The Titanic:
The Crew
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Background 5: When is a crew member not a crew member?

The Crew List signed by Captain Smith on 10th April, 1912, shows the following numbers and allocations:

Deck Department
1 Master
7 Mates
2 Surgeons
7 Pursers and clerks
2 Carpenters
1 Boatswain
8 Boatswain’s mates and Quarter Masters
39 Seamen, A.B.
2 Window cleaners
2 Mess Room Stewards
2 Masters at Arms
Engine Department
28 Engineers, Ship
8 Engineers, Refrigerator and Electrical
289 Engine Room Crew
Steward’s Department
2 Telegraphists
471 Chief Steward and staff
20 Stewardesses
1 Matrous

However, other records are at odds with this list. There were a number of additions and deletions - both well before sailing, and at the very last minute.

John Podesta, a fireman, described his experience in ‘Titanic, Triumph and Tragedy’:

"I got up on the morning of April 10th and made off down to the ship for eight o’clock muster, as is the case on all sailing days, which takes about an hour. As the ship is about to sail at about twelve o’clock noon most of us firemen and trimmers go ashore again until sailing time. So off we went [with] several others I knew on my watch, which was 4 to 8. My watch-mate, whose name was William Nutbean and I went off to our local public-house for a drink in the Newcastle Hotel. We left about eleven fifteen making our way toward the docks. Having plenty of time we dropped into another pub called the Grapes, meeting several more ship-mates inside. So having another drink about six of us left about ten minutes to twelve and got well into the docks and toward the vessel. With me and my mate were three brothers named Slade: Bertram, Tom and Alfred.

We were at the top of the main road and a passenger train was approaching us from another part of the docks. I heard the Slades say, “Oh, let the train go by”. But me and Nutbean crossed over and managed to board the liner. Being a long train, by the time it passed, the Slades were too late, and the gangway was down leaving them behind. So it seemed they did not have to go."

The officer in charge of the gangway heard the men call out, but knew that there were extra men waiting on board for just this opportunity and so, even though he could have waited, he ordered the gangway lowered and signed on extras.

There were others on board who certainly were not paying passengers, but neither were they considered crew - in the strict sense of the word.

One group was the staff of Gatti’s à la carte restaurant. They were recruited from among the employees of his two London restaurants (Gatti’s Adelphi and Gatti’s, Strand) and were paid a nominal wage of 1 shilling for the voyage.

Walter Lord, in ‘A Night To Remember’ says:

“The staff of the first-class à la carte restaurant were having the hardest time of all. They were neither fish nor fowl. Obviously they weren’t passengers, but technically they weren’t crew either. The restaurant was not run by the White Star but by Monsieur Gatti as a concession.

Thus, the employees had no status at all. And to make matters worse, they were French and Italian - objects of deep Anglo-Saxon suspicion at a time like this in 1912.”

The wireless operators were also ‘different’. They were employed by the Marconi Company, but also signed the ship’s articles.

The members of the orchestra were in a different category again. They were employed by a Liverpool firm (C.W. and F.N. Black) who had contracts with all of the steamer companies to provide musicians. Until 1912 they were paid 6 pounds and 10 shillings a month plus a monthly uniform allowance of 10 shillings. Then the rates were cut to 4 pounds a month and no uniform allowance!

The Amalgamated Musicians Union protested to Bruce Ismay (Managing Director of White Star) that their members were being paid less than union scale. His response was to remove them from the crew list and carry them as passengers, which meant that once they reached an American port they would have to appear before immigration officials and produce $50 in cash to prove that they weren’t destitute!

Walter Lord in ‘The Night Lives On’ recounts that on April 30, 1912, Jock Hume’s father received this short note from Blacks:

Dear Sir:

We shall be obliged if you will remit us the sum of 5s. 4d., which is owing to us as per enclosed statement. We shall also be obliged if you will settle the enclosed uniform account.

Yours faithfully, C.W. & F.N. Black

The uniform account included items such as:

Lord goes on to recount the shabby treatment meted out by both Blacks and White Star when approached for compensation.

There were two other groups that were in a similar position to the orchestra, though for different reasons. They were the Postal clerks and the Harland & Wolff ‘guarantee group’.

The clerks were needed to sort the mountain of mail in the post office mail room forward on F deck. The guarantee group was lead by Thomas Andrews (Managing Director of Harland & Wolff) and their task was to assist the crew with any special tasks that might arise on the maiden voyage of a new and untried ship.

Investigation 5: When is a crew member not a crew member?

Using the figures on the background sheet, tally the number of crew in each ‘department’.

  1. Check the totals above using the crew data - are there any discrepancies?

John Podesta obviously survived, but what about his mates?

  1. Use that data to research the ‘fates’ of John Podesta and the other crew mentioned in his tale.

Reread the extract from ‘A Night To Remember’ referring to Gatti and his staff.

  1. What can you discover about the survival of that group?

The other ‘special cases’ mentioned are the orchestra, the Marconi operators, the Post Office clerks and the ‘Guarantee Group’.

  1. What can you discover about the members of these other groups?

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