The Titanic steamed out of Southampton on April 10, 1912 At the time ocean liner was only form of trans- Atlantic travel Wide disparity between class of passengers 1 st Class- Rich, affluent, traveling for pleasure 2 nd Class- Businessmen and less affluent families 3 rd Class- Poor, mostly immigrants

 Distribution of Passengers & Crew  First Class Men175  First Class Women144  First Class Children 6  2 nd Class Men168  2 nd Class Women 93  2 nd Class Children 24  3 rd Class Men 462  3 rd Class Women165  3 rd Class Children 79  Crew Men885  Crew Women 23 TOTAL2224

14 Lifeboat- 65 passengers per boat 2 Emergency Boats- 40 passengers 4 Engelhardt collapsible boats- 47 passengers Total capacity for all boats =1178 passengers Just over 50% of total passengers Reasons given for not enough lifeboats: Due to heavy traffic in N. Atlantic rescue ship would be nearby Passengers could be ferried between two ships Unlikely that Titanic would sink

 Immigration laws required locked barriers on immigrant ships to prevent the spread of disease  Ships not in compliance could be held in Quarantine for up to 40 days, until all passengers were medically examined (not just steerage)  Such a delay was expensive and hurt a company’s reputation, so passenger segregation was taken seriously

 Since travelers in 3 rd class were considered to be more likely carriers of infectious diseases the gates were used to separate these passengers  On the night of the collision there are conflicting accounts of the position of these gates or barriers: open or closed-unlocked or locked

Lord Mersey's Report (British Parliamentary Papers, Shipping Casualties (Loss of the Steamship "Titanic"), 1912 Lord, Walter. A Night to Remember. New York: Bantam Books, Lynch, Don and Ken Marschall. Ghosts of the Abyss: A Journey into the Heart of the Titanic. Toronto: Madison Press Books, 2003.