I count three entrances on the photo taken on sailing day: one up where the gold line is intersected (assumedly 1st class) and two just above the water line (assumedly, 3rd Class and crew. Where was the Second-Class entrance? I find doors that were not opened in the photo located in the deck plans - was that it? And, if so, anybody have any idea why they weren't opened?
Wasn't the second class entrance fairly close to the stern? Passengers must have entered through the hall from which the main second class staircase and most of the second class public rooms were accessed.
I know that many first class passengers did come and go using the doors on E-deck, forward below the well deck. These doors can be seen on deck plans of E-deck, at the forward end of Scotland road. These doors were closer to the water level outside and easier to access by the tenders in Cherbourg, and Queenstown.
At Cherbourg and Queenstown, so far as I have read, it was the aft starboard E deck door (2nd class entrance) that was used to embark 1st and 2nd class passengers.
But the Father Brown photos clearly show the tender alongside the forward starboard side at Queenstown. I'll have to open the 'Last Days' book and re-check to be sure, but I believe they also show the door on that side open.