April 6, 1912, was a day of great relief in port city of Southampton, England.

By April 6th, the United Kingdom national coal strike had already been ongoing for 37 days. It had summarily devastated Southampton’s maritime workforce, forcing hundreds of ship workers into unemployment.

"Daily the ranks of unemployed are swelled," reported the Southern Daily Echo, "to join the knots of sailors who stand idly about."

Smoke no longer climbed from chimneys as households, in spite of the wet English chill, rationed what little coal they had left. Families were led into destitution, causing many to apply for aid and relief funds.

A contemporary newspaper report described one waiting line on Bargate Street as a "mournful queue of the workless" that had sadly become a "daily spectacle... many of the women had little tiny tots in their arms, and if some were too tired, worn and helpless to talk to each other, they hugged the sunny  side of the road... [because] warm petticoats had been pawned days ago to provide food."

The periodical Southern Daily Echo reported on March 21, 1912, that

It reiterated on April 4, 1912, the following as reports of the strike’s resolution loomed. 

And so, on the morning on April 6, 1912, the Miners Federation came together to vote on a “return to work” measure. After a reportedly spirited debate that carried on for two or three hours, they voted in favor. With that, the coal strike was at last done.

Southampton’s population was desperate to get back to work.

And thus, Recruitment Day began.

It must be emphasized that the Titanic and her peers did not come prepackaged with staff.

All manners of crew were employed on a contract-by-voyage basis, and they were recruited or otherwise picked up at various ports prior to departure--and even on the day of, according to some reports.

On the morning of April 6, 1912, Titanic had been berthed in Southampton for less than three days, having arrived on Wednesday, April 3rd, just shy of midnight. She had since been docked in Berth 44.

The coal strike had not prevented any and all persons in Southampton from obtaining work. But of those who had been restricted and without work for the duration of the strike, many were some of the poorest in the community.

Never the less, because the White Star Line had insisted on keeping its vessels on schedule regardless of the strike, some more fortunate men had been able to “sign on” to Titanic in the previous days: some, able seamen who left for Belfast back in late March, in order to board Titanic for her delivery voyage to Southampton; some, the likes of stewards and shopkeepers with prior experience.

By April 6th, cargo had begun to arrive at the White Star dock. And with the strike having ended that very morning, masses of heretofore unemployed men also gathered. 

The White Star Dock, accessible via Dock Gate 4, was reportedly mobbed.

The White Star Line’s office on Canute Road, only a brief walk away, was likewise managing an enormous crowd.

Union halls, particularly those belonging go the British Seafarers Union and the National Sailors and Firemens Union, were thronged with hundreds more workers hoping to land a gig on Titanic.

The process to sign on to a vessel was a chaotic one.

For those with prior seagoing experience, this mandated certificates of discharge and satisfactory performance on previous vessels. Regulars from similar vessels, or even a sister ship such as Olympic, of course orbited and were favored. It was a further attestation of one's competency and character to have previously served.

Violet Jessop, a stewardess on Titanic, wrote vividly of her memories of the process as she observed it years before Titanic, when she entered into seafaring life via another shipping company.

The jobseekers signed the Articles without paying much heed to the details therein. According to Violet, it was routinely assumed that the employer would have, and dearly keep, the upper hand regardless.

Violet went on to describe the bedlam of the scene.

By the time Titanic departed on April 10th, she had necessitated the employ of literal hundreds in Southampton.

Per the British Board of Trade, 908 crewmembers were aboard Titanic in total.

And of that number, a staggering 724 crewmembers signed onto Titanic's maiden voyage with a Southampton address.