BIRKENHEAD DRILL
Birkenhead Drill is the story of the discipline and bravery of a group of soldiers who laid down their lives so that the children, women, sick and older who are considered weaker, could be saved.
Birkenhead, a troopship was carrying six hundred and thirty people consisting of men, women and children of English soldiers and their families. It was heading towards Cape Town.
On 25th February 1851 about 2 a.m. It struck the unknown rock and was broken into two pieces. As one of the pieces sank under water. All the passengers in the ship shifted themselves on the other piece of the ship. There were only three lifeboats, which could carry only one hundred and eighty passengers. But there was no panic or disorder on the ship. There was complete discipline and great heroism among the people.
The soldiers stood in their drill order and demonstrated the discipline. It was decided that women and children would be saved first. One hundred and seventy women and children were loaded in three lifeboats. As the ship sailed away, the remaining half of the ship sank into the water in which the captain was also present with the soldiers. They struggled hard for the survival of their lives but when the rescue party arrived, only a few soldiers could be saved. The soldiers were quite aware that they would have to face death. The Commander too lost his precious life while saving the lives of the two soldiers.
Today “Birkenhead Drill’’ means to maintain complete discipline even in the trying circumstances and give the chance of life to the weaker ones so that they could be saved.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS:
Q.1 What and where did the Birkenhead sink?
Ans. The troopship Birkenhead sank forty miles off the coast of the Cape Town in South Africa.
Q.2 What kind of people where being carried as passengers on the Birkenhead?
Ans. The Birkenhead was carrying British soldiers and their families to South Africa. They were mostly young and very few of them were officers.
Q.3 How did the Birkenhead come to be wrecked? Was army member of her crew to blame?
Ans. The Birkenhead ran into an underwater rock and was wrecked on it. No member of the crew was to blame for this disaster as the rock was not indicated on any map and none of them ever knew anything about it.
Q.4 Why was their life boat had accommodation for only 180 people after the collision with the rock?
Ans. Most of the lifeboats on the ship were damaged during the collision. Only three of these were left intact and they could not carry more than sixty each. The total accommodation that came was to 180 persons.
Q5. Was there enough room in the lifeboats for all the women and children on board?
Ans. There were 170 women and children on hoard the ‘Birkenhead’ during this fateful voyage. Obviously there was room for all of them in the lifeboats, which had a total accommodation of 180.
Q6. What would probably have happened if there had been a panic?
Ans. If there had been a panic, the women and children have been crushed under the feet of men in their bid to escape first.
Q7. Describe the behavior of the soldiers while the women and children escaped in the boats.
Ans. The soldiers showed an exemplary behavior by maintaining full discipline in the case of certain death while the women and children were being rescued in the lifeboats.
Q8. Were many of the men rescued who remained on the sinking ship? How did the survivors among those left on the ship manage to save themselves?
Ans. There were in all 630 persons on board the Birkenhead in this voyage. Out of these 170 were women and children. The men thus numbered 460. The rescue ship picked up few of them. The total number of those drowned is given as 436. By a simple act of subtraction we learn that only 24 men could be rescued. These few survived because they could manage to hold on the wreckage till a rescue ship arrived on the scene.
Q9. Describe one heroic action that took place after the Birkenhead went down.
Ans. The Commander of the ship showed great heroism even after the ship had sunk. He had reappeared on the surface of the water and was clinging to some part of the wreckage, when he saw two young sailors struggling for their life. He pushed the wreckage towards them to let them have a support. But when he found that it could not support all the three of them he let go his hold upon it and chose death for himself to save the life of the younger people.
Q10. Were the troops on board the Birkenhead experienced and used to facing danger? How do we know that they behaved with gallantry and discipline up to the very last?
Ans. The troops on board the Birkenhead were mostly red soldiers. They were not used to facing danger. Nevertheless they were full disciplined and behaved heroically. They faced certain death with perfect calmness and without any grumble. They sacrificed their life to give the weak ones a chance of life. The disaster that came upon them was great that few of them survived. It is only through the women and children and these few surviving men that we have learnt their heroism. Ever since that collision ‘Birkenhead Drill’ has become a symbolic name facing certain death to save the weaker ones.