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Hailey McLean
Exploratory Research Essay
English 1010
20 April 2014

The sinking of the Titanic, which happened just prior to World War I, was a terrible
tragedy. Many people have argued over why the Titanic sunk, and what could have been done to
prevent this calamity. Design flaws, human error, and bad luck all contributed to the sinking of
the Titanic; however, once the Titanic had struck the iceberg, class had the largest effect on
survival. Class refers to what type of accommodations the passengers had paid for. First class
was the most expensive, and third class was the cheapest. Proximity to deck, proficiency in
English, and amount of lifeboats were all factors related to class that had a large impact on
whether or not the people on the Titanic survived.
Third class passengers were mostly immigrants (Pope, pg. 33). The third class passengers
were mostly leaving their homeland to seek a better life in America. Third class passengers, who
were immigrating, spoke less English and as a result had a harder time understanding the crew,
and following instructions. Many of the third class passengers did not speak English. (Pope,
pg. 77). Once the ship hit the iceberg, it sunk in about two hours, leaving little time for confusion
(Rosenberg). Many people, of all classes, stayed on the ship extra time because they believed
that the ship was unsinkable and that they were in no danger. Although people of every class
believed that the ship was unsinkable, this contributed less to mortality than language barriers.
Since third class passengers could not understand the crew, they were more likely to stay in their
rooms because they did not understand what was going on (Hall). While the third class
passengers were staying in their rooms the first class passengers were filling up the limited spots
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on the lifeboats. Despite the fact that crew members tried to gather the third class women to take
them to the lifeboats, many were too afraid to leave their husbands. It is important to note that
crew members did not give first class passengers priority while loading the lifeboats. Is it true
that third class passengers were kept below until the wealthy passengers could get on board the
lifeboats? No. (Pope, pg. 76). Although third class passengers were not excluded on purpose in
any way language barriers were one of the factors that made it harder for them to survive the
catastrophe. All of these factors related to language increased third class passenger mortality.
The second factor that demonstrates the effect of class on survival is the proximity of
rooms to deck. Most third - class rooms were farthest from the deck where the lifeboats were
kept. (Pope, pg. 76) Because the third class rooms were further from the lifeboats, the third
class passengers had less of a chance of getting to the lifeboats in time. Hall states that the third
class area was below deck by a maze of ladders and passageways (Hall). In contrast, the first
and second class rooms were closer to deck, the boat deck which was in the first and second
class areas of the ship (Hall). Since the Titanic sunk late at night, approximately midnight 2
am, most of the passengers were in their rooms and didnt even feel the ship strike the iceberg.
Once they realized there was trouble, the passengers in the rooms closest to deck would get from
their rooms to the lifeboats the quickest. The location of the rooms clearly had an impact on
survival.
Finally the number of lifeboats aboard the ship was not sufficient, and lifeboats were
filled incorrectly. Tragically, there was room in the lifeboats for only about half of the people
on board the Titanic. Safety rules at that time had been made for much smaller ships. (Pope, pg.
73). The rules said that the Titanic needed only 16 lifeboats. As a result, even if the lifeboats
were loaded to full capacity during an emergency evacuation, there was available seats for only
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one- third of those on board. (history.com). This fact is important because even when third class
women and children got to deck they were unlikely to get a spot on the lifeboats simply because
they were filled with first and second class women and children, proving that class had a larger
effect on survival then gender or age. Additionally many of the first lifeboats were not filled to
capacity many of the first lifeboats left the ship less than half full. (Pope, pg. 75). Leaving
empty space in the first few lifeboats hurt the third class passengers the most. First class
passengers who at first did not want to get on the lifeboats later decided they wanted to, As the
bow of the Titanic sank lower and lower, though, people began to realize the lifeboats might be
their only hope. More and more of them wanted a place in the boats. (Pope, pg. 75). This was
unfair to third class passengers because indecisive first class passengers now were taking their
spaces in the later lifeboats.
Hall provides many valuable statistics in relationship to the Titanic tragedy that reinforce
the argument that class had a larger effect then gender or age. 97.3% of first class women and
children survived but only 42.2% of third class women and children survived. 32.6% of first
class men survived but only 16.2% of third class men survived (Hall). Almost all of the first
class women and children survived but less than half of third class women and children survive.
About a third of first class men survived, for third class men survivorship was half that. It is clear
that although gender and age did effect survival, class had a larger effect.
Although a multitude of factors affected survival, class clearly had a large effect. Gender
and age had a large effect, with women and children getting first seats on the lifeboats, however,
class was more important. Because of language barriers, room location, and the limited number
of lifeboats third class passengers were much more likely to not survive the Titanic tragedy.
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Works Cited
Hall, Wayne. Social Class and Survival on the S.S. Titanic. Nouvelobs.com. n.d. web. 3 April
2014
Osborne, Will, Osborne, Pope, Mary. Titanic. New York. Scholastic, 2002. Print.
Rosenberg, Jennifer. Sinking of the Titanic. about.com. About.com. n.d. web. 3 April 2014
Titanic bbc.co.uk. BBC. n.d. Web. 1 April 2014
Titanic. history.com. A & E Television Networks, LLC. n.d. web. 1 April 2014




















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Hailey McLean
Exploratory Research Essay Self Reflective
English 1010
20 April 2014

In writing this paper I struggled more. Writing this paper intimidated me because I
wanted to improve my writing but was not totally sure how. I feel like I still struggle a little bit
with proper comma use, and general grammar. Additionally I had a hard time narrowing my
topic down but still meeting the requirements. At times during the writing process I felt confused
about whether this paper was an English paper or a history report. Obviously it is an English
paper but because of my topic I was frustrated because usually when I write about history it is to
demonstrate my knowledge of history, and not to display my grammatical abilities. However I do
feel like this paper was a valuable paper to write because it forced me to think more critically
about commas, citations, and transitions.