Statistical Consultants Ltd

Titanic Fare Data

Data Tables, Economics

Date posted: 4 May 2012

The RMS Titanic sank on 15 April 1912, in the North Atlantic Ocean while on its maiden voyage, travelling from South Hampton, UK to New York, USA.

The Encyclopedia Titanica website has individual level data about the passengers and crew of the Titanic (and data about individuals on the rescue ships). The data includes the individuals’ name (including title), age, ticket class, the fare they paid, where they boarded, and what life boat they were on (if they were on one).

Decimalisation of Titanic Fares

The fare data in the Encyclopedia Titanica is in terms of Britain’s pre-decimalised currency.

Before Britain’s currency was in terms of pounds and pence, it was in terms of pounds, shillings and pennies e.g. £18 15s 9d. There were:

12 pennies per shilling
20 shillings per pound

The following formula can be used to convert pre-decimalised amounts to decimalised amounts:

British currency decimalisation conversion formula

British currency decimalisation conversion formula

Where:

Y is the decimalised amount in pounds and (new) pence
P is the number of pounds
s is the number of shillings
d is the number of pennies

Titanic Fare Data: Five-Number Summary by Class (Nominal and Decimalised)

		Fare (pounds, 1912 prices)
		Minimum	Lower Quartile	Median	Upper Quartile	Maximum
Class	First	0.00	30.65	60.00	106.43	512.33
	Second	0.00	13.00	14.50	26.00	73.50
	Third	0.00	7.75	8.05	15.10	69.55

Data Source: Encyclopedia Titanica

Correcting for Inflation

To estimate the fares in today’s prices, the figures were scaled using price indices.

Two separate price index data sources were used to make the calculation.

Source 1: Inflation: the Value of the Pound 1750-1998

In this paper, the price index for:

1912 was 9.7
1998 was 592.3

Source 2: International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database

In this database (for April 2012), the index for

1998 was 91.1
2012 was 122.508 (estimate)

1912 to 2012 Price Comparison

The first step is to get the two sets of indices to a common scale. One way is to keep the first source constant, and then scale the second source.

The 1998 price index becomes:
Scaling the 1998 price index

The 2012 price index becomes:
Scaling the 2012 price index

The second step is to compare the 2012 price index with the 1912 price index.
Estimating the ratio of 2012 prices to 1912 prices

This means that the general price level today (for the UK) is estimated to be around 82 times as high as it was in 1912.

Titanic Fare Data: Five-Number Summary by Class (2012 Prices and Decimalised)

		Fare (pounds, 2012 prices)
		Minimum	Lower quartile	Median	Upper quartile	Maximum
Class	First	0.00	2516.53	4926.83	8738.96	42069.28
	Second	0.00	1067.48	1190.65	2134.96	6035.36
	Third	0.00	636.38	661.02	1239.92	5711.01