<P> Titanic's crew were divided into three principal departments: Deck, with 66 crew; Engine, with 325; and Victualling (pronounced vi - tal - ling), with 494 . The vast majority of the crew were thus not seamen, but were either engineers, firemen, or stokers, responsible for looking after the engines, or stewards and galley staff, responsible for the passengers . Of these, over 97% were male; just 23 of the crew were female, mainly stewardesses . The rest represented a great variety of professions--bakers, chefs, butchers, fishmongers, dishwashers, stewards, gymnasium instructors, laundrymen, waiters, bed - makers, cleaners, and even a printer, who produced a daily newspaper for passengers called the Atlantic Daily Bulletin with the latest news received by the ship's wireless operators . </P> <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 £ 9,400 today) to the £ 3 10 s (£ 310 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>

How many passengers on titanic when it sank