Properly, the space in the after part of a vessel, under the cabin, but used generally to indicate any part of a vessel having the poorest accommodations and occupied by passengers paying the lowest rate of fare.
Steerage is another name for the Third Class accommodation, so called because on earlier ships, the accommodation was often to the rear of the vessel, close to the noisy propellers, and it wasn't uncommon for parts of the steering mechanism to be passing through or close to the rooms.
Originally the junior officers' quarters in a naval vessel, referring to the fact that the ship's tiller often projected into the compartment, located far aft. In the 19th century, the term came to mean the cheapest passenger quarters aboard a liner, again, often near the ship's stern where the noise of the ship's screws and engines was unrelenting
part of a ship allocated to passengers paying the cheapest fare
That part of the between-decks which is just forward of the cabin.
the cheapest accommodations on a passenger ship
The lowest class accommodations on a passenger ship.
a certain degree of capacity by a vessel to steer her own course; lowest class of paying passengers on ships, below 3rd class or cabin passengers
Nautical term describing the part of the ship allocated to passengers traveling at the cheapest rate of fare.
A steerage passenger is equal to an economy passage on an aeroplane today. It was the cheapest way to travel. Unfortunately, names of steerage passages were not often collected, the people being counted instead. Therefore, if your ancestors came as steerage passengers, it is unlikely that their names will be recorded.
Part of the ship allocated to passengers travelling at the cheapest rate of fare - On the Titanic it was the third class.
a section in a passenger ship for those paying the lowest fare
The steerage was one of the lowest decks of a ship. This section was used to accommodate immigrants in the 18th and 19th century, as they couldn't afford to travel with the higher class passengers. Steerage offered limited toilet facilities, no privacy and poor food.
