🎲 Gambling on Ocean Liners: Risk, Luxury, and Temptation at Sea

Special Notice Warning Passengers That Professional Gamblers Are In the Habit of Traveling To and Fro in Atlantic Steamships. White Star Line SS Arabic Passenger List, 6 June 1909. | GGA Image ID #

🚢 Introduction

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, gambling flourished aboard transatlantic steamships—particularly in the smoking rooms of First Class. While official company policies rarely endorsed it, captains and crews often looked the other way. For professional gamblers, the ocean liner provided a perfect stage: wealthy businessmen, young students, and unsuspecting travelers enclosed together for a week at sea.

🃏 Gambling Practices at Sea

Professional Gamblers: Many traveled solely to exploit wealthy passengers during the May–November travel season.

Deceptive Appearances: Gamblers dressed as refined gentlemen to lure victims into games of cards and high-stakes betting.

Calculated Strategy: Professionals often let novices win a few rounds, only to strip them of funds once confidence was high.

📖 Case Studies from the SS Germanic

1. The Two Texan Gamblers
   • Posed as idle travelers.
   • Observed play for days before joining in.
   • Once ready, they “swept everything before them,” winning hundreds of dollars.
2. The Reckless Student
   • A young man bound for London carried £100 in cash.
   • Quickly fell prey to seasoned gamblers.
   • Within a day, he lost his entire funds and had to borrow money to reach London.
3. The Betting Pool on Distance Run
   • One popular form of gambling: betting on how many miles the ship covered in 24 hours.
   • Suspicion fell on the captain himself when one man won repeatedly, leading to accusations and tension onboard.

This 1890 firsthand account by Captain Charles William Kennedy of the White Star Line's SS Germanic reveals the widespread and tolerated nature of gambling on the Atlantic.

Among the better class of travelers who yearly cross the ocean, the question has repeatedly arisen, and very naturally too. Why Is It that gambling is so openly allowed and so openly encouraged, as it unquestionably is, by the steamship companies in the smoking-rooms of the first-class Atlantic steamers?

It is a well-known fact, at least among all the officers connected with the ships, that during the travelling season— from May to November—the Atlantic steamers are the resorts of professional gamblers from all parts of the United States, whose sole object In crossing the ocean is to come in contact with men whom under no other conditions or circumstances they would ever be likely to meet.

In dress and appearance, they so closely resemble gentlemen of refinement that their unsuspecting fellow passengers are quickly and easily deceived.

On one of my summer voyages from New York, there came on board the "Germanic" two men from the West or South Texas, I believe. For a few days, they lounged about in the smoking room, now watching one table of players, then strolling to another, appearing to watch the games more out of a lack of something better to do than because they genuinely took an interest in them.

Several invitations were extended to Thorn to take a hand. Still, they invariably declined, making some remark about "want of practice" or "ignorance of the game."

On the fourth day out, the younger of the two appeared to rouse himself from his listlessness and apparent indifference, declaring that he "didn't mind if he tried his luck."

He played and lost; played and lost again. His companion made no comments but waited and watched silently. On the day following the game was renewed, the second then agreed to play. They swept everything before them.

During the first four days, both had been keenly studying the play of all those gambling at the various tables and had laid their plans accordingly. When these were perfected, the men were ready for action. How many hundreds of dollars went into their pockets, I was unable to learn. Still, the stakes were high, and it was no inconsiderable amount that they carried away with them when leaving the ship at Liverpool.

A young man, a graduate of one of the Western colleges, arrived in New York alone to cross the ocean and join his parents in London. Just before leaving the city, after purchasing his ticket for the steamer, he drew £ 100 in English money from his father's banker, more than sufficient, of course, to defray all incidental expenses.

Not more than twenty-four hours had elapsed when I was informed that the young fellow was playing poker in the smoking-room with men whose reputation as professional card-players was well established on board the "Germanic."

I knew his father well, and my first impulse was to send for the young man and expostulate with him. But when I considered that I had no authority to prevent gambling, I concluded that it was better for me to remain silent, and I did so. According to the established rule of the fraternity, when an inexperienced player fell into their hands, they allowed the lad—for he was little more than that-to win the first two or three games.

This so elated him that he became reckless and increased the stakes. Then the tables were turned, and the men literally robbed him of every penny that he had in his possession.

To reach London, he needed to borrow a sufficient sum to pay his expenses. He was fortunate enough to find a gentleman among the passengers who was willing to advance him the amount
required.

I could cite hundreds of such cases where it was requisite to do so. Those two illustrations, however, are sufficient to enlighten the ignorant as to the prevailing influences that exist in the smoking-rooms of the first-class ocean steamers.

According to the advertisements issued by the steamship companies, the smoking-room is intended for the comfort and convenience of all male passengers who wish to enjoy a pipe or cigar while crossing the ocean. Smoking in any other part of the ship, except on deck in the open air, is strictly prohibited, and rightly, too.

This room, therefore, is the only place where, in rainy or windy weather, a passenger can, with any satisfaction, indulge in a smoke.

Again and again, have I known circumstances like the following to occur? A gentleman of refined tastes, perhaps a clergyman, wishing to enjoy a cigar and at the same time occupy himself in reading, goes into the smoking-room. Card players fill the tables, most of them gamblers.

Not desiring to come in contact with this class of men, he takes a seat as remote from them as possible, opens his book, and endeavors to concentrate his thoughts on the subject before him. He is scarcely seated when low mutterings proceed from one of the players, who is evidently not on the winning side.

He pays no attention to them beyond making an effort not to hear. Voices rise higher and higher. Coarse, vulgar, abusive language, mingled with oaths, is shouted across the room.

Rising from his seat, the thoroughly disgusted traveler thrusts into his pocket the book he has been attempting to read, throws away his cigar, and rushes indignantly on deck, wondering why it is that the smoking-room is allowed to be monopolized by the lowest class of men that cross the Atlantic and that no accommodation whatever is furnished for passengers of different tastes and habits.

One of my old passengers came to me on a particular voyage, when there happened to be an unusually large number of gamblers on board, and I saw that he was laboring under great excitement.

"Captain," said he, "it is disgraceful, outrageous, that these men should be permitted to take full possession of the smoking-room and force those who have some self-respect out on the deck. Can't you do something!

Can't you prevent it? The only satisfaction that I could give him was that I could do nothing whatever, as no authority had been given me; gambling not being prohibited by the company. I added, however, that if a complaint were entered at the office in Liverpool, some benefit might result from it.

I have reason to suppose that this was done, as, a voyage or two later, a small placard was put up in the smoking-room bearing words to this effect: "Gentlemen are respectfully requested not to play for high stakes."

The "gentlemen" to whom this notice was addressed, if they saw it at all, laughed, shrugged their shoulders, and played for what stakes best suited them.

One form of gambling on the large steamers is betting on the number of miles made by the ship every twenty-four hours. The excitement attending it is beyond description.

Now that the competition between the "Teutonic," of the White Star Line, and the "City of Paris" and the "City of New York," of the Inman Line, is so great, it is well known that many of the passengers who have large sums at stake find it wholly impossible to sleep at night owing to the intense strain upon their nervous system.

Passengers crossing on board my ship have resorted to every device for obtaining some information regarding the number of miles run. In a persuasive and insinuating manner, bribes have been offered to the officers and men, and every inducement has been held out to them for providing a "tip."

Whether or not this has ever been obtained, I am unable to say. So averse have I been to this detestable trickery that I have never permitted any gentleman who made a practice of betting on the runs to enter my chartroom.

An incident occurred during one of my voyages that served to strengthen my resolve, and I never deviated from it. An Englishman, who had come on board bearing a letter of introduction to me from one of the managers of the White Star Line, was in the habit of coming to me every morning after breakfast, as I stood smoking my pipe by the wheel-house door, and having a few moments' chat on various subjects: the speed of the ship not being one of them.

That he was betting heavily on the runs was a fact of which I was in total ignorance. By a strange coincidence, he was the winner of the pool for three successive days. A syndicate had bars. The disappointed holders became furious in their resentment and anger.

Discussing the affair in the smoking-room, one of the parties mentioned that the fortunate individual had received the "tip" from the captain and threatened "to make it hot" for me.

For several days, I remained entirely unconscious of the excitement existing among the betting men. A gentleman who had crossed with me several times then kindly informed me what had taken place, and said that he feared there would be trouble.

Wishing to have a public interview with the persons who were going to "make it hot" for me, I kept the runs back for two days, and the passengers, utterly unaware of the distance covered by the ship.

The result fully equaled my anticipations. After luncheon on the second day, a number of the gentlemen came to me, wishing to know the cause of such an unusual movement on my part.

I replied that I would meet all those interested in the affair at three o'clock in the smoking-room. I was punctual to the moment, and found, as I expected, the room filled with passengers.

I demanded that a thorough investigation be conducted immediately. The result was that, when the matter was sifted to its foundation, it turned out that the men who had made the accusation and caused the disturbance were a party of professional gamblers from Chicago.

Why is gambling permitted? The question is one that, with a moment's consideration, can be quickly answered. All Atlantic passenger steamers are furnished with an abundant supply of wines and liquors, which are not included in the price of passage.

Men who gamble drink, and large quantities, too. The profits derived from the sale of these wines and liquors during the travelling—or, I may say, the gambling—season are so high that it is not to the interest of the steamship companies to abolish gambling, or to interfere in any way with the comfort and enjoyment of a class of passengers who so materially add to their income.

Charles William Kennedy, late commander of the White Star steamer "Germanic."

💼 Why Did Steamship Lines Allow It?

Captain Kennedy explains bluntly:

Profits: Gambling fueled heavy drinking in smoking rooms, and alcohol sales were lucrative for shipping lines.

Limited Oversight: Gambling wasn’t explicitly prohibited, leaving captains powerless to intervene.

Passenger Pressure: Complaints from “respectable” travelers sometimes led to mild reforms (e.g., small notices requesting “no high stakes”), but little real change.

📚 Relevance for Students, Historians & Genealogists

For Historians: Highlights the social dynamics of First Class and how leisure activities blurred into vice.

For Genealogists: Passenger lists sometimes mention clergy or “respectable travelers” disgusted by smoking-room culture, offering personal context for ancestors’ voyages.

For Teachers & Students: Provides a vivid contrast between the marketing image of liners (luxury, refinement) and the realities of onboard life.

✨ Takeaway

Far from being genteel retreats, First Class smoking rooms were often arenas of vice, risk, and profit. For shipping companies, the revenue outweighed the moral concerns. This story illustrates how even at sea, the social worlds of wealth, temptation, and exploitation thrived.

📖 Source

Charles William Kennedy, “Gambling on Ocean Liners,” The North American Review, Vol. 150, No. 6, New York: June 1890, pp. 780–783.

🔗 Related Links

Ocean Travel Advertisements
– how liners marketed “luxury at sea.”

First Class Life Onboard
– smoking rooms, dining, and social rituals.

Steerage and Immigrant Travel
– the stark contrast to First Class.

Passenger Lists: Why First & Second Class Were Published