Shower facilities?

[Arun Vajpey]

Did the Titanic have any showering facilities at all? In particular, if the Third Class passengers had only 2 bathtubs between over 1000 passengers, could those who wanted to remain clean at least have a shower somewhere?

 

[Dave Gittins]

There were showers in first class. Each was over a bath, as was the usual practice of the time. They can be see in White Star advertising. Third class is another thing. Does anybody have any facts?

 

[Arun Vajpey]

Well, if the only showers in those times were over bathtubs and Third Class had only 2 baths, it tells its own story. There were probably no free-standing shower cubicles anywhere in those days.

The idea of going 6 days without a shower while rubbing shoulders with over a 1000 others in smallish spaces..........

 

[Michael H. Standart]

We react to all that with some distaste but don't forget that a lot of the immigrants were coming from places where the toilet was a hole in the ground covered with a shed, and this was still fairly common in even some developed countries. That it was even possible for the people in steerage to get a hot bath had to appear to them as unheard of luxury.

 

[Charles]

don't forget that a lot of the immigrants were coming from places where the toilet was a hole in the ground covered with a shed

I just remember about learning that my maternal grandfather's mom's mother (2nd great grandmother) was an immigrant child traveling with their family from Poland (at that time Russia and Austria/Hungary) and that they traveled on an Inman Liner called the SS Leipzig on their way from Bremen,Germany to Baltimore here in America.

Even though I can't say, your comment is probably correct in those countries back in Europe.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

The mind boggles. I just got back after 2 weeks of back-to-back liveboard scuba diving in the Red Sea. This included two weekly trips on upmarket boats where we had 2-person shared cabins with en suite facilities. But despite showering twice daily and the crew cleaning the rooms and bathrooms daily, most of us agreed that it was not until a relaxed hot shower in the hotel on the last day did we really feel cleaned out.

Obviously, people from earlier times were accustomed to different standards of personal hygiene. On my visits to Stratford-upon-Avon in the UK, I have heard what it was like during the Shakespearean times. Apparently, people only bathed once or twice a month and it was quite usual even then for up to 10 people sharing the same bath water!

I wonder what people from 100 years from now will think of our own hygiene standards.

 

[Dave Gittins]

Maybe they'll think we overdid the hygiene. There's a current school of thought that thinks we are weakening our immune systems by trying to stay excessively clean. There's plenty online.

 

[Jay Roches]

There were freestanding showers in several places. There were two in the swimming pool area, two in the Turkish Bath, and at least one shower facility for crew, the Firemen's Wash Place on E Deck. There are photos of the First Class showers and they're luxurious ones even by modern standards, with wrap-around nozzles.

In First Class the bathtubs were supplied with hot and cold salt water and the showers with hot and cold fresh water.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

There were freestanding showers in several places.

Was any of them accessible to Third Class passengers?

 

[Bob Godfrey]

There were actually four bathrooms provided for 3rd Class passengers, but two of them were in the hospital on D deck. These had no shower cubicles but might have included a shower head over the bathtub - as far as I know there are no photos.

 

[Charles]

Only 2 bathtubs on the aft of D Deck were for Steerage