The people on board of the titanic

The Captain James Edward Smith had been commander of White Star liners for 26 years and had over two million miles at the sea logged. So he was the most notable and experienced captain of White Star. He was celebrated as well of crew members as of the passengers. His nickname, given to him by his first-class passengers was "E.J." or the "Millionaire's captain". Smith came over from the Olympic, the sister of Titanic. At the age of 62 years he expected this maiden voyage of Titanic to be his last voyage before his retirement after nearly 40 years at the sea. He had great confidence in the ship and his own experience. When he was asked by the Shipbuilder Magazine about his career, he absurdly responded: "When anyone asks me how I can best describe my experiences of nearly forty years at sea, I merely say uneventful. I have never been in an accident of any sort worth speaking about ... I never saw a wreck and have never been wrecked, nor was I ever in any predicament that threatened to end in disaster of any sort." (J. Edward Smith in the Shipbuilder Magazine, 1912) . It was a lie. He was captain of the Germanic, which overturned in the harbour of New York on February 16th 1899, due to being overwhelmed by Ice loading. And he also had the command over the Olympic when she collided with the cruiser Hawke in September 1911. Both ships were badly injured, but stayed afloat and could return into the harbour of the Isle of Wrigth by their own power. In June 1911 he damaged a tug in the harbour of New York due to the suction of the giant screws. It seems, he had some problems with the enlargement of the size of the ships like many of his colleagues. Many Captains feared the giant ships, because they were said to be hard to steer. But Smith was still one of the best captains of his time.

The Crew

The Titanic had a gigantic crew of nearly nine hundred people. Most of them were from Southampton, a few from London, Liverpool or Belfast. "A British crew for a British ship" as some people mentioned. They had their cabins spread over the whole ship, always close to their work. All were anxious to get back to work. The coal strike made many sailors unemployed. Although it was the maiden voyage, which meant trouble for the crew, the brand new Titanic and the fact that Captain Smith was known as a familiar captain, the Titanic has been very attractive for the sailors and firemen in Southampton to work on. Not everybody who worked onboard Titanic has been noted in the crew books.
People like the five post-office clerks or the 8 musicians were noted as second class passengers, although they had no chance to use the comfort of the second class. Some Workers from Harland and Wolff were listed as guests, although they had to work. The two radio operators, John Phillips and Harold Bride were not employed by White Star, but stood under the command of Captain Smith. Just like the staff of the Italian a la carte Restaurant which came from London of the two luxury Restaurants of Luigi Gatti. They got a symbolic shilling as payment for this journey.


The guests

On Board of the Titanic, there were a lot of the most important persons of this period. E.g. James Bruce Ismay, president of White Star and proud ship owner of Titanic. Or Thomas Andrews, a nephew of Lord Pirrie, was director of Harland and Wolff and also the leader of the developing branch of this firm. Without him, Titanic would never have come so far. He was the man to transform the idea of Titanic into a floating reality, a respectable effort for a man who had not reached the age of forty. He was probably the man who knew the ship better than any other man in the whole world. He wanted to explore the ship and remove occurring errors with the nine workers of Harland and Wolff, who were under his command. Also he was noting improvements that could be made in Idea to form a whole ship class out of the Titanic. Accommodated in the first class there were some of the wealthiest people in the world like John Jacob, who was famous due to his yacht crashes during almost every regatta, he was returning with his wife from a European voyage.
Also, Isidor Straus was on board, he was director of Macy's department store and returned from a tour through the south of France together with his wife Ida. William Stead, a famous author, and George Wildener, one of the richest men in Philadelphia, USA, were also joining Titanic's maiden voyage. Benjamin Guggenheim, who was known as a notorious playboy, was travelling with his mistress, Madame Aubert from Paris on Titanic, although he was married. Margaret Brown was called due to her silhouette "Molly Brown". She was married to a millionaire in Colorado, USA, but travelled alone. It was her, who fought in the lifeboat for rescuing people out of the icy water.
Second class accommodated also some important persons like Lawrence Beesley, a British school teacher, who delivered a book about the events surrounding Titanic's sinking. He wrote about the motions being in danger and being rescued.
The third class contained mainly Scandinavian passengers. White Star did a lot of advertisement in Norway and Sweden, where it had built up a net of ticket agencies. In South-Europe, White Star was competing with Cunard Line for emigrants on the routes Genoa-Boston and Trieste -Boston. In 1912 many of the emigrants of Scandinavia preferred liners of White Star to emigrate via Liverpool or Southampton to the USA. But most of the emigrants just wanted to take the next liner, which has been Titanic.