The lives of Crew Members and Second Class Passengers

     In this blog I will include a review of the book Voyagers of the Titanic: Passengers, Sailors, Shipbuilders, Aristocrats, and the Worlds They Came From  by Richard Davenport-Hines. I would categorize this historian as being primarily focused on only the facts of Titanic history. While his book is detailed and useful to my research, I decided to wait until now to review his book in blog form because he didn't make an argument, and so I couldn't use him in the literature review assignment. Also, last week I decided to change my framework to looking only at Titanic history through the accounts of the often neglected second class passengers and crew. Davenport Hines reviewed all three classes and crew members in his book, but not until recently did I realize how useful it might be to my research. I will include interesting facts highlighted by the author in order to show who the second class and crew members were, where they were from, and why they were travelling to the United States.
     The three classes of passengers aboard the Titanic were divided based on the prices of their tickets which correlated with the quality of amenities they would receive on the ship including their meals and rooms. It is clear after studying Titanic history that the second class more than  any other class  were more varied in both their occupations and backgrounds as well as their countries of origin. What they did have in common however was that they were considered part of the working middle class, a group of people who saw the Titanic as "opening them to a world of expansive possibilities" (RDH 133). The ship provided unique opportunities such as taking them to visit family and friends over seas, taking them to America where there were promising business prospects, and they would also be able to  experience the luxuries of travel aboard the ship of which previously they had no access. According to Richard Davenport-Hines, the Titanic carried 271 second class passengers, only forty percent of its total capacity (RDH 128). [only fourteen second class men survived]
     Davenport-Hines also listed common jobs held by second class passengers such as clergymen, teachers, hoteliers, engineers, shopkeepers, shop assistants, and clerks. He wrote, "A guide to the Atlantic liners, published in 1913, noted that the demarcation between first class and second class passengers was less sharp than that between the second class and third class" (RDH 122). Although the second class passengers could not afford the cost of a first class ticket, many of them boarded the ship in order to experience its luxuries and they had more in common with the first class than the third. This contrasts drastically with the third class whom were mostly immigrating to the United States because they were poor and wanted to find jobs overseas. Their amenities were basic, while they probably felt themselves lucky for being able to travel to America.
     The author also devoted a brief section of his book to discussing the Titanic's crew. This is important to my research because he explained the different departments of the crew, which resembled the three classes of passengers. There were three crew departments: The deck crew which included officers, surgeons, lookouts, and quartermasters, the victualing crew that included the stewards and stewardesses, wireless operators, postal clerks, dining and cooking staff, and the musicians, and finally the engine crew which was the lowest and hardest working class of "firemen" who kept the engine fueled. Davenport-Hines wrote that, "The crew was considered as top-notch as the ship's amenities" (182). Of the 892 total crew members, 699 of them came from Southampton, one of the ships ports of debarkation. The author was fair in giving attention to accounts and biographies of all the crew departments. He wrote that the captain had a clean record of no ship wrecks, and after he had captained seventeen ships, sixty-two year old Captain Smith intended to retire after his contract with the Titanic ended. Famously he is known for going down with the ship. Davenport-Hines also wrote about the stewards who only made three pounds a month on average and relied on tips, as well as the firemen who performed "killing work" while loading coal during two four hour shifts a day aboard the Titanic (190).
     This book is important to my research because it reveals the lifestyles and occupations of the second class and crew.  However it does not describe any of the reasons why the second class men had the smallest amount of survivors, nor did it provide any accounts of what happened during the sinking of the Titanic. While this is one of the only books I have found that provides much detail on the groups I am focusing on, it does not argue anything and fails to provide evidence of their experiences during the sinking which relates to my thesis. The author really only focused on the passengers lives before they boarded the ship, and what the roles were of the many different types of crew members. I can use this book to support my argument that the second class and crew have been neglected in scholarly Titanic history because although he included letters and biographies, the author left out their accounts of the Titanic's sinking.