Titanic Statement of the Problem
On April 15, 1912, the Titanic sank killing 1500 passengers and crew. After
striking an iceberg, the sinking process began immediately but took hours before the ship
was completely submerged. This slow sinking of the ship, with a very minor list, allowed
for ample time to evacuate in an orderly fashion to the waiting life boats. Unfortunately,
due to socioeconomic diversity among the passengers, the layout of the ship, and the
women and children first philosophy, the evacuation and loading of the lifeboats was not
as fluid as one would expect. These factors coupled together may have led to one of the
earliest yet modern examples of one’s wealth directly impacting the survivability of a
disaster. The research proposed by this team intends on determining to what extent the
socioeconomic factors played in the low mortality rate of the Titanic Disaster.
The passengers on the Titanic were not all upper class cruisers as one would
expect on a luxury liner. The Titanic passengers differed greatly from the cruisers of the
more modern era. The majority of the Titanic passengers were not on the ship for the
sake of cruising; many were on the ship as a means of immigration to the United States
(Hall 687). They were not looking for a week long voyage across the titanic in luxury,
but merely a mode of transportation to get them to a new land where they could start a
life or improve upon the life that they had already built for themselves (Classes). The
Titanic left England with 2,228 passengers and crew on board. The ill fated luxury liner
held 337 first class passengers, 285 second class passengers, 721 third class passengers,
and 885 crew members (Titanic Facts, 2005).
When calculating the population breakout of the ship, it becomes apparent that
72% of the ship’s entire population was either a crew member or a third class passenger.
These numbers become even more astounding when mortality rates are more closely
examined. Of the 2,228 passengers that set sail on the Titanic, 705 survived. Appendix A
is a table from an article written by Wayne Hall entitled “Social Class and Survival on the
S.S. Titanic”. When the table is analyzed, several conclusions and questions are easily
developed. First, the survival rate among all passengers decreases on a nearly linear scale
from first to third class, and then continues to decrease linearly when the crew is
considered. The chance of survival for a first class passenger on the Titanic was 62%,
while a second class passenger had a 41% chance of survival, and a third class passenger
had only a 33% chance of survival. It should also be noted, that the chance of survival for
a crew member was 24% (Hall 688). It is obvious that there is a great correlation between
socioeconomic status and survival on the titanic. The objective of our team’s research is
to dig deeper to fully understand the causes for the varied survival rates.
Although the socioeconomic status of the passengers had an impact on survival
rates, it is also apparent that the layout of the ship may have played a role in influencing
survivability as well. Appendix B is a map of the Titanic as drawn by Mark Nichol in
1998. Appendix B shows the locations of stairwells, lifeboats, and the sate rooms. When
looking at the map, it is apparent that the first class state rooms are centrally located in
the ship. The first classers had access to several stairwells including the grand staircase
which was large enough to accommodate the traffic of the evacuation to the lifeboats
once the ship started sinking. The second and third class rooms are at the rear of the ship
and are located several decks below the lifeboats, just above the engine room. The rooms
were likely located in this manner as they were smaller and exposed to more noise from
the turbines, something that the first class passengers would not have tolerated. It is
interesting to note that there does not appear to be easy access to any of the stairwells
from the third class quarters. In fact, the third class passengers had no direct access to the
lifeboats, as third class portion of the ship was segregated from the first class portion. The
third class passengers did have access to the rear most deck, or poop deck. Unfortunately,
there were no lifeboats located on that deck, so that access did not help during the
evacuation.
The Titanic’s accommodations and segregation of passengers by class was
customary for the time. In Fact, some proclaimed that the third class accommodations
were opulent compared to the third class quarters on other ships (RMS Titanic, Inc.).
Third class passengers were able to enjoy the open air on the poop deck, which was
considered a luxury at the time. Although the third class quarters were segregated from
the remainder of the ship, they did have their own dining rooms, barber shop, social
areas, etc (Strict Segregation). One of the most common myths about the Titanic Disaster
is that the third class passengers were purposefully locked below the deck so there was
room in the lifeboats for the First and Second class passengers. Some even think that the
Captain gave direct orders not to evacuate the third class passengers until it was too late.
However, definitive information on these myths was hard to come by, and would need to
be researched further as part of this proposal. The hardships that needed to be overcome
by the third class passengers when exiting the ship were more than likely a result of
negligence, rather than an intentional criminal act. The Third Class passengers were
segregated by locked doors during normal operating conditions. The third class stewards
were tasked with unlocking these doors during the evacuation to the lifeboats, but it is
certainly possible that some doors were forgotten, as the layout of the ship was complex.
It is also possible that the third class stewards were never given the order to evacuate the
third class passengers because the crew was extremely unprepared, had no evacuation
plan, and many were focused on damage control (Night to Remember). Once again, the
facts regarding the intentional discrimination against third class passengers during the
evacuation are somewhat speculative, and need to be further explored.
The specific evacuation routes came into some question in the post accident Lord
Mersey Report on the Sinking of The Steamship Titanic. Lightholler, a First Officer
aboard the Titanic stated that it took him nearly two weeks to learn all of the passageways
around the Titanic (Government, T.B.). An excerpt below from the Mersey Report gives
the reader an understanding of the evacuation routes that the third class passengers had to
pass through in order to gain access to the lifeboats.
The third-class passengers at the after end of the ship passed up their stairway to E deck
and into the working passage and through the emergency doors to the two second-class
stairways and so to the boat deck, like second-class passengers. Or, alternatively, they
could continue up their own stairs and entrance to C deck, thence by the two ladders at
the after end of the bridge onto the B deck and thence by the forward second-class
stairway to the boat deck (Government, T.B.)
The routes of travel for the second and third class passengers involved climbing several
staircases, using different ladders and accessing passageways through different doors,
which all played a role in the survival rates. Some researchers have long criticized the
Lord Mersey report and some have even called it a whitewash (Hall 689). The Lord
Mersey report implies that the maze of passageways, ladders and corridors did not play as
much of a role in survival rates as third classer’s unwillingness to let their belongings
behind did. The research done thus far on the impact of segregation by class on survival
rates has raised as many questions as it has effectively answered. How far did the third
class passengers actually have to travel to get to the lifeboats? Did the third class
passengers know the layout of the ship enough to find their way to the lifeboats? Was it
reasonable for a third class passenger to be able to navigate the evacuation routes during
the sinking of the ship? Were third class passengers actually unwilling to leave their
belongings behind, or is this a myth?
In addition to the evacuation difficulties created by socioeconomic stratification
and the physical layout of the ship, the process of filling the life boats also impacted the
Titanic survival rates. It is commonly known that there were not enough lifeboats on the
Titanic for all of the passengers. However, investigations into the Titanic disaster showed
that the majority of the lifeboats were never filled to capacity. The reasoning for this has
to do with an order that was given by the Captain of the ship, Edward John Smith, to the
officers in charge of the loading and launching of the lifeboats. Officers Charles
Lightholler and William McMaster Murdoch were put in charge of launching the boats
on the boats on the Port and Starboard sides respectively (Hennessey, John and Judy).
Captain’s Smith’s orders, now infamous were, “Women and Children First”. In
conducting the preliminary research for this proposal there has been little information as
to how the order was interpreted. Some feel as if the order was interpreted differently by
the two officers. One of them may have allowed men after the women and children were
loaded, and the other may have never allowed men in the lifeboats with the exception of
rowers. However, the information has not been cited as it was inconclusive, and often
speculative. The facts and figures regarding the exact population makeup in each lifeboat
is unknown to a certain extent as well. The preliminary research has shown that the
names of the first class passengers in each lifeboat are readily available, but the names of
the second class and third passengers in each lifeboat are not as easily found (Hennessey,
John and Judy). Finding out these key pieces of information as part of the research may
unlock additional clues to the true causes the skewed survival rates on the Titanic.
The percentage of women and children that survived in comparison to men,
indicated in the paper by Wayne S. Hall, shows that 80% of men on the Titanic perished
while only 20% of women perished. This fact combined with the known fact that a
significant proportion of the lifeboats left without being filled to capacity suggests that
the Women and Children First philosophy likely lead to an increased number of deaths on
the Titanic (Hall 688).
The proposed research project is aimed at finding several key pieces of
information. First and foremost, it must be determined to what extent socioeconomic
status and the socioeconomic class stratification of the era played in the survival rates of
the Titanic. Further information regarding the evacuation or lack thereof and the inability
of third class passengers to easily evacuate will be sought after. The research will also be
aimed at determining the reasoning for launching lifeboats that were not filled to capacity
and to what extent the Women and Children First order played in the overall survival
rates. The information gained by this research can be universally applied to identify
potential recommendations and changes in future maritime law so to prevent similar
disasters.