Chief Purser Herbert McElroy, shown left with Captain Smith, closed the Purser's Offices during the evacuation and urged the passengers to retrieve their lifejackets, not their valuables, and to proceed to the lifeboats.

Centrally located off the forward Grand Staircase on the starboard side of the vessel, the Purser’s Office consisted of a suite of offices dedicated to conducting the Ship’s business affairs, especially those that affected passengers. During the journey, passengers visited the Purser to purchase tickets for the Ship’s Turkish Baths, deck chairs, swimming pool, and electric baths. And those wishing to send a radio telegram to locations on shore or greetings from the Titanic to friends and family on passing ships would do so from this office. After payment, the written message was conveyed to the Marconi Room on Boat Deck by way of a pneumatic tube system.

The purser also supplied tags for any unwanted baggage, which would stay in the cargo area until the Ship docked. The RMS Titanic Artifact Collection contains several unwanted baggage tags (93/0329.12b/14) from the second-class Purser's Office, which was located on Upper or E-deck opposite the after main staircase.

In addition, the White Star Line urged passengers traveling with coins (87/0021.1), currency (87/0097.740, 87/0097.743, 87/0068A.02, 87/0068A.89), securities (93/0329.01b/14), and jewelry (87/0047) to deposit them in the Ship’s safe (87/0332.A). In return they were given a claim receipt for their possessions.  On the night of the sinking, the pursers diligently removed a large number of those valuables from the safe, putting them into leather handbags for evacuation in the Ship’s lifeboats. The bags never made it to the boats and were strewn over the ocean floor.  One of those bags (87/0103) was recovered by RMS Titanic, Inc. during Expedition 1987.

The choice of leather bags was particularly fortunate, since the chemicals used in tanning the hides afforded protection to delicate paper objects such as bank notes and business cards, which would have otherwise deteriorated when exposed to the seawater.