The Titanic was the last large passenger Ship fitted with a Poop Deck.  A poop is a raised deck at the stern of a vessel. Its original intent was to help guard the rear end of a ship from being swamped by large waves coming from astern.  However, by the time ships reached Titanic’s size, the poop had outlived its usefulness and was discarded as a design feature.

Titanic’s third-class passengers used this space to rest on benches (87/0150), or to promenade and play deck games.  They were, however, obliged to share it with cargo and mooring machinery like the bollards (94/0240) and fairlead (94/0265) recovered by RMS Titanic, Inc. during Expedition 1994.

Also located on the poop deck was the aft docking bridge, seen in the background of the photograph at left.  This was an elevated platform running the width of the Ship containing a wheel [the collection has the stand (87/0153) from that wheel], docking telegraphs, a telephone, and other equipment to assist in the docking of the Ship. A key to the items on the Poop Deck may be found by clicking on the photograph at left.