On (p. 58) of The Great Liners Melvin Maddocks says with regard to Steerage passengers ”… they represented one third of the revenues of the shipping companies, and accounted for more than half the profits.” John Malcolm Brinnin in The Sway of the Grand Saloon on (p. 240) says

“ Once Inmam had shown the way, traffic in emigrants provided the bulk of the income and profits of most shipping lines. … Openly courted the rich while they quietly maintained solvency by serving the poor.” In The Only Way to Cross (p. 155) John Maxtone-Graham says “ Companies might publicize the splendor of their swimming pools and restaurants, but their most profitable clients never used them.” In White Star Roy Anderson on (p.

162) says, “ A chief source of their revenue for several decades had been the transportation of millions of immigrants to these shores.” These quotations would seem to indicate that the Steerage Passengers were what made the show go.

Using a list of berths for the Titanic from Ocean Liners of the Past: Olympic & Titanic and passenger fare information from Titanic Historical Research Guild, Titanic Stats-Trivial and Not So Trivial I was able to construct the following spreadsheet.

CLASS	Deck	Type Rm.	# Of Rms.	# of Berths	Rate	Revenue
First
	A	Single	30	30	£30	£900
	A	Triple	4	12	£30	£360
	B	Parlour	2		£870	£1740
	B	Single	31	31	£30	£930
	B	Double	34	68	£30	£2040
	B	Triple	8	24	£30	£720
	C	Parlour	2		£870	£1740
	C	Single	15	15	£30	£450
	C	Double	62	124	£30	£3720
	C	Triple	57	171	£30	£5130
	D	Single	11	11	£30	£330
	D	Double	8	16	£30	£480
	D	Triple	30	90	£30	£2700
	E	Single	9	9	£30	£270
	E	Double	2	4	£30	£120
	E	Triple	28	84	£30	£2520
						£24,150
CLASS	Deck	Type Rm.	# Of Rms.	# of Berths	Rate	Revenue
Second
	D	Double	19	38	£12	£456
	D	Quad	20	80	£12	£960
	E	Double	15	30	£12	£360
	E	Quad	49	196	£12	£2352
	F	Double	19	38	£12	£456
	F	Quad	45	181	£12	£2160
	G	Double	23	46	£12	£552
	G	Triple	2	6	£12	£72
	G	Quad	15	60	£12	£720
						£8088
Third
	D	Double	4	8	£3	£24
	D	Sextet	7	42	£3	£126
	E	Double	26	52	£3	£156
	E	Quad	40	160	£3	£480
	E	Sextet	8	48	£3	£144
	F	Double	31	62	£3	£186
	F	Quad	59	236	£3	£708
	F	Sextet	18	108	£3	£324
	G	Double	5	10	£3	£30
	G	Quad	13	52	£3	£156
	G	Sextet	4	24	£3	£72
	G	Octet	5	40	£3	£120
	G	10	2	20	£3	£60
	G	OPEN		164	£3	£492
						£3078
					Total	£35,316

First Class £24,150/£35,316 = 68.4% Second Class £8,088/£35,316 = 22.9% Third Class £3,078/£35,316 = 8.7%

From this we can see that the 693 First Class passengers, who constituted only

28.96 % of the 2,393 passengers that could be carried, contributed 68.4% of passenger ticket revenue. The 674 Second Class passengers, who were 28.16 % of the passengers that could be carried, contributed 22.9% of revenue, and the 1,026 Third Class passengers, who were 42.87 % of the passengers that could be carried, contributed only 8.7% of revenue.

Further 46 of the First Class single berth rooms could be converted to two berth rooms if needed. This would give a total of 735 First Class passengers, further skewing the percentages in their favor.

The THRG web site section on, Titanic Stats-Trivial and Not So Trivial

Info., says Third Class Passengers paid as much as £8. If this is the case then the Third Class revenue could climb to £8,808. The total then climbs to

£41,046. And the percentages change as follows.

First Class £24,150/£41,046 = 58.8% Second Class £8,088/£41,046 = 19.7% Third Class £8,808/£41,046 = 21.5%

Still this hardly substantiates the claims above that the Third Class revenue were the largest percentage of the passenger revenue.

Date of Publication 18 November 2002