h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Eva Meek: Passenger 3rd class - A1319186
Author: Speckly - newest groupie of a far from useless Hound. - U226818

In the right forum this time .

Speckly;

I enjoyed you entry, you have hit on a subject that is one of my favorites, even though its official guide entry pre-dates my arrival here. A few points you might want to consider.

The more common term for third class passengers was steerage, as their cabins were located near the steering gear of the ship and could be quite noisy anytime the course was changed.

Although many of the 1st and 2nd class passengers had no idea that the there had been a collision sound and vibration carries farther underwater, almost all the steerage class passengers had a good idea something bad had happened.

It is unlikely that a steward would have bothered to spread the word in steerage, he was probably more interested in saving his own life. I do not say that this might not have happened, but most accounts say they heard the news from other steerage passengers who had been on deck or had overheard conversations among the crew.

The biggest bar the third class had in entering the lifeboats was they were forbidden from entering the boarding areas that were restricted to first and second class passengers only. Near the end they were allowed up, but there was a higher percentage of loss among the third class woman and children than there was among the first class men.

Another interesting point is that while many survivor accounts talk about the strange stillness of the ship because her engines had stopped, many others, particularly those on deck speak about the incredible noise of the steam being vented through the stacks ( imaging a thousand tea kettles all boiling at once ).

As a reward to those who have understood the setting of your story, and a clue for further information for those who have not you might want to link to the edited Titanic story at A457067

A real expert! Something I most deffinately am not.

This was a timed assignment for Uni and I had only 24 hours to go from being told about it to handing it in! So very little research done. Just about the only research I did was to find a website with a passenger list and there was an Annie Meek in steerage who survived. I borrowed her name since it fit the story so well.

My lack of knowledge is one of the reasons I left the setting vague. I'll think about a rewrite, but I'm not promising that I'll make any big changes. I wrote it some 3 years ago and I find that after a few years have passed I become very reluctant to make changes. I feel that I lose the right. It becomes almost as though I didn't write them.

But even if I don't change it it's nice to know.

Thank you.