Why did more third class people die on the Titanic than first class?

Question

It is a known fact that more third class people died than first, but I need details for a project. Does anyone have factual specific reasons and/or resources I could use on my project?

Answer 1

Becky, I have a first hand account from Louis Garrett, someone who survived. It is much too long to post here but I will e-mail it to you if you'd like. Enable your e-mail and send me an e-mail if you'd like this.

Ninety years after the Titanic sank in April 1912, a small victim of that disaster has been identified, says The Times of London. His body, along with 43 other unidentified victims found floating in the water, was buried in Nova Scotia, Canada. His gravestone read: “An Unknown Child.” A team of 50 scientists, historians, genealogists, and dentists used DNA matching to identify the child as Eino Panula, a 13-month-old Finnish boy who died with his mother and four brothers. The family intended to start a new life in America, where Eino’s father, who had made the trip earlier, waited for them in vain. When nobody claimed or identified the dead child, the crew of the Canadian recovery ship “adopted” him, paying for and tending his grave. Other nameless victims of the Titanic may also be identified through DNA matching. To aid the investigation, a “maternal relative [of one of the victims] gave a blood sample just after his 100th birthday,” said The Times

Answer 2

There were only a minimum number of life boats on the Titanic. It was because of two reasons. One, that they only really took care to think of the first class passangers and maybe the second class ones. Two, they thought the ship was unskinkable anyway.

But what they did was that they took care of the first class passangers and the women and children of the second class. They locked the doors to the entrances to the third class passangers so the third class passangers did not interfere with the rescue of the other two classes. Like trying to survive or have their women and children survive. It was only after a while that the third class passangers managed to break out. By then most of the boats were launched.

Also many of the first and second class male passangers elected to stay behind to give the women and children a chance at survival . However it shows the ruthlessness of a system of classes. When you go down that road there is no telling the s**t you end up doing. Hope this helps.

Answer 3

In addition to the points raised about lifeboats and classism, something that definitely contributed to the third class loss of life was the linguistic factor. There were a LOT of non-English speaking immigrants who were travelling third class. White Star didn't have much in the way of interpreters, and frankly, taking the time out to send interpreters down to the bowels of the ship to let everyone know what was going on wouldn't have been considereda priority. Considering that even a few senior members of the crew were unaware of how serious the situation was until VERY late in the game, it's doubtful people in third (or even second and perhaps first) class would have connected the dots and realised that this 'unsinkable' masterpiece of design and engineering was about to go down until it was far too late.

Answer 4

Titanic was a huge ship - literally titanic. The lifeboats were on the main deck, so were filled by the 1st class passengers before anyone else. The 3rd class were deep in the bowels of the ship so found it hard to escape. Sadly most lifeboats were half empty when they were launched (there weren't enough anyway). Rumours abound that some gates were locked, so trapping passengers on the lower decks. Plus in the early part of the 20th century, class was a huge issue - I think the 3rd class passengers' survival was the last thing on anyone's mind. Terrible and tragic.

Answer 5

For a good many reasons actually. It's simplistic to attribute the ratio of lost to saved as a matter of class discrimination, although that did play some role.

Here it is though----The ship was carrying 2,200 + people ( the exact number is actually unknown). All the 14 regualr lifeboats, the 2 emergency boats, and the 4 Engelhardt collapsibles, if fully loaded, could hold 1,178 people, so over 1,000 would have no room even if all were fully loaded, which of course they weren't. The number of people actually in boats lowered was somewhat under 700------Others were pulled from thye water or were able to swim to boats within reach,------the total saved was 705. So, one factor contributing to the larger number (and percentage) of 3rd Class lost was partly a function of the fact that many more 3rd Class passengers were carrieed than 1st or 2nd Class. It was the 3rd Clas s that made the owners their money----All liners of that period lost money on 1st Class passengers.

Next, as some of your other answerers have said, the location of cabins had a part to play. While 1st Class was in the upper decks amidships, with second Class below and aft, 3rd Class was on the lowest passenger levels, families and single women near the stern and single men far forward. The single men went aft shortly after the collision, and there all the 3rd Class passengers huddled at the foot of the main 3rd Class Stairway, until after 1 AM. A steward, Jonathan Hart, escorted two groups of 3rd Class passengers up to the Boat Deck. Others found their way on their own. Several of the last boats were almost entirely filled with 3rd Class passengers.
The ship was huge---------11 passenger decks, each of over 75,000 sq ft---
Even many of the crew couldn't find their way around easily.
In terms of Class distinction, it played a role simply in terms of expectations in 1912. Third Class passengers, by and large, felt that they were treated without discrimation, although a pitifully small number testified at either the US Senate Hearings or the British Board of Trade. The simple fact is, that in 1912, 3rd Class passengers themselves looked at lifeboat accommodations as being a perk of the wealthy, and in fact, lifeboats were still, in those primitive days of radio, often a way to avoid drowning so that you could starve to death or die of thirst.

All these factors played a part, the main being a lack of instruction to crew and passengers as to what to do, coupled with the sheer mathematics of lifeboat spaces and numbers of members of the respective classes

Answer 6

There were more people on third class, and there could have been more men than women and children? Were they locked down there? I know they did to that on some vessels, but not sure if that happened on the Titanic.

I worked on doors that were designed to shut even if a man was mistakenly caught between bulkheads. That was in 1970 at the shipyard where we were building the Knorr, the boat that discovered the Titanic.

Answer 7

Many third class people were at the bottom of the boat the middle class of course was in the middle of the boat and last but not least the high class were near the top of the boat. People in the lower class had a hard time escaping because water leaked was coming in faster at the bottom. The high class people had a easier time to escape because they were near the top of the boat.

Answer 8

Women and child were surpose to go first when the ship started to go down,But first class made it to the boats first and althought i believe there was room in the lifeboats for as many as20 bodies some of them were only allowing 5to6 people in them.Also it was surgested that many of the 3rd class passenages were kept behind lock and key so that that "rich" could exit the ship without being trappled on as there were more 3 class then any other.

Answer 9

Rich people (those in first class) were seated in life boats first. Oh, I assume they were closer to the boats as first class cabins would be near the top and on the exterior of the ship for hte view and away from engine noise and heat....but the real reason was classism. The officers of the hsip were trained to cater to the needs of the richer passengers and this carried over to even something as critical as who got to sit the limited number of life boat seats. (Remember that the number of life boat seats was much much smaller than the number of passengers - not everyone could be saved.)

Now the real question is - did more third class passengers die in terms of total numbers or in terms of percentage?

Answer 10

As corny as the love story is, the movie is actually an interesting look on why that was... Much of it had to do with the lower classes being at the bottom of the ship with the rich at the top (nearer the lifeboats). Also the wealthy tended to have privileges and "first dibs" for the lifeboats.