Emma Richardson
Member
I was reading through some of the biographies and noticed that Elizabeth Nye and others were transferred from the Philadelphia due to the coal strike. I had a look over on Ellis Island and found that on the 4th of April 1912 the Philadelphia was in disembarking in New York. I am slightly puzzled by this as I know that she would have had to sit in NY for a few days to prepare for the return journey and may not have reached Southampton until after the 12th of April. My query in this case is when would passengers have been notified they were to sail on board Titanic? New arrangements would have had to be made regarding perhaps hotel stays and transport down to Southampton etc so I imagine that passengers would have had to be told a few days in advance of sailing. I am supposing the Philadelphia wasn't going to be leaving until after the 16th anyway ( time for cleaning etc) so those that sailed on Titanic would have been sailing a good four or five days before they had intended too. I realise that there was a shortage of coal and that was the reason for the changes but it just seems odd they sailed before the date as oppose to waiting a few days and sailing after their intended date. It just seems a bit too organised! These days people end up waiting days and days for new tickets for planes etc even if there were known disruptions!