The amidship little B deck cabins

[Matthew D. Chapman]

On the deck plans, you can see the rows of B-deck suites between the Forward and Aft staircases. The suites all have a smaller room adjacent. These rooms alternate between being a bathroom or a cabin. My question:

Were these smaller rooms period suites, or were they of the plainer brand of white-pine and generic WSL furniture seen in the forward staterooms?

 

[John Atkinson]

They were panelled to match the style seen in the A-Deck forward cabins and similar. Wood panels painted in white enamel paint. The sofas were small box sofas built into the wall above floor level to allow storage underneath. The cabins would have been fitted out with the simple oak cot beds and mirror dressing tables.

 

[Peter Rasmussen]

I thought these small cabins were for servants and/or small children. Weren't they?

 

[Lester Mitcham]

If let as part of a Suite of Rooms they were listed as being a Servant's Room, but they could be booked separately. A Fare Rate booklet lists them as single-berth, but they show on the Limitation deck plans as 2-berth.

 

[Peter Rasmussen]

Thanks.
On the Discovery plans they also show as a 2 berth rooms. It looks like they had one bed and one sofa.

 

[Peter Rasmussen]

I guess, of these rooms the ones that were occupied, were occupied by servants, since the ship was far from full on her only voyage.

 

[Ana Florencia Pinton]

There were 12 cabins of that type and in that location. We only know for sure that four were occupied:

B86: Mr Guggenheim's valet and Mr Carter's valet
B61: Mrs Ryerson's maid
B73: Mrs Hays' maid
B79: The Countess of Rothes' maid

It's interesting to note that the only cabin occupied by the two valets was on the port, while the three cabins occupied by the maids were on the starboard; but probably it's just a coincidence!

 

[Shel Cooper]

Many first class cabins were tiny, being 8X8, 8X10 if you were lucky, with tiny hallways to reach them, around 30 inches wide.

 

[Jay Roches]

Yes, that's true, and it's not until I bought Titanic: The Ship Magnificent that I really understood what most of First Class looked like -- almost industrial, with bare pipes. I also don't imagine the inboard tandem cabins as being all that wonderful (the ones with the long, narrow corridor to a sidelight, intended to allow natural light and ventilation to every cabin). The inboard cabins on B were meant for servants primarily. They did not have direct access to the cabin proper, so they would not have been very suitable for small children. As you can see on the plans, the amidships cabins on B deck, the period cabins on that deck, alternated between private baths and small cabins. The private baths, interestingly, have doors to both adjoining cabins. I don't know whether people ever shared these, but there was an extra cost for the private baths, and it was possible to lock the doors leading to them in the event that a first class passenger had booked a period suite but not a bath.