Social organisation on the ship is extremely hierarchical, and I'm not sure why. For example, all of us eat the same food, at the same time, in the same room, but crew are obliged to sit at one end, closer to the kitchen, while officers and passengers sit at the other end.
Indeed, it is pretty much only at meal times that we see anyone other than the captain and the three officers who live on the same floor as us and take shifts steering the boat. Everyone else is clearly elsewhere working, but on what, and where, we have no idea.
Just as in some countries the fine gradations of race are a reliable marker of social standing, here elevation serves a similar purpose. The most senior officers work on the top deck, and live on the level below (with the passengers). Below them live the less senior officers, and below them the other members of the crew. The majority of the crew's work appears to take place at the bottom of the ship – in the engine room, , outside on the lowest deck, with the cargo or in the kitchen. It reminds me of one of those dystopian novels (HG Wells?) or films in which an entire servant race lives below ground, rarely seen and hardly appreciated by those above.
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