<P> Most of the crew signed on in Southampton on 6 April; in all, 699 of the crew came from there, and 40% were natives of the town . A few specialist staff were self - employed or were subcontractors . These included the five postal clerks, who worked for the Royal Mail and the United States Post Office Department, the staff of the First Class A La Carte Restaurant and the Café Parisien, the radio operators (who were employed by Marconi) and the eight musicians, who were employed by an agency and travelled as second - class passengers . Crew pay varied greatly, from Captain Smith's £ 105 a month (equivalent to £ 9,500 today) to the £ 3 10 s (£ 320 today) that stewardesses earned . The lower - paid victualling staff could, however, supplement their wages substantially through tips from passengers . </P> <P> Titanic's passengers numbered approximately 1,317 people: 324 in First Class, 284 in Second Class, and 709 in Third Class . Of these, 869 (66%) were male and 447 (34%) female . There were 107 children aboard, the largest number of which were in Third Class . The ship was considerably under capacity on her maiden voyage, as she could accommodate 2,453 passengers--833 First Class, 614 Second Class, and 1,006 Third Class . </P> <P> Usually, a high prestige vessel like Titanic could expect to be fully booked on its maiden voyage . However, a national coal strike in the UK had caused considerable disruption to shipping schedules in the spring of 1912, causing many crossings to be cancelled . Many would - be passengers chose to postpone their travel plans until the strike was over . The strike had finished a few days before Titanic sailed; however, that was too late to have much of an effect . Titanic was able to sail on the scheduled date only because coal was transferred from other vessels which were tied up at Southampton, such as SS City of New York and RMS Oceanic, as well as coal Olympic had brought back from a previous voyage to New York, which had been stored at the White Star Dock . </P> <P> Some of the most prominent people of the day booked a passage aboard Titanic, travelling in First Class . Among them (with those who perished marked with a dagger †) were the American millionaire John Jacob Astor IV † and his wife Madeleine Force Astor, industrialist Benjamin Guggenheim †, painter and sculptor Francis Davis Millet †, Macy's owner Isidor Straus † and his wife Ida †, Denver millionairess Margaret "Molly" Brown, Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon and his wife, couturière Lucy (Lady Duff - Gordon), Lieut . Col. Arthur Peuchen, writer and historian Archibald Gracie, cricketer and businessman John B. Thayer † with his wife Marian and son Jack, George Dunton Widener † with his wife Eleanor and son Harry †, Noël Leslie, Countess of Rothes, Mr. † and Mrs. Charles M. Hays, Mr. and Mrs. Henry S. Harper, Mr. † and Mrs. Walter D. Douglas, Mr. † and Mrs. George D. Wick, Mr. † and Mrs. Henry B. Harris, Mr. † and Mrs. Arthur L. Ryerson, Mr. † and Mrs. † Hudson J.C. Allison, Mr. and Mrs. Dickinson Bishop, noted architect Edward Austin Kent †, brewery heir Harry Molson †, tennis players Karl Behr and Dick Williams, author and socialite Helen Churchill Candee, future lawyer and suffragette Elsie Bowerman and her mother Edith, journalist and social reformer William Thomas Stead †, journalist and fashion buyer Edith Rosenbaum, Philadelphia and New York socialite Edith Corse Evans †, wealthy divorcée Charlotte Drake Cardeza, French sculptor Paul Chevré (fr), author Jacques Futrelle † with his wife May, silent film actress Dorothy Gibson with her mother Pauline, Alfons Simonius - Blumer, Swiss Army Colonel and banker, president of the Swiss Bankverein, James A. Hughes's daughter Eloise, banker Robert Williams Daniel, the chairman of the Holland America Line, Johan Reuchlin (de), Arthur Wellington Ross's son John H. Ross, Washington Roebling's nephew Washington A. Roebling II, Andrew Saks's daughter Leila Saks Meyer with her husband, senator William A. Clark's nephew Walter M. Clark with his wife Virginia, great - great - grandson of soap manufacturer Andrew Pears, Thomas C. Pears, with wife, John S. Pillsbury's honeymooning grandson John P. Snyder and wife, Nelle, Dorothy Parker's New York manufacturer uncle Martin Rothschild with his wife, Elizabeth, among others . </P>

What type of strike was going on just before the titanic set sail