White Star tickets

Three classes, three different nights

The same sinking, counted three ways. The percentages below are the inquiry’s own.

Of those passengers, the inquiry lists 325 in first class, 285 in second class and 706 in third class, including 109 children.⁠¹ On that same table, 203 of 325 first-class passengers were saved (62.46 per cent), 118 of 285 in second class (41.40 per cent), and 178 of 706 in third class (25.21 per cent). Of the crew, 212 of 885 were saved.⁠¹ Britannica gives first-class passengers the highest survival rate, at about 62 per cent, and says only about 25 per cent of third-class passengers survived.⁠²

• White Star ticket

  First class

  325 passengers · 203 saved — 62.46 per cent

  The inquiry lists 180 men and 145 women in first class, including 6 children. Almost all of the women and both groups of first-class children were saved; 57 of 175 adult men were saved. Britannica also gives first class the highest survival rate, at about 62 per cent. Greenwich notes first-class attractions including squash courts, a Turkish bath, a gymnasium and the first swimming pool on a ship.

• White Star ticket

  Second class

  285 passengers · 118 saved — 41.40 per cent

  The inquiry lists 179 men and 106 women, including 24 children. All 24 second-class children were saved, and 80 of 93 adult women; only 14 of 168 adult men were saved, the lowest men’s rate of the three classes on the official table.

• White Star ticket

  Third class

  706 passengers · 178 saved — 25.21 per cent

  The inquiry lists 510 men and 196 women, including 79 children — more than half of everyone on the passenger list. 178 were saved, or 25.21 per cent, a figure Britannica also rounds to about 25 per cent. About 410 of the third-class passengers, the inquiry notes, were foreigners.

In first class, Greenwich notes attractions such as squash courts, a Turkish bath, a gymnasium, a barber shop, and the first swimming pool on board a ship.⁠³

The inquiry also records that about 410 of the third-class passengers were foreigners, and that, with foreigners in the other classes and in the victualling department, nearly 500 people on board were “presumably not English speaking.” We keep that wording, because it is how the court framed the difficulty of raising and directing people below decks.

A full table for passengers and crew is on the official numbers page.