Ocean travel

Hi historian,

I don't have any firm sources to share, but my better half is an avid Titanic buff and once did a school project on the division of classes on the Titanic. He suggested locating books on the Lusitania, and also the Mauretania, Olympic, Britanic, and Titanic (although that one's a few years before your time frame). First person accounts from those ships might give you the detail you're looking for.

A quick Google search myself turned up:
http://www.lostliners.com/Liners/Cunard/Lusitania/lucy.html
http://www.geocities.com/titanicandco/inside.html


Good luck!

I'm guessing here, but I would expect that your MC would have no access to first class areas, bulky luggage that was not required for the crossing would be in the hold. If she's travelling 3rd class, she possibly would not have many more clothes than could be contained in one suitcase. She would be able to talk to deckhands.

Sometimes autobiographies are useful for providing this sort of personal experience detail. Having said that - I can't think of an autobiography that covers this subject. You might want to try looking under "immigration" for the time period your interested in (there should be a fair few social history texts that include some description of shipboard life), and also "leisure", "travel", ... The other place, weirdly enough, may be old children's encyclopedias if you can get hold of a copy. I have a couple of sets from the 40s and 50s and they give great pictures, simple explanations and a real feel of the hoopla of the era.

Hi historian

I absolutely love reading about the old liners and what life was like on them. I'm also a huge Titanic buff, and the best site in the world for what you need is this:

http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/

The discussion board section has information about an amazing number of ships throughout history.

It also has links to another website:

http://www.garemaritime.com/

Both these sites are well worth you looking at.

There's also this one, that may help:

http://www.ssmaritime.com/

(Yes, I'm a ship junkie.) Hope these are useful for you.

Mandy

For another account of ocean travel in a novel, of the period, take a look at Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Shuttle. The different classes of the ship were separated both in cabins and in deck areas. There would have been no socializing between the travel classes.

You might also check out the Ellis Island web site. There may be personal accounts from people who crossed during this period. Primary sources available from this site are the actual ships' manifests, which list all passengers, age, marital status, sometimes health, amount of money they were carrying, luggage, point of origin, country of citizen ship, pets traveling with them, final destination, and sometimes who in the U.S. was sponsoring them. You can get an amazingly complete picture of the groups of travelers on a ship just from reading the manifest. Also, you'll find the names of the ships and which ports they services, which may make it easier to find histories and first person accounts from the people who traveled on them.

I'm coming late to the party, but I would suggest also looking for travel guides from the period. I've had some success at abebooks.com.

Practical European Guide (1914) notes that "the low rates on some lines indicate that certain ships carry only one class of passengers,--second-class. These passengers, however, have all the advantages of first-class." There's not much else about second class, however, and nothing at all about third class on ships (I believe third class train travel is mentioned).

The same book has a page about baggage, saying that "when steamship tickets are issued, a full set of labels and tags are furnished the passengers for baggage...do not use those that say 'Not Wanted,' as baggage thus marked will go to the hold." There is more about baggage sent ahead to the ship by express. Finally "near the gangway will be found the baggage-master, who will answer any questions relative to trunks and other pieces of baggage."

A Satchel Guide to Europe (1913) notes that Americans say "baggage" while the British say "luggage." It also mentions that passengers can expect to pay duty on tobacco products when arriving in Britain and that American reprints of English copyrighted books will be confiscated.

I did find one mention of a ship named Monrovia in the Elder-Dempster Line. Not sure if it is the same ship you mentioned. Unfortunately, this ship was wrecked in 1914. I didn't see any ships in the Cunard or White Star line that regularly ran between New York and Liverpool named Monrovia.

http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/Elder_Dempster.html

The full list of ship lines is here. I didn't go through them all.

http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/index.htm

3rd Class?

Your MC would share a cabin with four or six others, sleeping in two tier bunk beds.
No room for luggage except a small case under the bunk.

Strictly segregated from the other 2 classes of passengers, own dining room and deck area.