"Honour and Glory Crowning Time"

XII

 

 

“Honour and Glory Crowning Time”: The Grand Staircase on Titanic

 

 

In 1902, the International Mercantile Marine (IMM), a Trust owned by the American billionaire J.P. Morgan, bought the White Star Line from founder Thomas Ismay's son, J. Bruce, a man made of far less stern stuff. Remembering the damage wrought by their refusal to grant Inman a Royal Mail Certificate in 1893, the British government agreed to let the American financier buy the line if he adhered to certain conditions. Probably, they were just trying to put Morgan off, but he jumped at the deal so fast that they should have smelled a rat. Perhaps they did, but rats must have smelt better in the Edwardian Age. 

The First Class swimming pool (called a “swimming bath”) on Titanic was the first pool ever installed on an ocean liner

White Star ships could operate as R.M.S. vessels, the British government allowed, if ---

They maintained British registry and flew the British flag

They were officered and crewed by British subjects

They adhered to British Board of Trade shipping regulations

The “sidewalk” Café Parisien on Titanic was a privately-owned restaurant that specialized in French and Continental cuisines

Morgan agreed happily. For one thing, British registry would offput his nemesis, the Trust-busting President Theodore Roosevelt from attacking the White Star purchase. For another, maintaining British officers and crews would give the line that wonderful air of stuffy nobility that wealthy Americans admired and aspired to but could never themselves achieve. Lastly, the British Board of Trade regulations were far less onerous than corresponding American laws; they were ossified in the days of sail. 

In fact, the B.O.T. regulations on lifeboats were the same in 1902 for the 17,000 ton Oceanic as for the 50,000 ton Titanic in 1912 --- a flat 16 were required, despite the fact that Titanic carried 1,000 more passengers (Titanic, in fact, carried 20 lifeboats --- even the line realized they needed more than the law mandated).  

As soon as IMM bought up White Star, Morgan ordered up new ships, and a lot of them. And he wanted them plush. That meant they would be expensive to build. At the same time, and quite counterproductively, he began a rate war that nearly killed the Atlantic shipping trade. It even damaged other IMM lines. Third Class rates on some ships dropped as low as four Pounds Sterling.

Dinner in the First Class Dining Salon aboard Titanic

Morgan calculated, correctly, that the backbone of the Atlantic passenger trade was in lowly Third Class immigrants. He calculated correctly that if he cut Third Class fares he could attract more Third Class passengers. He also calculated correctly that to turn a profit he had to neutralize the heavy government subsidies received by Cunard and his other non-Anglo-American rivals. 

J.P. Morgan, the ultimate owner of Titanic, had two exquisitely ornate and expensive suites installed on “B” Deck, port and starboard for his own use, each with its own private promenade deck. He didn’t make the Titanic’s maiden voyage, and J. Bruce Ismay, the Director of the White Star Line occupied one suite, while John Jacob Astor IV occupied the other. Each suite cost $4,530 per passage per person

But he failed to account for the fact that the immigrant traffic was all one way --- Westbound, toward the New World, "the Sunset Run." On the Sunset Run ships were usually at 100 + % capacity in Third Class (babies, toddlers and younger children needed tickets but were bunked with parents or older siblings). 

However, on the eastbound, Old World, "Sunrise Run," Third Class was a ghost town, populated only by immigrants heading home to visit and share their good fortune or immigrants heading home to stay and forget their failures. On a Sunrise Run, if Third Class was at 25% capacity it was considered very crowded. In effect, this meant that the typical immigrant ticket had to be equivalent to a round-trip fare in order to be profitable. Ships had to run at 70% capacity round trip to make money, and the math is obvious --- most ships were profitable, but just. The rate war pared the profit margin to translucency.

The Second Class Dining Salon on Titanic was only slightly less impressive that the one in First Class

To save money, therefore, the shipyards building the new expensive liners cut corners.

Harland & Wolff refused to stint on White Star accommodations, so instead it worked its labor force to the bone --- sixteen hour days, six and a half days a week (Sunday mornings were for church and family time) of grueling work at miserable wages.

People have sometimes speculated that Titanic was sabotaged, but more than likely, it (and many other ships) had construction flaws built into it that no one caught, tired as the men were. 

Harland & Wolff also decided to forego such "fripperies" as a double hull and fully watertight compartments. There were watertight compartments on Titanic and they were revolutionary in that they could be sealed automatically from the bridge ("making the ship practically unsinkable" as it was announced) but they were not as effective as watertight designs that had been on ships as early as the 1850s.

Titanic's watertight compartments were transverse bulkheads that rose from the keel up through Third Class, but no higher. Second Class and First Class had vast open areas for Dining Saloons, a swimming pool, reading rooms, and a gymnasium. Thus, Titanic was no more secure than an ice cube tray with a lid. If one compartment flooded fully, eventually the water would fill the next compartment, and so on.

The Third Class Dining Room on Titanic was fancier and more comfortable than First Class on some older and less stellar liners

The need for speed further complicated matters. It was not just a question of winning the Blue Riband anymore (White Star competed but rarely won). Liners were expected to keep set schedules. No flex time was built into a schedule to allow for unfavorable sea conditions or other transit occurrences. And although captains were officially told that they had full and unfettered discretion in shipboard operations, unofficially they were terribly pressured to run their craft full out to make time. The faster a ship got to America and offloaded the faster it could get back to Europe for more cut-rate passengers in steerage. And there were always onshore delays in reprovisioning, refueling and refitting the ships. Captains couldn't dawdle. Those that did were given the worst low-paying runs and mocking nicknames. One cautious Cunard skipper was known in the industry as "Foggy."

Second Class accommodations on Titanic ran the gamut from very well-appointed (above) to very plain (below) in recognition of the vast economic disparities between Second Class passengers, who ranged from the “merely” wealthy (like Henry B. Harris the theatrical producer) to the educated middle class (like Headmaster Lawrence Beesley)

There was also the question of a skipper's manliness. A story is told that back in the days of sail a clipper was running under full sail in a gale with mountainous waves. The First Mate came to the Captain to ask if they should reef. The Captain asked, "Can you see the bowsprit?" "Aye, if you look hard and long enough," the Mate answered. "Then keep on, Mr. Mate." 

A half-century later attitudes had not changed. Thus, running through an ice floe at 22.5 knots may have been reckless but nobody at the time thought so.

The most inexpensive Third Class accommodations on Titanic were these shared cabins. For many steerage passengers these plain rooms that lacked any privacy seemed incredibly luxurious

Charles Hays, the President of The Grand Trunk Railway, was discussing these trends over dinner when he remarked that "the time will soon come for the greatest and most appalling of all disasters at sea." 

After dinner and later that night, Hays died in that very disaster when he drowned on board the sinking Titanic.