Jim Kalafus
Member
Then there was the matter of hygiene.
Straw tick mattresses are not uncomfortable- I've slept on one- and offer the advantage of being easily refreshed. Fresh straw mattresses also smell rather nice.
Commercial mattresses are expensive and absorb odor.
Standards of hygiene differed widely in 1912. There was only one bathtub in third class on the Titanic; it was expected that the majority of the passengers were used to either basin bathing or not bathing at all... in either case, fabric and stuffing would soon become permeated with a stale smell. Replacing the straw was cheap and relatively simple; replacing the commercial mattresses simple but not cheap.
Then there was the whole issue of contageon. Someone with typhus intercepted at Ellis Island? Outbreak of fleas and lice in the quarters? Straw offered the advantage of toss-the-whole-thing-into-the-river-quietly. Burning and then replacing 3000 typhus or flea infested standard mattresses was no small concern.
Straw tick mattresses are not uncomfortable- I've slept on one- and offer the advantage of being easily refreshed. Fresh straw mattresses also smell rather nice.
Commercial mattresses are expensive and absorb odor.
Standards of hygiene differed widely in 1912. There was only one bathtub in third class on the Titanic; it was expected that the majority of the passengers were used to either basin bathing or not bathing at all... in either case, fabric and stuffing would soon become permeated with a stale smell. Replacing the straw was cheap and relatively simple; replacing the commercial mattresses simple but not cheap.
Then there was the whole issue of contageon. Someone with typhus intercepted at Ellis Island? Outbreak of fleas and lice in the quarters? Straw offered the advantage of toss-the-whole-thing-into-the-river-quietly. Burning and then replacing 3000 typhus or flea infested standard mattresses was no small concern.
