that it is gone, but what they don't know is what had happened while people were being loaded into the lifeboats and what was occurring after the ship went down. Men played a big role in all of this; some were looked upon as cowards and others as heroes.
There are different view points of what the roles of men were. Not only during the night the Titanic went down, but also the roles they played in society in 1912. For everyone who survived the sinking, should be thankful and happy because more then half the people on the ship that night passed away. The male survivors however had to justify how they survived, because the rule of the sea was women and children got on the life boats first.
The men aboard the Titanic had responsibilities after the ship collided with an iceberg. They were looked at as if they knew they weren't going to live, but they had to save the women and children who were aboard the Titanic. As for the men who just wanted to save their own lives and didn't care about anyone else, these men were thought to be cowards. There were also people who were considered to be heroes that night. Two of the heroes that night were wireless operators aboard the ship. J.G Phillips and Harold Bride stood by their posts while the ship was sinking so they could send out C.Q.D messages to other ships to inform them of what had occurred to their broken and sinking vessel. The messages also contained information to their exact location so nearby ships could try and help out. The exact location of the Titanic was 41.46 north latitude, and 50.14 west longitude. The ships that were contacted were the Carpathia, Virginia and the Olympic.
Captain John Smith stopped by the wireless room to tell the boys they were off duty. He stated "Boys, you have done your full duty. You can do no more. Look out for your selves." Even though the Captain Smith told the men they were off duty, they continued to work. The two men were knee deep in water as they continued to relay messages until the system did not work. It seems as though this was the mentality of most men during 1912. They did what they had to and were proud to help others in need. They knew by staying and working, they could save more lives.
When Captain John Smith ordered people into lifeboats and off the ship, it was a male's job to help with the task. The crew and seamen were the first to start loading the boats with women and children. The other men started to help the crew members by getting the lifeboats into position so they could load them with people. As the lifeboats were loaded the crew members would put a few males into each boat so they could paddle the boats away to a safer place. That is one of the ways a male could have been a survivor of the Titanic. While on the deck where the lifeboats were at, Major Archibald Butt who was an aid to President Taft helped load women and children into the boats. After helping people into the boats he would lift his cap to these people saying good bye with a smile on his face. A similar instance occurred with Henry B. Harris. Harris over heard a man loading boat who was yelling "Women and children first", and rushed his wife over to the boat. He gave her a kiss and that was the last they ever saw of one another because Harris went down with the ship and was never seen again.
There were passengers who told stories about a man who saved peoples lives. Fifth Officer H. Lowe was one of the men who loaded the lifeboats. He was in charge of one of the first boats to be lowered from the boat deck. Like in other boats he put only enough men in them so they could paddle the oars.
The men aboard the Titanic stood aside and made a path while the women and children entered the boat. Lowe saw it as it was his duty not to allow one else to get on the boat as it was being lowered into the icy water below. As it neared the second deck, there was a group of men who had the idea to jump onto the lifeboat as it was being lowered. Lowe had a revolver and fired a shot into the air to let the men on the second deck know not to jump onto the lifeboat. Officer Lowe yelled out to the men on the second deck that he had a gun. "That's just to show you that this pistol is loaded and while I don't want to hurt anybody, I'll kill anyone who attempts to get in this boat. I have fifty-eight souls in my charge, and I can't afford to lose them"

The men stepped down from the railing and the lifeboat made its way into the water safely because of Fifth Officer H. Lowe. If it weren't for him shooting his gun into the air, more people could have died by falling off the boat and into the cold water below.
There were also people, men and women who knew they had no chance of survival. This is a sad thing but it is something that happened that night. Some of these people were wives who did not want to leave the sides of their husbands. Mrs. Cecil Chapman had a chance to get on a lifeboat, but believed that she would rather be at her husbands' side when the ship went down. She wanted to be along side the person she loved the most, her husband.
As for the other people that knew the end was near, had their own ways of dealing with the tragedy. A man named Mr. Guggenheim was with his secretary the entire night. They both decided to get dressed up in the finest evening clothes they had with them. Both were not wearing life belts when the Titanic went down. They thought of them selves as gentlemen, and that is how they wanted it to be remembered.
It seems as though for the most part the male victims of Titanic lived up to be gentlemen and took care of the women and children first. They behaved like true heroes for that they knew what was going to happen to them, but helped many others before the ship went down. Yes you did have people who only wanted to save their own lives, but it seems as though there are more classy men that wanted to see the females and kids off and safe before they thought about saving them selves.
The surviving men had to justify how they were still alive because of the rule of women and children came first. Some of these men were asked by the crew members to get into the boats. Others were lucky men who had jumped of the deck and into the water; these were the lucky men who were picked up by lifeboats later on that night. This was the case for Mr. R.W. Daniel. Daniel was on the deck and saw that on the starboard side of the ship they were loading allowing husbands to get into the lifeboat with there wives. A few minutes before the ship was finally submerged, Daniel jumped into the icy water and began to swim away. He was lucky because an hour later that night, he was picked up by a drifting lifeboat looking for survivors.
One of the men that was looked at closely was considered to be a coward for not going down with the ship as a gentleman. Mr. J. Bruee Ismay who was the director of the White Star Line was saved in a life boat. How did he get into a lifeboat when he knew that women and children came first? Mr. Ismay states that he had good reasoning for getting into the lifeboat that evening.
The boat was there and a certain number of the women had been loaded. The officer called out to any other women who might be on the deck to come. There were no other passengers men or women, on the deck, so I got in. That is all there is to it.

Now this is what Mr. J. Bruee Ismay had to say on his behalf. People are allowed to think what they want about this gentleman. But it seems hard for a historian to believe that when the officer called out for other women and children or even another passenger on the deck to come forward to take a spot in the lifeboat, that there was no one present. So Ismay took it upon him self to get into the lifeboat.
Overall the male gender role for American in 1912 was to be brave and proud. When put in tough situations, it seems as though most acted like gentlemen. This was proven on April 14, 1912 when the Titanic sank. It is sad that 1,595 went to death while on the Titanic. But it also showed that you had brave men who acted like heroes.
These were the men who put their lives behind them to help someone else when there was a disaster happening. These gentlemen will always be known as the people who did the right thing at the right time; especially when death was staring at them in the middle of the night, while in the middle of the ocean.