Third Class Toilets

[Mike Colclough]

A google search for Titanic's third class staterooms produces images of what looks like a bunk room with a water fixture at one end. Its height suggests "toilet" but it looks more like a sink. Were they one in the same in 1912? Did these shared bunk rooms actually have open toilets at one end (a la jail cell?) Or was it a wash basin, with public toilets down the hall somewhere (a la, college dorm?)

 

[Steven Christian]

Communal toilets and showers for 3rd class. You might want to look at this thread. It might answer some of your questions. Paying homage to Mr Thomas J Crapper

 

[Arun Vajpey]

I had similar doubts and posted the question in that other thread. Fortunately, it turned out that they were washbasins but some members were jesting that some Third Class passengers might have considered the device as a multipurpose facility!

 

[Mike Colclough]

AHh, cool! Thank you for clearing that up. It made more sense when I finally spotted the ladies and gents lavatories in the third class ship maps here on ET. Being new I still haven't figured out what all the abbreviations mean (I assumed that "TV" in the corner of a room does not mean Titanic passengers were watching the game and agreeing never to tell anyone on land. I'm an airplane guy even more so than ships and there came a moment when some of Titanic's amenities started to look similar to what's on the airliners today.

 

[Jay Roches]

Third class lavatories are marked "men" and "women" rather than "ladies" and "gentlemen", on the deck plan.

You can find all the abbreviations on the deck plans here: Key to the floor plans TV is "tunnel vent."

About multipurpose facilities: third class/steerage toilets on emigrant ships were indeed multipurpose facilities. On earlier ships people were known to wash their hair and feet in washbasins. Titanic had in-room washbasins, so people may have used those instead. People also had to wash their own dishes (a pail, basically) in steerage only 5-10 years before Titanic.

On earlier ships, men and women sometimes didn't respect the signs on the doors, so to speak. Presumably women went to the men's room when the (very inadequate) women's room was too overcrowded. This wouldn't have happened on Titanic; overall, Titanic had ample toilets and washbasins, perhaps because earlier ships fell so short.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

About multipurpose facilities: third class/steerage toilets on emigrant ships were indeed multipurpose facilities. On earlier ships people were known to wash their hair and feet in washbasins.

I was talking about the possibility of some steerage passengers considering those in-room washbasins as multipurpose facilities......and not just for washing hair and feet.

 

[Jay Roches]

Oh, I know what you meant. Besides washbasins, lots of dark corners in third class on Olympic were said to be used as "multipurpose facilities" as well.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

Yuk! They should have laws to put "sphinchter-happy" people in chains down below....but I guess that would only provide them with even more dark corners!