Is it true that third-class passengers were locked belowdecks to prevent them from reaching the lifeboats before wealthier passengers?
Partly true. The 1997 James Cameron film ‘Titanic’ has re-enacted this event in an overly dramatic way. In fact, the true purpose of the gates was to separate classes, as it was considered shameful for the rich to mingle with the ‘inferior’ poor, and to prevent the spread of diseases. The gates were always locked during the voyage and, as the officers were never given instructions to unlock them, some third-class passengers were trapped behind them, but others, through the help of stewards, found their way out. The loss of third-class passengers is due more to the fact that many of them did not know where to go and became lost in the bowels of the ship, or could not speak English and did not know what was going on. Some gave up at the prospect of a treacherous journey through the sinking ship and returned to their cabins to await an icy death, while wives refused to leave their husbands behind and chose to die with them. This tragic story has always been one of the more poignant points
