FAQ: Was Third Class Empty on the Eastbound Crossing?
No.
From 1907 to 1914, White Star’s Southampton to New York express service was operated by ships including Adriatic (1907-11), Majestic (1907-14), Oceanic (1907-14), Olympic (1911-14) and Teutonic (1907-11). The total number of third class passengers carried westbound was 116,491 whereas the total number of third class passengers carried eastbound was 110,211. (This data excludes commercial crossings made immediately after the outbreak of war in August 1914).
Total third class passenger numbers eastbound were actually higher than the westbound numbers in 1908, 1911, and the 1914 data up to August. The data for 1908 is the most dramatic example of this, with 10,121 third class passengers carried westbound and 24,282 eastbound. (Poor economic conditions in the United States led to a significant increase in eastbound passenger traffic.)
It is certainly true that many third class passengers travelled to the United States intending to start a new life there. Nonetheless the westbound and eastbound third class passenger traffic was much more balanced than many people seem to think.
(As an aside, the White Star Line had a good intermediate or secondary service from Liverpool provided by the ‘Big Four’. Their general manager, Harold Sanderson, thought that ‘the slower service…is the favourite service for the third class passenger’. He pointed out that the ticket costs ‘are slightly lower; they are lower than the Olympic’. The average third class passenger lists tended to be higher on the Liverpool to New York service, although that might also reflect that the ‘Big Four’ were newer and had superior third class accommodation to older ships such as Teutonic and Majestic.)
Above: Adriatic was the largest ship in the White Star fleet from 1907 to 1911. Although she was slightly faster and more luxurious than her three older sisters, the ‘Big Four’ were intended as intermediate ships. She was transferred to the Liverpool to New York service shortly after Olympic was completed in 1911. Another distinction is that the ‘Big Four’ had much greater third class passenger capacities than the company’s express liners. (Author’s collection)