Riding Electric Horses: How Passengers Stayed Fit on the Titanic and Other Vintage Ocean Liners (15 photos)

Crossing the Atlantic from Europe to America on an early 20th-century ocean liner took nearly a week. Naturally, passengers needed ways to pass the time. While some spent hours lingering in dining saloons, sleeping, or reading, health-conscious travelers beat the boredom by hitting the ship's gym.







The Titanic boasted state-of-the-art fitness equipment, including a rowing machine, weight pulley machine, an "electric camel," an "electric horse," kettlebells, punching bags, and stationary bikes. On the tragic night of April 14, 1912, when the ship struck an iceberg, physical instructor T. W. McCawley refused to leave his post and perished with the vessel.





The Titanic's gymnasium. In addition to the gym, the liner even featured a heated swimming pool.



A rowing machine aboard the Titanic.





The gym aboard the ocean liner Franconia, which was sunk by a German U-boat in 1916.



Inside the gym aboard the transatlantic liner Homeric (1922).



Working out in the gym on the SS Bermuda (mid-1920s).



The gymnasium aboard the Victoria (1930).



The gym on the transatlantic liner Neptunia.



A woman exercising on a trapeze bar in the gym aboard the ocean liner SS Bremen (1930).





The ocean liner Victoria (1930).



Aboard the ocean liner Vulcania (1930).



Workers adjusting exercise bikes on the Queen Mary (1932).



The Canadian Pacific liner Duchess of Bedford (1931).