Heroes of the Night: Life On the Titanic
The Titanic left Southampton, England, bound for New York City on its maiden voyage on April 10, 1912. It was owned and operated by the White Star Line and was the world’s largest ship at the time of its sailing. The Titanic’s passenger list was just as impressive as the ship itself. The names of those in First Class represented some of the wealthiest and most influential people of the early 20th Century. People like Colonel John Jacob Astor IV and Benjamin Guggenheim represented the best of business and industry. Jacques Futrelle, a famous writer, Dorothy Gibson, a prominent actress, and Henry B. Harris, a successful theatrical manager, represented the arts. Major Archibald Butt, President William Howard Taft’s military aide, was also on board. These people represented only a small percentage of the scores of successful businessmen, athletes, and artists in Titanic’s First Class.
With such a glittering roster of passengers onboard, only the best in trans-Atlantic travel would be suitable. The Titanic easily met this requirement. It was the most luxurious ship afloat, as demonstrated by the extravagance of its dining accommodations.
Dining on the Titanic was a memorable experience regardless of class. In First Class, every evening meal was a grand social occasion. In full formal attire, elite passengers gathered in the First Class dining saloon and the a la carte restaurant to socialize and enjoy a feast of a meal. Women in beaded evening dresses of every shade mixed and mingled with men in white-ties and tails. Their fare consisted of a seven-course meal featuring a long list of choices: hors d’oeuvres, oysters, soups, salmon, filet mignon, lamb, duckling, sirloin beef, vegetables, asparagus, pudding, chocolate, peach dishes, vanilla éclairs, and French ice cream.
They dined in opulence. The First Class dining saloon was the largest room on the ship. It was as wide as the ship itself, occupied 114 of the ship’s 882 feet in length, and could accommodate more than 550 diners at a time. The furniture was made of oak, and the floor was covered in plush carpet. The tables were set with white linen tablecloths, crystal glassware, and silver eating utensils. In the more exclusive a la carte restaurant, each of the 49 tables were lit by a crystal lamp and set with fine silver and china. Crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling. The restaurant, which was staffed by personnel from fashionable London restaurants, could cater to up to 137 diners.
In the bowels of the ship, dinner for Third Class passengers was much less complicated. The meals served in the Third Class dining saloon were simpler than those in First and Second Class, but most passengers here still found the experience to be positive, one that they had never experienced before. Third Class accommodations on the Titanic were nearly equal to First Class accommodations on older ships, and they far surpassed what most Third Class passengers had been used to.
The Third Class dining saloon was 100 feet long with a seating capacity of 473. Unlike the accommodations in First and Second Class, pipes and beams were visible in Third Class areas. The long rows of tables were covered with white tablecloths and featured wooden chairs instead of the bolted-down benches that were customary on other ships of the era. The meals served in the Third Class dining saloon were simple but plentiful and featured soup, a meat dish, cooked dessert, fruit, bread or buns, cheese, biscuits, gruel, and coffee.
The Titanic made two ports of call, at Cherbourg, France, and Queenstown, Ireland, before leaving Europe. About 750 passengers occupied the Third Class areas on the Titanic when it steamed away from its last port of call and set out toward North America. There were approximately 330 First Class and 320 Second Class passengers. Combined, the number of First and Second Class passengers did not even amount to half the number of Third Class passengers. This was not out of the ordinary for the time because, despite the high fares that First Class passengers paid for their accommodations, most ship lines relied on the revenue generated by the masses of Third Class passengers who were relocating to North America.
First Class passengers and Third Class passengers were worlds apart from each other. The gulf between them could not have been more apparent on Titanic’s final night afloat, and that gulf played an important role in who survived. It also determined, at least initially, how the night was remembered. If a passenger belonged to one group, First Class, he was worthy of remembrance and would probably be deemed a hero; if he belonged to Third Class, however, he would likely not be remembered and certainly would not have been remembered as a hero. “In third class, you had no light,” Marjorie Newell Robb said, remembering the night the Titanic sank, “but in first class you had all the light you wanted. Money talked.”. First Class survivors and victims had all the ‘light’. Their stories of survival were extensively covered in the press and accounts after the sinking. They are the group that history most vividly remembers. Third Class survivors (and victims) were mostly a nameless mass whose faces were rarely illuminated. They did not have a clear path to the lifeboats, and they did not have a clear path to public memory of the disaster. They were in the dark.
