Were cooks crew and stewards all British

[Miguel Eyheramendy]

Please, it's very important to me. I'm Spanish and I'm making a work about Titanic and the passengers that were on board Titanic. I have obtained all nationalities of passengers but not of crew, cooks and stewards. I know, they were many many people but I need PLEASE... Can anyone give me the nationalities of Cooks, Crew and Stewards?.

From Spain. I'm very grateful. Franco Miguel.

 

[Mark Robert Hopkins]

Hola, Miguel,

Bienvenido al sitio!

Los miembros de equipo eran de Europa, pero no del mismo paí­s.

Por ejemplo . . .

* El Capitan y sus Oficiales: ingleses y escoces
* Los Maseros: ingleses (escoceses, irlandes y italianos?)
* Los Cochineros: franceses y italianos, etc.
* Los Ingenieros: ingleses y irlandes

Sin embargo, la mayorí­a era ingleses, probablemente porque la compañí­a Estrella Blanca era la propia y basado en Inglaterra, y la Titanica tambien. Los miembros del equipo eran sobre todo del reino británico y en gran proximidad a la compañí­a y a sus muelles. Esta situacion era un caso de lealtad nacional y una conveniencia importante para todos.

Si necesitas más ayuda, puedes pedirla aquí­ en cualquier momento.

Buenas Noches
--Mark

I am a bit rusty on my Spanish, but I do translate from time to time. Please excuse any errors I may make. I decided to respond in Spanish for your convenience and out of a show of respect.

By the way, the above isn't absolute, but I think it does answer your question: Most were British. For specific references, you can check our data base, as there are too many to mention here. Thanks.

 

[Miguel Eyheramendy]

Thanks Mark (Gracias Mark!)

Tu español es realmente bueno! (Your Spanish are really big/great!)

Your mistakes were insignificant!! You committed ONE mistake....YOUR SPANISH IS REALLY GREAT!. TU ESPAí‘OL ES EXCELENTE!

Thanks for your answer!. GRACIAS POR TU RESPUESTA!

 

[Bob Godfrey]

Hallo, Miguel. There were far too many to list individually, but almost 90% of the crew were British (which at that time included the Irish). Apart from the boatswain, who was Australian, all of the Deck crew were born in the UK, as were all but around 5 of the Engineering crew. The great majority of the foreign Nationals were employed as stewards, in the kitchens and especially in the Restaurant. The breakdown below is taken from places of birth given by crew signing on and doesn't necessarily provide a 100% accurate picture of the nationalities on board, but it's hopefully close enough for your purpose:

United Kingdom

England 721
Ireland 42
Scotland 29
Wales 12

British Empire and Commonwealth

Australia 3
Canada 2
South Africa 1

Europe

Italy 31
France 20
Switzerland 9
Germany 6
Holland 2
Austria 1
Belgium 1
Denmark 1
Spain 1

Others

USA 6
Lebanon 1
Mexico 1
.

 

[Stanley C Jenkins]

Mark, My Spanish is even rustier than yours, but I though "Los Ingenieros" were "Ingleses y Irlandes y Escoces" (which, in 1912, meant that they were all British citizens).

 

[Mark Robert Hopkins]

Stanley,

That is very possible. My knowledge of the nationalities of those who were on board is limited, at least compared to Bob there, who I knew would come along soon or later, hehe.

The list above does help (by the way, I never knew that Americans worked on board. SIX, you say! hm). I have some specifics on British and non-British crew members that I will post here as soon as I can.

In any case, many of the engineers might have been Scottish as well. At the point of leaving the post above, I knew of only the English and the Irish.

 

[Miguel Eyheramendy]

Mark, Bob and Stanley. Really Thanks! Many Many Thanks!

Forgive my rustic English...

GRACIAS ... MUCHAS GRACIAS! (THANKS-MANY THANKS)

 

[Bob Godfrey]

If you include the boilermakers and plumber there were 34 qualified engineers on board. Most were English, but there were 7 Scots and 5 Irish. And one American-born. Mark, it's traditionally thought over here that Scotland produces the best engineers. And the best doctors. In old British films if the cast included an engineer or a medical man he was most often played with a Scots accent.

Miguel, your English is fine, no problem.

[Moderator's Note: This message and those that appear above it, originally a thread in "General Titanica," have been moved to this subtopic addressing similar subjects. MAB]

 

[Bob Godfrey]

Mark, the six American-born people working on board were the three postal workers, the barber Gus Weikman, the engineer Renny (Henry) Dodds and the steward Matthew Leonard. The last two, though born in the US, seem to have been raised at least partly in the UK.

 

[Stanley C Jenkins]

At the risk of entering into the realm of stereotypes, popular imagination would suggest that the archetypal firemen or trimmers in 1912 would have been Irishmen or Liverpudlians (which may in fact have been more or less the same — by 1851 that there were far more Irishmen than Englishmen in Liverpool), while engine room staff would often have been of Scottish origin. A glance at the crew biographies that can be found on this site reveals that there is some credence in these suggestions, although in reality the truth was obviously much more complex — many of the Titanic’s boiler room staff appear to have been indigenous Hampshire men.

 

[Andrew Williams]

To Bob Godfrey.

Some very interesting statistics your quoted particularly the number of crew dealing with the American's.

Does that number include August (Arthur) Johnson who is an American? Fair enough he wasn't a cook or steward but according to his late wife's death certificate he was the Chief Quartermaster on board the S.S. Titanic.

A word of advise. I am not sure when my next visit will arise as I am deeply involved with a hospital report which is consuming far more time then I ever could image. I might return in 1 week or possibly months before I can give you an answer back.

A.W.

 

[Bob Godfrey]

Andrew, I see that you have stated before that the American Line seaman generally listed as Alfred Johnson was actually called Arthur or August Johnson. Be that as it may, he was travelling on the Titanic as a 3rd Class passenger so should not be included in a list of American-born crew members.

 

[jamie hague]

Hi everyone! Does anyone know who the two Dutch crew members were? Cheers J

 

[Bob Godfrey]

See this thread:

https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/discus/messages/5914/90324.html