Red Herrings (Not Churchill’s Words): Cruise Ships and Dogfights

10 October 2024 Comments 0 Comments

1) Cruise ships: no women and children first?

It’s all over the Web. And entirely bogus.

After his retirement, goes the story, Churchill was cruising the Mediterranean on an Italian liner and a journalist asked why a former Prime Minister chose Italian ships. “There are three things I like about Italian cruise ships,” Churchill supposedly says. “First, their cuisine is unsurpassed. Second, their service is superb. And then, in time of emergency, there is none of this nonsense about women and children first.”

Amusing to some, this is anathema to others, including relatives of the Costa Concordia passengers and many embarrassed Italians. It is NOT anything ever said by Winston Churchill. Neither this quotation nor key words from it can be found in digital scans of Churchill’s twenty million published words in books, articles, speeches and private papers. It did appear in a book of purported Churchill quotes which—as invariably is the case when red herring quotations are dragged out—provides neither authority nor attribution.

Incidentally, it is entirely out of character. No one was more gallant toward woman and children than WSC. Nor can I find any record of Churchill cruising on Italian ships. Churchill didn’t take such cruises. He preferred ships that were smaller and more private. Say as about 325 feet—like the Onassis yacht Christina O, which took him on eight cruises between 1958 and 1963.

So who said it?

Some attribute the ships remark to Noël Coward, but reader Nelson Bridwell referred me to the Quote Investigator, which tracks it to travel writer Henry J. Allen in 1917.

A California congresswoman ignorantly compared the sinking of the Costa Concordia with that of the Titanic 100 years earlier. That is historically inane, a disservice to the British crewmen of 1912, and the Italians who struggled to save lives on the Costa Concordia in 2012.

Churchill’s words to his wife about the Titanic serve equally to show how impossible would be his supposed remarks about Italian ships:

The strict observance of the great traditions of the sea towards women and children reflects nothing but honour upon our civilization…. I cannot help feeling proud of our race and its traditions as proved by this event. Boat loads of women and children tossing on the sea—safe and sound—and the rest Silence. Honour to their memory.

(Of course, WSC has been blamed for the sinking of the Titanic, too.)

2) Dogfight under a carpet

Churchill allegedly compared Russian politics to a “dogfight under a carpet.” It was mentioned in The Economist of 17 November 2005: “Like watching dogs fighting under a carpet, was how Churchill described Russian politics. On November 14th the carpet stirred, when President Vladimir Putin announced that Dmitry Medvedev was to become first deputy prime minister.” It seems to be fairly well known. Can you give me the exact quote and a citation? —P.C.

The Economist was unhelpful, providing no attribution, and not even a byline by which one could query the author. Unlike the ships remark, it sounds a bit like him. However, I cannot locate any source. We searched the same compilation as for the ships quotation—books, articles, speeches and published papers. “Dogfight” gets ten hits, all referring to aerial warfare. “Carpet” has 264 hits but none close to the quotation. “Under the carpet” draws a blank. Without further information, we have to conclude this is unsubstantiated.

Coming up: Churchill: Master of Language

“Red herrings” are everywhere, in digital and print media, with no attribution whatsoever. Coming soon from Hillsdale College Press, my new, expanded edition of Churchill by Himself contains nearly 200 of these, which Churchill either never said, or denied saying.

You can, however, refer to the Red Herrings Appendix of the new book right now. I keep the ever-expanding list up to date in four posts starting here.