truth behind that mythos, although locked doors do not necessarily spell out a deliberate 'lock-in' of steerage passengers. The stewards might have forgotten to unlock the doors in question during the growing chaos and other emergency duties to which they had to attend. After all, the doors were possibly kept locked on a regular basis. As you and others (including myself) have said in the past: Titanic was a class-segregated ship. Overlooking those doors would have been easy.
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Whether it was the crew keeping them down (vis a vis the Little Hitler Syndrome that Brian Ticehurst once spoke to) or the passengers waiting for instructions is the really intriguing question. It may well have been both.
Wow, Mike. A long time ago, when you and I were debating this, you seemed to insist that no favoritism took place, that the steerage were not deliberately held down. Now you're open to the idea of possible mal intent. True, this is not confirmed, and probably can never be, but it certainly is a possibility. Then again, it might have been a case where the stewards thought for sure that the order would eventually come, but it unfortunately never did. This would not have been the stewards' fault.
One thing I did learn here, especially from you, is to never jump to conclusions and to focus on the evidence at hand before making an assessment (although I'll admit that it is impossible for any human to form an
entirely objective opinion;
some partiality will always seep through. We are humans, after all, and subject to our own experiences).
The point two paragraphs above does raise yet another older idea, too: bringing steerage to the boat deck earlier. This would undoubtedly have ensured the survival of more of the third class than had been saved. Someone had once asked here (was it I?): With the impending danger looming, why didn't the stewards start ushering the steerage to the boat deck right away? Well, I am aware of a sailor's duty: Do what you're told--nothing more and certainly nothing less. If the captain did not issue an order stating that the steerage were to be brought up to the boats, then they
were not, even if dangerous circumstances dictated it. This would be a sticky situation indeed, and one that might leave plenty of ship workers feeling regret in the wake of a great tragedy. As you once said: Panic might have ensued on the boat deck if any of the third class were to have been brought up early. The last thing the officers needed was a crazy mob swarming around them while they tried to load and lower the lifeboats.
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at least until the situation became so untenable that the only choice was to take matters into their own hands or drown like rats in a trap.
Yet another older but interesting point, that of disregarding the orders of authority for the sake of survival.
IF the stewards had ordered the steerage to remain there and wait--either by force or persuasion--and then some of those passengers decided to disregard these instructions and strike off on their own when no further instructions came forth, are these individuals still considered in the wrong or out-of-line, even though their attempts secured their survival? Are those who did what they were told--to wait--in the right even though waiting sealed their deaths? Again: It's a very sticky situation.
This reminds me of that one scene in
The Poseidon Adventure when the purser ordered everyone to stay put, but Reverend Scott challenged him and took a band of passengers upward to the engine room. They were the only survivors.
IF the stewards
had ordered the steerage to stay put, this would be a real-life example of how disregarding orders resulted in survival and listening didn't. It is very interesting and not always easy to answer to appease every level (legal, moral, ethical, human, etc.) at the same time because the issue can be a very complex and contextually specific one to address.
