Crew and Officer Salaries and Duties

Contracts

Many workers who signed on as crew on the Titanic were newly hired that very week, some were hired only 24 hours before sailing. 

Crew members were guaranteed one voyage and all crew were paid by the month which was pro-rated per voyage.    

If a worker was a permanent White Star Line employee who worked on a schedule like Stewardess Violet Jessop or like Chief Baker Charles Joughin, the salary was quoted by the month and they would have a permanent assignment to one ship. 

Some crew members who worked in the boiler room or galley, for example, might be put on a schedule to work on multiple ships. In any event, they were still paid by the month.   

Shipping companies (cruise lines) were, and still are, notorious for paying their crew very poorly. For this job, a crew member had to have a real yearning to see the world, sail the oceans, or a desire to do back-breaking work on a ship for 18 hour days. 

In the early 1910's, it was not unusual for workers to abandon their assignment with no explanation when the ship stopped at the first port. In that case, if time allowed, extra workers might be hired in that port for the rest of the voyage. 

On Titanic, there were a few people who abandoned the ship at Cherbourg, France and at Queenstown, Ireland who were originally thought to have drowned when Titanic sank because their names were on the list, but they showed up a few weeks later when it was learned that they signed on to other ships. 

On other White Star Line ships, contract workers finished their six to nine month contract, then they were dropped off at whatever port the ship was scheduled. For a worker whose contract was up, it was important to know where the ship was going to be that last day because workers had to pay their own way home from that port. Smart crew worked it out that they were dropped in their home city or a city where they wanted to spend some time.

Today, cruise lines hire many people who live in foreign countries. They need the job because they come from poor circumstances or have large families to support. The base pay was very minimal because they earn most of their money through tips.  

If you get the opportunity, the next time you are on a cruise, talk to some of the cabin or waiter staff. Ask two questions: where they are from and how their family gets on while they are at sea.  They will take over the conversation from there. Some of their stories are fascinating. Either you will feel sorry for them or be very envious.

Time Off

In the early 1910's, White Star Line gave each worker six hours of unpaid down time per day. They were expected to sleep and get done personal stuff during those six hours.  White Star Line supplied three meals a day and a bunk bed in a separate crew quarters that was usually near the steerage passengers.

Everyone who did the same job received the same pay. There were no pay increases after years of employment or if someone had more experience. Employees with prior or better experience were encouraged to apply for a higher paying job but they would not be paid more for their experience.

The only exception would be for a foreman or senior worker who was hired as a supervisor of other workers. They would be paid more money at the time of hire, but there were no pay increases along the way.

Examples of the Cost of Living in Great Britain in 1912

In 1912, ten (10) percent of the population lived below the poverty level.  About fifteen (15 ) percent lived in poverty.

The average monthly income for a household of four people living at poverty level was £4 to £6 which comes to $5.50 to $8 in 1912 dollars, in 2018 dollars it is $142.50 to $207.20 per month.

A skilled tradesman earned about £8 per month which is $11.05 in 1912 dollars and $286.20 in 2018 dollars)

Unskilled workers earned £3 to £4 per month which is $4.13 to $5.50 in 1912 dollars and $106.97 to $142.50 in 2018 dollars>

The rent for a small house for four people averaged £1. 5 shillings per month which is $2.00 in 1912 dollars and $51.80 in 2018 dollars.

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Salaries:

- Storekeepers

Titanic employed 13 storekeepers. 

Although today, supplies, tools and foodstuffs are provided for free to the crew, back in 1912, White Star Line did not supply them for free. The storekeepers sold such items as, trousers, jackets, company pullover shirts, and caps to all seamen. He also stored tools and equipment that was not necessary to be on deck until it was ready for use - for example: tools to free the lifeboats from davits. Two storekeepers survived.

Titanic's storekeepers were:

• Foley, John, age 44, Deck Storekeeper - rescued Lifeboat #4
• Foster, A, age 37, Engineering Storekeeper - lost
• Kieran, Michael, age 31, Victuals Storekeeper - lost
• Morgan, Charles F., age 42 - Assistant Storekeeper - lost
• Newman, Charles T, age 32, Engineering Storekeeper - lost
• Parsons, Edward, age 35 - Chief Storekeeper - lost
• Phillips, Walter J, age 35, Storekeeper - lost
• Prentice, Frank W, age 22, Storekeeper - rescued Lifeboat #4
• Ricks, Cyril G, age 23, Storekeeper - died, tagged #100 
• Rogers, Edward J., age 32, Assistant Storekeeper, died, tagged #282

Boatswain 

Titanic had one Boatswain and one Boatswain Mate.  Also called a Bosun, he is an Able Officer who supervised all deck crew. On White Star Line, this officer also assisted designer Thomas Andrews on his daily ship inspections. 

• Boatswain Alfred Nichols (Port Side) was paid £8. 10 shillings per month.
• Boatswain Mate Albert Haines (Starboard Side) was paid £6. 10 shillings per month.

Seamen

There are two separate ranks (titles) of Seaman: Ordinary Seaman who was not experienced and Able Seaman (AB or Able-Bodied) who had experience of two years or more at sea.  

Although there were over 800 on the crew, Titanic only employed 29 experienced (Able) seamen. They were divided into Port and Starboard to do maintenance work on their own side of the ship. In times of poor visibility, they could also act as lookouts.  

Seamen were paid between £4, 10 shillings and £5 per month.
They performed various duties on the ship:  

• scrubbed and dried decks during day, 
• polished brass work, 
• lashed down deck chairs, 
• worked as extras on watches, 
• manned the lifeboats as oarsmen

Seamen slept in a room with 44 bunks on E-deck in the bow. The seamen on major watches never had more than 4 hours rest during the voyage because of frequent interruptions caused by change of lookout watches every two hours. Their bunk room was directly under the third class lounge. Instead of being lulled into a good sleep by the rhythm of the ship's movement, they didn't sleep much or well because of the noise of the third class lounge (and steerage passengers with a lot of noisy kids).

Ten seamen did not survive. The hearings questioned 22 seamen survivors.  

 

Officers

Every officer had his own cabin but he shared a bathroom with other officers.  The Captain had a suite with a living room, a bathroom and a bedroom. 

The officers had their own smoking room and an officers' promenade which prevented passengers from gaining access to the bridge.  The officers also had their own mess hall near the third smoke stack. Meals were delivered by a dumb waiter from the first and second class kitchen. The Captain's steward was responsible for all officer meals.

Quartermasters

These were veteran seamen who were employed as helmsmen on the bridge - they operated and gave orders to navigate the ship. Two seamen always stood watch with the officers on the bridge at all times; one drove the wheel while the other was standby. 

They worked 4 hour shifts in the wheelhouse and split their 4 hours between them. One stood for 2 hours at the telemotor, while the other was on standby for running errors and taking over the rudder at any time. 

At the end of two hours, they swapped duties. Quartermasters were always paid an extra 5 shillings over seamen rate. They were hired at a monthly rate of £5, 5 shillings. 

Typically there were six quartermasters on every luxury ship. Because of the officers and seamen who abandoned their posts and the reshuffling of the other officers, they ended up with seven quartermasters on Titanic. 

The seventh on Titanic was Sidney James Humphreys who changed from the Olympic to the Titanic in April 1912. 

All Quartermasters survived the sinking.  

They were:

• Arthur John Bright

• Robert Hichens

• Sidney James Humphreys

• Alfred John Olliver

• Walter John Perkis

• George Thomas Rowe

• William Wynn

Quartermasters were divided into two watches: Port Watch (Bright, Perkis and Wynn) and Starboard Watch (Hichens, Oliver, Rowe) and one stayed on the bridge. 

Quartermaster George Thomas Rowe was alone on the bridge at the time of Titanic's collision with the iceberg while the second Quartermaster was called away by Boatswain Alfred Nichols to handle a crew problem.

Chief Officer, Senior Officer

On April 9, 1912, Chief Officer David Blair abandoned his assignment on Titanic and left the ship at Southampton.  A shuffling of employees placed William Murdoch as Chief Officer. However, two more seamen and one officer left the ship in Cherbourg and Queenstown so there was another shuffling of employees.  

Outcome: Henry Tingle Wilde became Chief Officer and was paid £25 per year. 

Duties:  to alert the captain of errors in navigation, supervise loading of freight, take turns with first and second watch officers to stand watch and took over command of the ship when the captain was not available or not able. Working Hours:  02:00 to 06:00 and 14:00 -18:00 hours

First Officer, Senior Officer

When David Blair left the ship at Southampton, his replacement was Henry Tingle Wilde.  A reshuffling of staff placed Wilde as Chief Officer and William McMaster Murdoch was made First Officer. He was paid about £17, 10 shillings per year.  

Duties:  The same as Chief Officer when the Captain and Chief Officer were both unavailable. Stand watch twice a day.  Working Hours: 10:00 to 14:00 and 22:00 to 02:00 hours. He relieved Charles Lightoller for evening meal from 19:00 to 19:30 hours.

Second Officer, Senior Officer

In the reshuffle after David Blair left the ship on April 9, 1912, Charles Herbert Lightoller moved from First Officer to Second Officer. He was paid £17 per year.  

Duties:  the same as the Chief and First Officer above him when they were both unavailable. Stand watch twice a day.  Working Hours:  06:00 to 10:00 and again from 18:00 to 22:00 hours. He relieved Charles Lightoller for his mid-day meal from 12:30 to 13:00 hours.

When Junior Officers stood watch, they worked 10 hours on one day and 14 hours the next day.  At sea, they rarely rested for more than 3 hours unless the ship was well staffed. 

Third Officer, Junior Officer

Herbert John Pitman was paid £1, 9 shillings per month (or £9, 10 shillings per year)

Fourth Officer, Junior Officer

Joseph Groves Boxhall was paid slightly less than £1 per month (or £9 per year)

Fifth Officer, Junior Officer

Harold Godfrey Lowe was paid £8, 10 shillings per year.

Sixth Officer, Junior Officer

James Paul Moody was paid £8, 10 shillings per year.



Titanic jobs that paid £4 per year

• Scullions

• Pantrymen

• Storekeepers

• Plate washers

• Glory-hole stewards (cleans crew and steward quarters)

• Telephone operator

• Matron (oversees stewardesses)

Money values:

All crew were paid in British currency - pounds, shillings and pence. 

20 shillings = 1 pound

12 pence = 1 shilling, 240 pence = one pound.

The sinking of Titanic terminated each worker's contract so most were not paid past April 15, 1912.

Tips

Crew members who came into direct contact with passengers not only expected tips, they depended on them to supplement their income because shipping companies paid so poorly.  

Tips were provided to cabin stewards, bath stewards, gymnasium staff, and saloon stewards.  

Tips per passengers in Second-class were less than First-class passengers but because there were more Second-class passengers, the amount of tips evened out.  

Tipping in Third-class was poor and in most cases, non-existent. It was to the crew member's advantage to offer good service to first-and second-class passengers so they would recommend them to passengers on future voyages.

Check right sidebar "Tipping The Crew" to read more about "suggested" tip amounts. We included our personal experience with tipping when we took a 7-day cruise to Bermuda recently. The word "suggested" meant mandatory and if they didn't get the "suggested" tip, it was charged to the credit card you were required to furnish for extra expenses on the ship.

The lowest paid crew member

The page-boy (go-fer, bus boy) in the restaurant was the lowest paid crew member on the whole ship. He was paid £1, 10s per month.  He was also expected to assist the dishwasher and mop floors.  If he received any tips at all, they would be through the charity of the wait staff.

Titanic's Barbers

 There were three barbers on Titanic and they were not paid a salary by White Star Line. Barber services were paid by the passenger. Tips were expected.

Purser's Office - £16 to £22 per month

The Purser is the clerk of the ship and on Titanic, four clerks under his supervision. Their duties varied and were spread throughout the whole ship.  On Titanic, all stewards, stewardesses and galley staff were supervised by the Purser.

- The Purser oversees that all departments run smoothly. For example: supervise, observe and catalog all cargo as it is loaded on ship, ensuring there's enough supplies in inventory for each department at all times, in charge of keeping an inventory and dispensing bottles of alcoholic beverages.

- Pursers were in charge of ordering (and ensuring) that there were ample supplies for every department: food, all drink, tobacco, bedding, candles, tablecloths, towels (linens) 

- Pursers handled the monetary requests of the crew (but not crew paychecks). They acted as the crew's banker by keeping a running table of a crew member's expenses and deducted it from their wages.  For example if a crew member needed personal supplies, on Titanic they were required to buy them. 

- Pursers handled monetary requests of passengers. Usually passengers wanted large money changed to smaller money, cash a check to play games of chance, exchange currency, place money or valuables in the ship's safe (or check on them to  make sure they were still there and intact)

Conversion link - British pounds to US dollars.   In today's dollars, 1 British pound equals $1.28 US dollars. Use the link to convert pounds to dollars so you can see other crew salaries.  I have the converter set at £2 but you can change the number of pounds.