Pictures of the First Class Gyms on the Titanic and Cruise Liners From the Early 20th Century

Titanic’s gymnasium was a wonderful innovation for an ocean-going liner. It had an electric camel, an electric horse, cycling machines and a rowing machine.

Tickets, priced one shilling, were available from the purser and entitled first class passengers to one session in this facility, under the watchful eye of the physical educator, Mr Thomas McCauley.
On the fateful night of 14/15 April 1912, McCauley, remained at his post in the gymnasium and went down with the ship. Below is a collection of forgotten pictures of Titanic ship's gym show how people worked out in the early 20th century.

Feb. 21, 1911. Edwardians riding exercise bikes whilst wearing day clothes in a gymnasium on board the Cunard line liner, RMS Franconia. (IMAGE: TOPICAL PRESS AGENCY/GETTY IMAGES)

March 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. (IMAGE: POPPERFOTO/GETTY IMAGES)

1912. Passengers using "cycle racing machines" in the Titanic's gymnasium. IMAGE: UNIVERSAL IMAGES GROUP/GETTY IMAGES

1912. The gymnasium on the Titanic. Passengers could ride on a mechanical saddle or exercise "as if in a racing skiff." (IMAGE: UNIVERSAL IMAGES GROUP / GETTY IMAGES)

1912. 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. (IMAGE: TOPICAL PRESS AGENCY/GETTY IMAGES)

Mid 1920s. A young woman passenger riding the electric horse in the gym on the liner SS Bermuda. (IMAGE: UNDERWOOD ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES)

1922. Two women using the cycle machine in the gym on board the Homeric Liner, taken over from the Germans by White Star. (IMAGE: TOPICAL PRESS AGENCY/GETTY IMAGES)

1930. The gym on the Victoria Motorship. (IMAGE: TCI/EYEON/UIG VIA GETTY IMAGES(

1930. Gym of the Neptunia Transatlantic Liner. (IMAGE: TCI/EYEON/UIG VIA GETTY IMAGES)

1930s. A woman using an apparatus in the gymnasium of the ocean liner S.S. Bremen. (IMAGE: FPG/GETTY IMAGES)

1930. On the Victoria Motorship. (IMAGE: TCI/EYEON/UIG VIA GETTY IMAGES)

1930. The gym of the Victoria Transatlantic. (IMAGE: TCI/EYEON/UIG VIA GETTY IMAGES)

1930. The first class gym on the Liner Vulcania. (IMAGE: TCI/EYEON/UIG VIA GETTY IMAGES)

Dec. 1931. Passengers on the Canadian Pacific liner Duchess of Bedford keep fit in the ship's gymnasium. (IMAGE: TOPICAL PRESS AGENCY/GETTY IMAGES)

1931. Passengers on the Canadian Pacific liner Duchess of Bedford keep fit in the ship's gymnasium, with the help of a riding machine. (IMAGE: DOUGLAS MILLER/GETTY IMAGES)

1932. 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. (IMAGE: KEYSTOONE-FRANCE / GETTY IMAGES)