Passengers on the Titanic

Enquiry question

Investigate the sources

1. Source 1: List of First Class passengers killed

   1. 

   Look at the source

   • What clues are there from this list that this is the First Class passenger list, not the Third?
   • Most of the people on this list do not have an occupation listed. Why do you think this is?
   • This list shows HJ Allison, his wife and his daughter. We know that JJ Astor travelled with his wife Madeline, but she is not listed beside him. Why do you think this is?

2. Source 2: List of Third Class passengers killed

   1. 

   Look at the source

   • What countries have these people come from?
   • How many different occupations are there listed?
   • What other differences can you see between the First and Third class lists? Why do you think this is?

3. Source 3: Survey of an Emigrant Ship

   1. 

   Look at the source

   • Where did most people embark?
   • Which class of passenger made up the majority of those embarking at Cherbourg?
   • Which class of passenger made up the majority of those embarking at Queenstown?
   • Which class of passenger were in a majority of all those on board when the Titanic set off for New York?
   • Look at the title of the document on which the table is based. What does this tell you about who all these steerage passengers were?

4. Source 4: Telegram received by the Russian liner Birma

   1. 

      We have struck iceberg sinking fast come to our assistance.

      Position Lat. 41.46 n.  Lon. 50.14.  W.

   Look at the source

   • When was it received?
   • If you were the wireless operator on the Birma, how would you report this message to the Captain?
   • If you were the Captain of the Birma, what would you do?

Extension activities

Discussion topics

• 705 of those on board the Titanic when she struck the iceberg survived. Of the survivors:
  • 381 were cabin class passengers, including all the children in this class
  • 270 were steerage passengers, including 26 of the children in this class
  • 52 were crew
• What does this tell you about the safety arrangements for different types of passengers?
• The Titanic has the reputation of being a luxury ship. Is this reputation justified?

Activity

Write a news report or make a video broadcast on the sinking of the Titanic using the sources provided in this lesson.

Background information

Transatlantic travel in the age of steam

The first ship to cross the Atlantic by steam power alone was the Sirius, in 1838, taking 18 days to make the journey. However, early iron steamships were inefficient and the next 50 years saw the last flowering of ocean-going sailing vessels.

Only the invention of the steam turbine in 1884 and production of cheap steel enabled steam to overtake sail at last. In the opening years of the 20th century a new design of vessel, the ‘liner’, appeared. They were much bigger and faster, with more carrying capacity: the Mauretania crossed the Atlantic in less than five days in 1907.

More space meant more room for passengers to travel in luxury and, until air travel superseded them in the 1950s, the Atlantic liner was the last word in comfortable, speedy travel. The publicity given to the quality of First Class accommodation on the Titanic was therefore typical.

Emigration from Europe

Throughout the 19th century millions of Europeans left the continent for new lands in Australia, South America, Africa and, especially, North America. The peak was reached in the first decade of the 20th century, when 11 million Europeans crossed the Atlantic to settle in the USA, 3.2 million of them from the UK and Ireland.

Not surprisingly, emigrants were usually poor: one of their main reasons for emigrating was to build a better life in America, which was seen as a ‘land of opportunity’. Back in the 19th century, shipowners had crammed emigrants below decks with inadequate facilities in order to keep fares low. The White Star Line, ironically, was one of the first to offer decent, although still cheap, accommodation to emigrant passengers.

The Titanic

The Titanic was built at a cost of around £1.5 million, in Belfast, for the White Star shipping line. She was the largest passenger steamer of her day, at over 46,000 tons, and supposedly the most up to date. Special watertight compartments made her ‘practically unsinkable’, claimed the owners. They also advertised the luxurious First Class accommodation, with large state-rooms, a Parisian café, a swimming pool and restaurant.

The Titanic set sail from Southampton on her maiden voyage on Wednesday 10 April, 1912, calling at Cherbourg in France and Queenstown in southern Ireland before heading out across the Atlantic, on course for New York. Late on the night of Sunday 14 April she struck an iceberg and was holed below the waterline. Less than three hours later she sank. Only 705 people were rescued from over 2,200 on board.

Reaction to the disaster

The sinking of the Titanic with the loss of 1,500 lives caused an uproar on both sides of the Atlantic. Newspapers blamed the owners for inadequate safety arrangements. Others blamed the captain for going too fast and too carelessly in waters known to be iceberg-infested.

An enquiry in the US Senate fixed on the fact that there were not enough lifeboats for the number of passengers, although the owners certainly provided more than they were required to by law at the time. It was also pointed out that not all the lifeboats that were on board could be launched in the time it took to sink. Many passengers refused to get into the lifeboats anyway, some of which left the ship half full.

Safety regulations had not caught up with these new massive liners and were rapidly changed. A new regulation of 1913 required all vessels to carry enough lifeboats for every passenger. An iceberg patrol was set up by the US Coastguard.

Further information

Related education session

Education session

The sinking of the Titanic

This session designed for key stages 2-3 looks at why so many lives were lost in the disaster.