The+Titanic+-+class+divisions+on+the+ship



Background April 5th 1912,the Titanic became an awful tragedy that ended in one thousand five hundred and seventeen deaths. The ship was departing the shores of England and heading for the freedom and democracy of America. About two days into the trip the unthinkable happened, the Titanic hit an iceberg. The ship started to sink and a wave of terror washed over the entire ship. Of course not everyone survived, only a few lucky passengers were able to make it to the lifeboats. In the first moments of realization that the ship had been hit, there wasn't a rush to get off. But when severity of the situation sunk in, chaos broke out. At that moment, class divisions stopped playing a role in who lived and who died. Women and children went first, and as a result few men were saved from the icy water. But before the iceberg came into view, the class divisions were fairly extreme. As the age-old song goes:

// It twas off the London shore // // When the water began to pour // // And the rich refused to associate with the poor // // So they put the them down below // // Where'd they be the first to go //

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**//__ First Class __//**

There were 329 first class passengers of which 60% survived. The first class had access to the staterooms, lounge, upper decks, gym, squash court, swimming pool, Turkish bath, library, dining rooms, bars, and restaurants. As you can see, the first class had access to the most elaborate places, and the more numerous as well. Most of the first class passengers' sleeping quarters were in the bottom of the ship because it was furthest away from the rain that bombarded the ship. The rich refused to share anything with the lower classes so the Titanic separate places for the most privileged. Dinner was a popular form of entertainment for the first class passengers. The dinning room seated 550 people and included a few bays in the walls that allowed the first class to eat in small groups semi-privately. The tables were adorned with flowers and baskets of fruit, both always fresh. Dinner consisted of a seven course meal. After the meal there was a dance every day except for Sundays, so the women wore their prettiest gowns and the men wore their best dancing suits. For those who lacked an interest in dancing there were the smoking rooms, and lounges.



//__ **Second Class** __// - There were 285 second class passengers of which 42% survived. The second class had access to the dining room, library, bars, lounges, barbers shop, and decks. The second class obviously had less than the first class, but more than the third class. Middle class was somewhat the awkward class stuck in the middle. They were not rich enough to get full luxuries, but not too poor where they have to sacrifice all luxuries. The second class is what the majority of people are today. They are a comfortable people with all the necessities, but without boatloads of extra money to spend. Entertainment was pretty simplistic for the second class. Pass angers took walks and kids frolicked and played games on the ship deck. Men passed the time by gambling at card games. This wasn't always a good idea though, professional gambles came aboard the ship in disguise and cheated passengers out of their money.



**﻿ //__Third Class__// ** There were 710 third class passengers of which 25% survived. The third class had access to the dining rooms, decks and general rooms. Third class passengers had the least amount of luxuries. They were the poorest of the passengers and often had scraped up or raised money to get on the Titanic. Although they were the most dominant passengers on the ship, the third class passengers ended up with the smallest cabins. They were very small and very cramped. Created for only 2 people, often 4 to 6 people were pushed into one-third class room. For the third class passengers most free time was spent on the general rooms. Here passengers spent time smoking, reading, playing games and gossiping. After dinner they played music and danced.

**//__ Titanic Crew __//** There were 899 crew members aboard the titanic of which 24% survived. The crew had the most confined living spaces. They lived in what they called "The Crew's Quarters". As you can see in the diagram, there wasn't a lot off space for the crew to sleep and live. The crew was required to work long hours which provided little time for sleeping or enjoying life aboard the ship. One of the reasons that have been said to be the cause of the great Titanic sinking is the incompetence of the crew. The workmen and women on the ship were not properly trained for an emergency situation because there was little belief that one would actually happen. There are accounts that claim there was never an emergency drill at any point during the trip. The simple act of a small meeting would have saved many lives. The crew was made up of chefs, bakers, butchers, scullions, mailroom men, barbers, engineers, firemen, stokers, trimmers, stewards, pursers, and waiters. Engineers, 28 of them, all worked down below the deck to keep the boilers of the ship up and running. The engineers were very important because if the boilers stopped running the ship wouldn't run either. In order to keep the boilers going it was the job of 289 firemen to toss coal into the boilers. The captain of the ship was none other then Edward J. Smith. Smith had been the captain of the Olympic just a year before he was captain of the Titanic. Possibly a bit of foreshadowing he ran the Olympic into a warship because of which the Olympic was badly damaged.



Bibliography Mowbray, Jay Henry. //Sinking of the Titanic: Eyewitness Accounts //. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 1998. Print.

Streissguth, Thomas. //The Sinking of the Titanic //. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven, 2002. Print.

Adams, Simon. //Titanic //. New York: DK, 2004. Print. 

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"Google Image Result for Http://www.flatrock.org.nz/topics/history/assets/titanic_staircase.jpg." //Google//. 31 July 2010. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. <[]: //www.flatrock.org.nz/topics/history/assets/titanic_staircase.jpg&imgrefurl=[]__9TzARRHLU_iUU8p4dmflZZRNlUw=&h=513&w=640&sz=40&hl=en&start=1&zoom=1&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=_jrMajoDKTogaM:&tbnh=110&tbnw=137&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtitanic%2Bstaircase%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26tbs%3Disch:1&ei=d4FcTYfLLMehtwe1vv37Cg>.

"MaritimeQuest - RMS Titanic (1912) Inside the Titanic Page 2." //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">MaritimeQuest - Main Page //. 2005. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. <[]>.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">2nd Class Two Berth Stateroom //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. <[]>.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">3rd Class Two Berth Stateroom //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. [].