Titanic Crew

The Titanic’s crew was divided into several departments, consisting of the Deck, Engineering, and Victualling (or food service) Departments. Seamen and lookouts made up most of the Deck Crew, supervised by the Deck Officers, but also included the Ship's carpenter, lamp trimmer, and boot polisher.

As Titanic sank, the lifeboats were naturally manned by seamen from the Deck Department, and as a result their survival rate was much better than other members of the crew at large. This was a matter of necessity — the seamen had practical knowledgeable of small boat handling and also had the force of authority to ensure order on board the lifeboats.

The Engineering Staff consisted of 30 supervising officers and hundreds of boiler and engine room crew, who moved coal from the bunkers to the boilers and tended to Titanic's hundreds of pieces of equipment. Very few of the engineering crew and none of the Engineering Officers survived the sinking.

Titanic's largest department, and one that saw very heavy casualties, was the “Victualling” department, which provided “Hotel Services” to the passengers. An army of cooks, scullions, butchers, bakers, dining room stewards, bed room stewards, and bar men ensured that passengers on board Titanic were well looked-after.

Also on board and operating almost as a separate entity, wasTitanic's female staff. Most numerous were the stewardesses, who helped dress and attend female passengers traveling alone or without personal servants. The Matron, who acted as chaperone to “unescorted” Third-Class female passengers to prevent “unwanted attentions” by single men. Cashiers, a masseuse, and a Turkish Bath Attendant rounded out their numbers. All in all, their lives were relatively comfortable on Titanic: they were provided cabins among the passengers they served, and were fitted with similar appointments. Stewards, on the other hand, slept in dormitories of twenty men a piece. Nearly all the female staff survived.

Not all the crew on board were employees of the White Star Line. The five members of the ship's band and her two Marconi (radio) operators were actually employees of other companies. These men were simply assigned positions on Titanic and received their pay from their employers, but they still received a nominal one shilling upon signing on board to put them lawfully under the orders of the Captain.

Two additional groups on board were not White Star Line employees. The à la carte Restaurant offered a deluxe dining establishment for First-Class passengers willing and able to pay superior prices for superior food. The staff consisted entirely of an elite assembly of Restaurant professionals working directly for the subcontractor in charge of this deluxe dining room.

The second and more famous, was the “Guarantee Group” put on board by the Titanic's builders Harland and Wolff, and headed by Thomas Andrews. It was Andrew's job to travel on board the ship he helped design, and to direct a small staff of workers to correct problems that had cropped up, and make suggestions for improvements to be incorporated in future ships.

Read more about Titanic on our Stories From The Titanic blog...