The film was most interesting and depressing but I can't figure why the ship stopped to pick-up Mexican workers and put them into steerage? Wasn't the crew aware that these passengers could riot and take-over the ship? Where were the workers bound for? They evidently weren't heading to Bremerhaven. This part of the film is confusing. Was it common to carry steerage passengers at that time? Who paid for their way?
share[deleted]
They weren't Mexicans, but rather Spaniards: agricultural workers (of the sugar cane fields) being deported from Cuba back to Spain. It was noted that the price of sugar on the world markets had collapsed, so the owners of the cane fields burned their crops to keep sugar supplies low, hoping to boost the price of sugar. The workers were part of the fallout: no crops to harvest, no job, so back to Spain they went.
I assume either the Cuban government or the sugar company owners paid for their transit back to Spain.