Guide to the Crew of Titanic E-Book

Günter Bäbler

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 309

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

Much has been written about Titanic, the British passenger liner that sank on her maiden voyage after a collision with an iceberg in 1912; however, until now little mention has been made about the intricate world of the ship's complement, which comprised more than the total of third-class passengers alone.Titanic researcher Günter Bäbler examines in detail the working structure of the crew, including the complex arrangement of the engineering department and information on tips, salaries and hidden bonuses, while each of the 899 crew members on board is mentioned. This valuable study breathes life into the forgotten but significant story of the ship and its relationship to its crew, of whom over 75 per cent died when Titanic sank.

Leseprobe

Cross-section of Olympic by W.B. Robinson, created in 1909. The allocation was done in most cases as shown, except that the gymnasium was finally built on the boat deck instead of F-deck. In addition, on Titanic, the promenade on B-deck was replaced by additional passenger cabins. (Author’s collection)

Cover illustrationsFront, clockwise from top: Group photograph of some of Titanic’s female crew survivors, taken at their return in Plymouth; Titanic’s captain, Edward John Smith; Firemen and trimmers at work in a boiler room on board Aquitania. Back, from top: Death certificate for first-class Bathroom Steward Thomas Frederick Cohen Pennal; Titanic leaving Southampton on 10 April 1912. (All author’s collection)

First published in 2017

The History Press

The Mill, Brimscombe Port

Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 2QG

www.thehistorypress.co.uk

This ebook edition first published in 2017

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© Günter Bäbler, 2017

Edited by Geoffrey Brooks

The right of Günter Bäbler to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

EPUB ISBN 978 0 7509 8294 8

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CONTENTS

Foreword

Introduction

Acknowledgements

1 The Aim

2 Procedures and Explanations

3 Pay and Salaries, Tips and Bonuses

4 The Crew Divisions

5 The Deck Department

6 The Engine Department

7 The Victualling Department – First Class

8 The Victualling Department – Second Class

9 The Victualling Department – Third Class

10 The Crew’s Crew

11 Statistics

12 Perceptions

Appendix A: White Star Line Uniforms

Appendix B: Duties at Berthing and Casting-Off

Appendix C: Daily Routine aboard a White Star Liner

Appendix D: Review of Watch Scheme and Work Hours

Appendix E: The Titanic Crew List

Appendix F: Discharged Crew

Bibliography

FOREWORD

More than one hundred years have passed since the passenger liner Titanic sank on 15 April 1912 on her maiden voyage after colliding with an iceberg. Much has been written about this memorable event since then. The tragedy, which claimed 1,496 lives, has never been forgotten. Only 712 of the 2,208 people on board the ship that night survived, to be brought to New York by the steamer Carpathia.

A large passenger ship of 46,328 gross register tons, as Titanic was, required a correspondingly large complement to man its engines and navigate it, while the passengers had to be looked after solicitously during the voyage.

Author Günter Bäbler has investigated the working structure of the 887 hired hands, eight musicians and five postal officers. He has gone about the task with scientific precision, and the result is astonishingly accurate. Shipboard life on the Titanic was the same as on the many large passenger liners of that epoch: looked at as a whole, such an operation with many employees was equivalent to a small town.

The book throws light on the complement of the Titanic and through many small details shows life aboard. All members of the crew are mentioned by name, thus providing remembrance for every man and woman of the crew aboard on that voyage.

Hermann Söldner Author, RMS Titanic, Passenger and Crew List Oberau, 4 September 2013

INTRODUCTION

How would a ship such as the Titanic have looked without her crew? At best a floating miracle of technology gently rising and falling at anchor somewhere. Upon boarding the steamer one might have had the unpleasant feeling of having no business being in this strange place. An eerie quiet would have reigned in which one could not be certain that a nasty surprise was not lurking at every corner. The kitchens lay silent and no guide was available to show the visitor around.

Yet the Titanic had a crew. The crew it was who first brought the ship to life. The crew took the luggage aboard, stored the provisions and prepared the meals. It was thanks to the crew that the ship got under way and headed for her destination. Obviously, a crew is indispensable for even a small ship and must have a clearly organised roster before sailing. Just because until now almost nothing has been known as to how the Titanic crew was organised does not mean that no organisation existed, for the finest points of the working plan had been thought out to ensure that a solution was on hand for all imaginable occurrences and needs.

For years there has been no work in the Titanic literature on the shipboard organisation. If one thinks of the Titanic as a firm, and one of the most legendary employers in the world, with 899 people on the payroll, then 100 years forward there must be some people who would be interested to know how this firm worked, yet the management structure of the Titanic does not seem to have interested anybody so far. Hitherto no book has mentioned the apparent gap in the source material. I knew that that would change one day, and I suspected that it would fall to me to fill that gap in the research since nobody else seemed to want to do it, or had failed to recognise the need for it.

No book exists whose author attempted to portray the Titanic organisation, if only in an appendix. The shipboard meals are an example: various books print out Titanic recipes (although these are undocumented and therefore inventions), yet no attempt is ever forthcoming to throw light on the kitchen staff. All that interested parties can infer on the basis of the available information is that the captain had the best job aboard and the trimmers probably the worst – little else can be learned from the literature.

On 27 May 2010 I received an email from Janina Schulte from Düsseldorf: ‘I am a student and would like to write my thesis on the legendary ship Titanic. In the main I want to concentrate on the teamwork/crewing of the ship. What was the relationship between them, and did they work together as a team? What was the order of ranks aboard ship? What jobs did the various crew members have? For the time being I have a few bits of information about the officers, but there doesn’t seem to be much about the rest. It would be fabulous if you could help me out. Perhaps you even have a good tip or link to suggest to me?’

From my enthusiastic reply, Schulte could not have anticipated how intensive the project would turn out to be. I warned her several times about the size of the task, but if she really, really wanted to do the thing properly then I would drop everything to help her. I had a vague presentiment on how much effort was going to be required, but neither of us could have made a reasonable estimate as to what this first email would unleash. Her work in the Communication Design field had been submitted long before, approved by her course tutors, but the organisational diagram was not yet completed: it contained the professions but no names. Much of the result was guesswork. Many questions remained open. After the scholastic side had long been satisfied, I took on the greater work, and my research occupied me for three years.

During my further research I often spoke with the Titanic researcher Susanne Störmer and requested her assessment. I reported my results with enthusiasm. In telephone calls I made the observation more than once how incredible it was that to date nobody had ever got to grips with the subject matter. Her dry response, ‘Well, now at least you know why,’ resounded in my ears for months afterwards, for what she said – that it was simply too big of a subject matter for most people to contemplate undertaking – came as both a burden and a promissory note. By now I found myself in completely unknown territory. I had come so far and could be forgiven if I faltered. What if I overlooked something and left open those gaps that another researcher had no problem in filling? I saw that the end result could not be 100 per cent, for the sources had too many gaps, but more about that later. When I was about 90 per cent finished I was almost manic for the missing 10 per cent, but the situation regarding the data often showed me the limits. Around 95 per cent was all I could manage, beyond that still lies virgin territory. Probably other totally dedicated Titanic researchers might get to 97 per cent, but presumably 100 per cent is unattainable. When I remember how many special cases I came across purely by chance, then at least as much information must be lost for ever. The witnesses have all passed on, and the generations of researchers of former eras missed their opportunity, now irretrievable.

Along with the organisational diagram a gigantic mass of documentation was assembled that was not necessary for the end result. Much of the knowledge derived from the research was surprising, and this present book read in conjunction with the organisational diagram can provide further results that would not be perceived from studying the organisational diagram alone.

The most surprising thing about this work is that, despite the dry nature of the historical material, the Titanic comes to life. Everywhere aboard there were crew members carrying out their duties. By examining historic construction plans and photos, one will ‘meet’ these people in the future.

Once the book had appeared in the German language, the subject would not let me go. In order to better understand the crew’s way of life, in October 2014 in order to simulate an Atlantic crossing I spent a week living the routine of rest and watch which the fourth officer of the Titanic would have followed, inclusive of time lags. Naturally I rose during my rest period to ‘report for duty’ punctually. Despite my weariness I was unable to drop off to sleep at the word ‘go’ and so I slept on average 4 hours 58 minutes per calendar day and only once for a total of 3 hours 40 minutes corresponding to the theoretically longest period of sleep enjoyed by the crew. During my ‘period on watch’ I was frequently standing. I sat rarely, lifts and escalators were forbidden. By tests of concentration and dexterity I examined my reactions. The loss of my efficiency in the course of a ‘crossing’ was noticeable. Friends confirmed slackness in my responses and a deterioration in my ability to speak a foreign language. In my daily routine, I made numerous mistakes that forced me to give up certain tasks due to tiredness. Finally on the seventh day my alarm clock lost the duel: I slept in and awoke after 7 hours and 20 minutes. Accordingly, in future the theme of ‘fatigue’ will influence more prominently my assessment of the events which occurred on the maiden voyage of the Titanic.

More than two years have passed since the publication of the book in German in December 2013. The German-language readership has come across very few errors or gaps – or at least only a handful has been reported to me. In preparing the manuscript for the translation into English I have been able to insert information received subsequently. The process of having the manuscript translated into English forced me to take another very close look at many details, and yet again I discovered mistakes that I made years ago, some gaps that could be filled and parts where more explanation was needed to understand my guesswork. As occurs so often, time enables an author to identify weaknesses and remedy them. It is now my hope that the English-language readership may perhaps be able to fill a gap here or there in order to help complete the story of the Titanic crew.

July 2016 Günter Bäbler

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I used Hermann Söldner’s list of the Titanic crew as the basis for this project – without his precise listing at the beginning of this work this final result would not have been possible. I thank Hermann Söldner and Peter Engberg-Klarström for numerous corrections of names – thanks to them many names are published correctly in this book for the first time.

My greatest thanks goes to Susanne Störmer: I was in constant touch with her and she often gave me inspiration when I became bogged down in work.

Mark Chirnside was of great help in several matters, but especially in helping to bring the manuscript into shape for this English language edition.

In individual matters of detail I was given advice by Corina Amrein, Christian Amrhein, René Bergeron, Bruce Beveridge, Claudio Bossi, Edwin Davison, Stephanie Elmer, Franck Gavard-Perret, Ioannis Georgiou, Michael Hughes, Daniel Klistorner, Mandy Le Boutillier, Ken Marschall, Senan Molony, Rebecca Newton, David Olivera, Jens Ostrowski, Amy Rigg, Brigitte Saar, Bill Sauder, Viktoria Schmidt, Janina Schulte, Oliver Schwarz, Parks Stephenson, Brian Ticehurst, Andrew Williams and Armin Zeyher – my warmest thanks go to all these people.

I must also not forget the many persons having an interest in the Titanic theme who provided useful information in the discussion forum www.encyclopedia-titanica.org.

1

THE AIM

The original aim was simple: a poster on which the name of every crew member was noted. The representation would show the position and work station of each. In all, more than seventy organisational diagrams and partial diagrams were sketched, each version improving in precision over its predecessor.

Of course, one could include a biography of each crew member, perhaps a photo or at least the date of birth and death, but at the risk of everything getting out of hand. The whole thing had to be so purged that the name provided no more than the identity of the person. The wage earned gave an indication of a crew member’s social status and relationship to his or her superiors or subordinates in rank, and was therefore retained. All other information not required for an understanding of the command structure was discarded. It is not unlikely that a person with an interest in the Titanic will be able to obtain information about every crew member from books and the Internet. It is to be remembered that behind every name lies a story.

2

PROCEDURES AND EXPLANATIONS

The underlying basis for the work was the crew list published by Hermann Söldner more than fifteen years ago. This current book has allowed for additional forenames or alternative spellings that may have come to light subsequently in official documents. The list compiled in the year 2000 was complete, no names were deleted or new names added. The only doubt involved Lazar Sartori, an assistant glass washer from the à-la-carte restaurant. He was shown as ‘failed to join’ in the crew list, although in August 1915 the White Star Line informed the British Board of Trade that Sartori had drowned aboard Titanic. How the shipping company came by this knowledge cannot be determined.

A real challenge for any photographer was to gather the crew of a ship in one place; therefore, very few attempts were made. In this photograph, about 300 of the 500 crew members of the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse are assembled at the stern. (Author’s collection)

Cast off! At noon on 10 April 1912 the Titanic left for her maiden voyage to New York; at this time exactly 900 crew members were on board. (Author’s collection)

The moment of the collision was chosen for the organisational diagram. The Titanic would almost certainly have disappeared from the collective consciousness had she not sunk. It is only because she went down that we remember today the people who were aboard. Hermann Söldner lists 892 crew members, these being 887 from the muster lists and five post office clerks. Noteworthy is the fireman John Coffey; he came from Queenstown, Ireland, and deserted there on the intermediate stop made on 11 April 1912. The eight musicians were given a second-class ticket by the White Star Line. Since they travelled free, earned money and worked aboard the ship they must be counted as crew members, as are the post office clerks.

Taking into account the post office clerks and musicians, and excluding the deserter, Fireman Coffey, at the time of the sinking there were 899 crew members aboard.

Coffey was not alone in failing to make the transatlantic crossing. Originally several other persons were to have joined the crew, but for various reasons did not show. They were on the list of hirings, but their names were transferred later to another list as absentees or dischargees with a note stating why they failed to join the Titanic.

The following list shows that substitutes were found for the men missing from the boiler rooms, and even an additional trimmer was taken on.

Even the vacancy for a sauce cook, a key position in the kitchen, was filled, though he was mustered in haste as an assistant cook: his trade and wage were only corrected after the sinking. A number of stewards and kitchen hands mustered for the voyage but then cancelled were not replaced. Compared to the original crew complement, the Titanic sailed with seven fewer crew members. The names and reasons for absence appear in Appendix F.

Absentees

Number of Replacement Staff

1 junior assistant fourth engineer

1

7 firemen

7

4 trimmers

5

1 sauce cook/saucier

1 (mustered as assistant cook)

2 assistant cooks

–

1 plate washer second class

–

3 saloon stewards first class

–

1 saloon steward second class

–

1 steward third class

–

1 assistant waiter, restaurant

–

1 scullion

Left out of the accounting in this work were the seafarers of other shipping companies using the Titanic as a transport for passage in order to get home or reach their next signing-on point. Those of the American Line belonged to the International Mercantile Marine concern and their tickets were arranged internally. The other shipping companies had to buy their staff tickets from White Star Line unless they were travelling privately as a break from their work contracts. There were at least twenty-four seafarers travelling third class aboard Titanic. That list is perhaps incomplete. According to eyewitness accounts, some of these seafarer-passengers might have assisted the Titanic crew at the evacuation of the ship. For that reason they are listed below by name, nationality and the last or next ship, employer and trade (where known):

Albert Kaurin Andersen

Norway

Coastwise Transportation Company, Edda, engineer

Hans Martin Birkeland

Norway

Harloff & Bøe, Norheim, seaman

Alfred John Carver

Norway

American Line, seaman

Chip Chang

Hong Kong

Donald Steam Ship Company, Annetta, fireman

Foo Cheong

Hong Kong

Donald Steam Ship Company, Annetta, fireman

Lang Fang

Hong Kong

Donald Steam Ship Company, Annetta, fireman

John Holm

Sweden

Ulmer Park Yacht Club, Bath Beach (New York) captain

Johan Martin Holthen

Norway

Coastwise Transportation Company, Edda, second officer

August Johnson

England

American Line, seaman

William C. Jr. Johnson

England

American Line, Philadelphia, quartermaster

? Lam

Hong Kong

Donald Steam Ship Company, Annetta, fireman

Len Lam

Hong Kong

Donald Steam Ship Company, Annetta, fireman

Bing Lee

Hong Kong

Donald Steam Ship Company, Annetta, fireman

Ling Lee

Hong Kong

Donald Steam Ship Company, Annetta, fireman

Hee Ling

Hong Kong

Donald Steam Ship Company, Annetta, fireman

Fridtjof Arne Madsen

Norway

Norwegian steamer, second officer

Albert Johan Moss

Norway

Harloff & Bøe, Norheim, first officer

Samuel Niklasson

Sweden

seaman

Henry Margido Olsen

Norway

Coastwise Transportation Company, Edda, engineer

Oscar Wilhelm Olsson

Sweden

Bulgaria (Lake Michigan) seaman

Knud Rommetvedt

Norway

Harloff & Bøe, Norheim, second officer

Andrew John Shannon

England

American Line, St. Paul, purser (Lionel Leonard)

Thomas Storey

England

American Line, St. Paul

William Henry Törnquist

Sweden

American Line, New York

Four of the American Line seafarers (A. Johnson, W.C. Johnson, Shannon and Törnquist) appeared after the sinking on the Senate Report listings for both crew and third-class passengers, the remainder were correctly categorised as third class. Chang, Cheong, Fang, Len Lam, Bing Lee, Ling, Madsen, Moss, Olsson and Törnquist survived the disaster. The survival rate of these special passengers was 41.6 per cent, while of the other men in third class only 11.7 per cent survived.

The nine-man ‘guarantee group’ from the builder Harland & Wolff of Belfast were not counted as crew, but were lodged in first and second class. These men were not part of the standard crew and were only aboard to deal with any teething troubles that might crop up on the new ship with a crew unfamiliar with the vessel. Therefore this group is only included for the sake of completeness because on the night of the disaster they mostly stood aside from the crew. All lost their lives:

Thomas Andrews

shipbuilder

first class

William Henry Campbell

apprentice carpenter

second class

Roderick Robert Crispin Chisholm

draughtsman

first class

Alfred Fleming Cunningham

fitter

second class

Anthony Wood Frost

fitter

second class

Robert J. Knight

fitter

second class

Francis Parkes

plumber

second class

William Henry Marsh Parr

electrician

first class

Ennis Hastings Watson

apprentice electrician

second class

Furthermore, several dozen staff travelled with their employers in first and second class. On board they paid attention to the needs of their masters, but it would be illogical to count them as crew since they were not necessary for the running of the Titanic and were treated as passengers with few limitations.

Also not taken into account is the so-called ‘shore department’, those workers who were responsible in port for ordering provisions and storing all articles of consumption.

A list of shipboard trades was drawn up from the crew list. It was easier to sort out the trades than 899 names, especially with the personnel-intensive trade groups. For example, the list of 159 firemen was reduced simply to ‘Firemen’.

This leads to the question, how many different jobs were there on board? This cannot be answered exactly, since some crew members did the same work but were classified differently under another job title (e.g. amongst the engineers or also in the kitchens). Despite their different instruments, it is legitimate to classify the musicians as musicians, in the same sense that the chief butcher and his assistants were all classified as butchers, while every steward would have had no problem in performing the duties of a cleaner, lift steward or pantryman.

There were storekeepers both for the Engine and the Victualling Departments respectively, one caring for tools and instruments, the other for provisions – different tasks but identical job titles.

On the other hand there were crew members who performed a different task altogether from that which the improbable entries in the muster give cause to believe. For example, a number of night watchmen were hired as saloon stewards. If one overlooks these special functions, then there were at least forty different trades represented aboard Titanic.

Once the framework of the trades had been set up, the names were included as appropriate. What was easy with key positions or straightforward trades was much more difficult with the large trade groups. To what extent could these be broken down? The firemen could be divided into three shifts, for example, but not between individual boiler rooms.

This illustration was created to show the amount of crew members working on board the Cunarder Mauretania. In the foreground is the Deck Department, behind them is the Engine Department and in the back is the Victualling Department. The musicians, cooks, stewardesses and other specialists are shown separately. (Author’s collection)

For the fine dividing lines there was no option but to study the thousands of questions and answers traded at the US Senate Inquiry and the Wreck Commissioner’s Inquiry of the British Board of Trade in the hope that a witness might make it clear who was on watch and when, or if somebody was doing some other job than the muster list led one to believe. Possibly a name might crop up in an answer proving that such-and-such a person was working alongside the witness. Auction catalogues were searched for unpublished letters – perhaps a seaman might have provided a clue in one. Newspaper articles were another source to recourse for information. Other Titanic researchers were consulted about individual crew members in the hope of adding fresh information to the organisational diagram.

While doing the research a majority of the sources checked proved to be ‘blind alleys’ and did not lead to any new insights. How depressing it was to spend all day going over sources and to come away empty-handed, yet it was also a kind of success to research a blind alley thoroughly and recognise finally that it had nothing to yield.

After studying the sources intensively for several months, some connections became clear and often offered only one plausible solution. Many sources can be interpreted in different ways. In that case the interpretation has been accepted that seemed the most logical on the basis of factual substantiation. Nevertheless, several crew groupings are based on an ‘educated guess’.

It is interesting that such an organisational chart might not have been possible to construct for another ship for lack of detail, but because of the Titanic, conclusions can be drawn about other ships.

The division of work aboard Titanic now seems clearer, but questions remain regarding the actual work involved and numerous details. What tasks were implied by the name of a certain trade? For example, it is obvious that a plate washer washed plates, but is that all he did? He would certainly have been required to perform other cleaning work in the kitchen area.

In many cases, discrepancies came to light by coincidence in comparing different statements or documents. Therefore it cannot be ruled out that the discovery of previously unknown sources will in future supplement the picture formed so far or amend it. If on the basis of this book a discussion arises that enables our knowledge to approach closer to the 100 per cent mark, it will be an important contribution to the historical documentation of the Titanic.

Where possible, suitable representative material was chosen for illustration purposes, often of other ships, and also photographs from the sister ship Olympic, some from later years.

Some small organisational charts in this book demonstrate how the crew was organised. If the surname was not sufficient for identification purposes, the initials of the forenames were added – the full names appear in the crew list (Appendix E). The chain of command is shown in these charts. Crew members in a common box did not have authority to issue instructions to each other but performed the same tasks or were responsible for a particular area in common. Within a box, as a rule, the names fall in alphabetical order. In exceptional circumstances, in the absence of a foreman, a crew member might have been authorised to issue instructions to a crew member of higher status. In individual cases the function of a foreman is only to be understood symbolically, subordinates would often do the same job but in another watch.

Regarding the payment of wages: The British currency became decimalised in 1971. Until then it had consisted of pounds (£), shillings (s) and pence (d). There were 20 shillings to a pound and 12 pence to the shilling, therefore 240 pence to a pound. Most crew members were hired at a monthly rate but were paid at the end of the round trip pro-rata for the number of days worked. The sinking of the Titanic terminated the work contract, White Star Line paid wages up to and including 15 April 1912. On top of this, the company paid for food and lodging.

Shipboard time was changed daily and based on the ship’s midday position (solar noon). This resulted in a change in the length of the watches daily; heading west, it would lengthen the day by up to 1 hour. On the grounds of complexity, this factor was not considered in the text.

General information respecting regulations, duties and watch arrangements of individual crew members appear in Appendices B and C.

Until 1971 the British currency was not decimal. Shown here are three coins with the face of Queen Victoria (1819–1901), as they were still in circulation in 1912. The £1 coin (bottom right) correlated to 20s (left 1s, top 5s). (Author’s collection)

3

PAY AND SALARIES, TIPS AND BONUSES

Crew members’ remuneration is an important factor for determining the hierarchy. There were no increases in pay for time served. Everybody who did the same job would normally receive the same pay for it. If an employee had greater experience he could seek a higher paid job. In this way he would work his way upwards in the hierarchy and improve his income. Accordingly, a foreman or senior worker would receive more pay than his subordinates (though there were exceptions). This principle was frequently the most valuable indication of the personnel structure and helped unravel entire trade groupings, for example those of the engineers.

In many cases the pay set down in the ship’s articles did not correspond to what the individual expected to receive. The pay was what the shipping company paid, but crew members who came into direct contact with passengers, especially those of the first and second class, would receive tips. These were not only an acceptable addition, but in most cases made up the greater part of a crew member’s income. At least outwardly, the White Star Line shut its eyes to the tradition, and travellers were advised that tips were voluntary.

Even today many shipping companies offer employees miserable financial terms. Especially in positions that come into contact with passengers, shipping companies are interested in a highly motivated work force. With a good or very good basic pay, even unmotivated employees would receive remuneration enabling them to live comfortably. If some of the pay was left for passengers to meet, then only reliable and attentive employees, able to read a passenger’s desires from the proverbial look in the eye in exchange for a good tip, would apply for the job. That was also the case a century ago. As a side effect the companies reduced their operating risk – poor booking of a passage reduced the operating losses because the employees bore some of the risk. Additionally, the tariff advertised for a voyage was more economical, at least at first glance.

The three barbers aboard Titanic received no remuneration. The lowest-paid crew member was the page-boy in the restaurant with £1 10s. Together with a few other exceptions the majority of the low-wage earners received £3 15s. It is noticeable that most of these ‘low wage earners’ were in direct contact with the passengers and thus had a good opportunity of increasing their wage with tips.

Tipping in gastronomy on board a vessel was as important as on land – a waiter could earn up to four times more in tips than the official wage. The image shows a waiter in a noble London restaurant around 1912. (Author’s collection)

Tips have been a problem for travellers for generations. Many are unaware of the customs of other countries and want to avoid over-tipping or under-tipping. Most want to find the happy medium, but what was it in 1912? Albert A. Hopkins in his 1911 book The Scientific American Handbook of Travel provided a guide for North Americans visiting Europe. In collaboration with a retired purser he compiled a list with information about what tips were expected and fair.

Tips for saloon stewards, bedroom stewards and bath stewards were more or less obligatory. Tips per passenger in second class were less than first class, but the number of second-class passengers serviced was higher, which equalled things out. Tipping in third class was poor, and so it was worth making the effort to be noticed for the quality of one’s service in the hope of being recommended to a higher class on future voyages. The tips extracted below from The Scientific American Handbook of Travel have been converted from US dollars into British currency and are to be understood as guidelines only. The lowest first-class fare on Titanic in April 1912 was £27 per passenger, when sharing a three-berth stateroom. Unless stated to the contrary these were the tips to be paid per passenger for the entire passage:

Bedroom Steward

10s ticket value between £20 and £25

12s ticket value £50

14s ticket value £70

16s ticket value £80

£1 ticket value £100

4s bonus with private bath

Stewardess

only if required, two-thirds of bedroom steward

Saloon Steward

10s

Bath Steward

4s for several baths per voyage

1s for one bath

Cleaning Stewards

2s 6d (lump sum)

Deck Steward

4s only if required, or if assisting a lady

Smoke Room Steward

2s if saloon used frequently

Restaurant

c. 1d–2d per shilling on the bill

Smoking Room, Lounge etc.

c. 1d per shilling on the bill

Gymnasium Steward

2s only if required

Musicians

A collection, generally towards the end of the voyage, organised amongst the passengers

Second Class

About half the above

The list of tips supplies valuable information as to which jobs aboard were more worthwhile to take up even though the wage was identical on paper. The list also shows that with a heavy booking for a voyage, most stewards could more than double their monthly wage in tips on a single crossing. Both bedroom and saloon stewards would more than double their wage if they just served four passengers with the cheapest tickets on the out and inbound trip. Naturally there was no guarantee, and in the winter income would be closer to the basic wage.

Hopkins recommended passengers not to pay tips until the end of the voyage, since the stewards tended to forget earlier payments and would make a fresh request. Under no circumstances should passengers attempt to under-tip or the stewards would then exert pressure to recover the shortfall. It seems to have been a custom of the time for certain passengers to tip the chief steward upon boarding in order to receive preferential service. This custom was not recommended by Hopkins, because it would not influence the quality of service received.

Basically, the worst paid jobs (with little prospect of tips) were performed by the scullions, pantrymen, storekeepers, plate washers, the glory-hole stewards, the third-class stewards, the telephonist and matron, who all earned less than £4.

Another important indicator of incomes was the offertory for the Titanic victims inaugurated by the Lord Mayor of the City of London (a dignitary subject to yearly election but not on a political basis). Relatives domiciled outside Great Britain mostly received a single lump sum from the foundation. Many relatives of crew members with a British address were given a pension paid monthly independent of income and degree of relationship. Those involved were classified into seven groups, A to G, in descending order of income level. Many crew members turn up in a surprising group. The contracted rate of hire apparently played a minor role in how this grouping was worked out. Undoubtedly it was taken into account that the tips received in many cases far exceeded the basic pay, which would have resulted in estimates being made of the income. The exact criteria are not known but according to statute regard was had ‘to the yearly earnings of such member of the Crew and to the other circumstances of the case’.

Some employees such as engineers, seamen and firemen had no prospect of tips. For the rest one can work out from the indemnification (or pension) what the income including tips must have been. The following survey does not include victims without relatives in Britain and a number of cases that could not be classified due to doubts:

Class A

Monthly income including tips: c. between £16 and £46.

chief officer, first officer, highest ranking engineers, both pursers, chief first class steward, restaurant manager, restaurant chef, restaurant head waiter.

Class B

Monthly income including tips: c. between £11 and £17.

(e.g.) ship’s surgeon, engineers, boilermaker, chief electrician, first class chef, chief cleaning steward, first class bedroom stewards, senior Turkish bath attendant, racquet steward, gastronomical stewards with special functions, restaurant assistant head waiter, restaurant trancheur.

Class C

Monthly income including tips: c. between £9 and £11.