아래는 타이타닉호의 생존율 표입니다.

보시다시피 3등실의 생존율이 낮은 편입니다. 이 3등실 승객들은 대부분이 아메리칸 드림으로 미국에서 새 삶을 찾으려는 사람들이었죠. 참 안타깝지 않습니까. 그런데 이들의 생존율이 낮은 이유는 무전유죄 유전무죄같은게 아닙니다.

(타이타닉에 타고 있던 어느 대가족의 모습입니다. 안타깝게도 이 가족은 갓난아기까지 포함해서 전부 몰살당했습니다)

배가 침몰하고 1시간쯤 뒤에 1등실 2등실 승객들은 계속해서 대피가 이루어졌지만  대부분의 3등실 승객들은 여전히 배를 헤메고 있었는데 말이죠,

1.여러 구역이 철창으로 막혀 제한되어 있었고 배가 미로처럼 복잡했기 때문에 탈출에 지장을 빚었으며 (반면 1등실과 2등실 승객들의 숙실은 보통 더 위쪽에 놓여져 있었죠)

2. 일부 승무원들은 혼란을 막는다는 이유로 승객들의 통제를 제한하기까지 했습니다.

3. 거기에다가 3등실 승객들 중에는 영어를 잘 하지 못하는 승객들도 많았죠.

영화에도 나온 장면들이죠.

그리고 이때 수많은 3등실 승객들은 그냥 탈출 시도를 포기한 채 자신들의 숙실이나 식당, 복도 등에 남아 잠잠코 지시가 내려오기만을 기달렸고 생존자들의 증언에 따르면 이때 수백명의 승객들이 식당에 남아 묵묵하게 탈출지시를 기다리거나 같이 모여 기도를 했다고 합니다. 

참고로 이때 어떤 용감한 승무원들은 자원적으로 남아 승객들을 적극적으로 안내했답니다. 특히 존 에드워트 허트라는 3등실 승무원 덕에 많이 살아남았다죠. (이 승무원은 살아남았습니다)

위키백과 영문판에 적혀있던 내용입니다:

At this point, the vast majority of passengers who had boarded lifeboats were from first- and second-class. Few third-class (steerage) passengers had made it up onto the deck, and most were still lost in the maze of corridors or trapped behind barriers and partitions that segregated the accommodation for the steerage passengers from the first- and second-class areas.^[117] This segregation was not simply for social reasons, but was a requirement of United States immigration laws, which mandated that third-class passengers be segregated to control immigration and to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. First- and second-class passengers on transatlantic liners disembarked at the main piers on Manhattan Island, but steerage passengers had to go through health checks and processing at Ellis Island.^[118] In at least some places, Titanic's crew appear to have actively hindered the steerage passengers' escape. Some of the barriers were locked and guarded by crew members, apparently to prevent the steerage passengers from rushing the lifeboats.^[117] Irish survivor Margaret Murphy wrote in May 1912:

Before all the steerage passengers had even a chance of their lives, the Titanic's sailors fastened the doors and companionways leading up from the third-class section ... A crowd of men was trying to get up to a higher deck and were fighting the sailors; all striking and scuffling and swearing. Women and some children were there praying and crying. Then the sailors fastened down the hatchways leading to the third-class section. They said they wanted to keep the air down there so the vessel could stay up longer. It meant all hope was gone for those still down there.^[117]

A long and winding route had to be taken to reach topside; the steerage-class accommodation, located on C through G decks, was at the extreme ends of the decks, and so was furthest away from the lifeboats. By contrast, the first-class accommodation was located on the upper decks and so was nearest. Proximity to the lifeboats thus became a key factor in determining who got in them. To add to the difficulty, many of the steerage passengers did not understand or speak English. It was perhaps no coincidence that English-speaking Irish immigrants were disproportionately represented among the steerage passengers who survived.^[12] Many of those who did survive owed their lives to third-class steward John Edward Hart, who organised three trips into the ship's interior to escort groups of third-class passengers up to the boat deck. Others made their way through open barriers or climbed emergency ladders.^[119]

Some, perhaps overwhelmed by it all, made no attempt to escape and stayed in their cabins or congregated in prayer in the third-class dining room.^[120] Leading Fireman Charles Hendrickson saw crowds of third-class passengers below decks with their trunks and possessions, as if waiting for someone to direct them.^[121] Psychologist Wynn Craig Wade attributes this to "stoic passivity" produced by generations of being told what to do by social superiors.^[100] August Wennerström, one of the male steerage passengers to survive, commented later that many of his companions had made no effort to save themselves. He wrote:

Hundreds were in a circle [in the third-class dining saloon] with a preacher in the middle, praying, crying, asking God and Mary to help them. They lay there and yelled, never lifting a hand to help themselves. They had lost their own will power and expected God to do all the work for them.