The gym on the Titanic
Working out at sea in the golden age of ocean travel
Chris Wild
c. 1912
The first class gymnasium on board the Titanic. On the night of April 14, when the ship struck an iceberg, the physical instructor Mr. T. W. McCauley remained at his post and went down with the ship.
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From the end of the 19th century to the beginning of World War II, the shipping route across the Atlantic was extremely popular, driven by waves of European emigrants from all parts of Europe to the United States. Travel on these liners was not a recreational cruise but merely a means of transport between the two continents. The crossing took around five days when these photographs were taken.
Liners were divided by economic class, and for first class passengers, life on an ocean liner was luxurious. With the finest menus and limited opportunities for walking, some method of exercise was necessary. Ships like RMS Titanic had the best of equipment, with rowing machines and parallel bars, weights, Indian clubs and punchbags, as well as static bicycles attached to huge dials, which indicated (virtual) distance travelled.
Passengers using "cycle racing machines" in the Titanic's gymnasium.
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I was up early before breakfast and met the professional racquet player in a half hour's warming up for a swim in the six foot deep tank of saltwater heated to a refreshing temperature. - Colonel Archibald Gracie, Titanic Survivor
The gymnasium on the Titanic. Passengers could ride on a mechanical saddle or exercise "as if in a racing skiff."
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Edwardians riding exercise bikes whilst wearing day clothes in a gymnasium on board the Cunard line liner, RMS Franconia.
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Passengers working out in the gym of the Cunard cruise liner Franconia, which was destroyed by a U-boat in 1916. Amongst the equipment is a punchbag and an early cycling machine.
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Two women using the cycle machine in the gym on board the Homeric Liner, taken over from the Germans by White Star.
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A young woman passenger riding the electric horse in the gym on the liner SS Bermuda.
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The gym on the Victoria Motorship.
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Gym of the Neptunia Transatlantic Liner.
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A woman using an apparatus in the gymnasium of the ocean liner S.S. Bremen.
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The gym of the Victoria Transatlantic.
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On the Victoria Motorship.
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The first class gym on the Liner Vulcania.
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Passengers on the Canadian Pacific liner Duchess of Bedford keep fit in the ship's gymnasium.
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At the time of the installation of the English liner Queen Mary, workmen in the gymnasium of the ship are setting up exercise bikes, with an enormous meter indicating the distance covered.
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Passengers on the Canadian Pacific liner Duchess of Bedford keep fit in the ship's gymnasium, with the help of a riding machine.
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