100 years later, events re-create the last meal on the Titanic
RMS Titanic was a passenger liner that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after colliding with an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City. The sinking of Titanic caused the deaths of 1,517 people in one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history. She was the largest ship afloat at the time of her maiden voyage. One of three Olympic class ocean liners operated by the White Star Line, she was built between 1909–11 by the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast. She carried over 2,200 people – 1,316 passengers and about 900 crew.
Her passengers included some of the wealthiest people in the world, such as millionnaires John Jacob Astor IV, Benjamin Guggenheim and Isidor Strauss, as well as over a thousand emigrants from Ireland, Scandinavia and elsewhere seeking a new life in America. The ship was designed to be the last word in comfort and luxury, with an on-board gymnasium, swimming pool, libraries, high-class restaurants and opulent cabins. She also had a powerful wireless telegraph provided for the convenience of passengers as well as for operational use. Though she had advanced safety features such as watertight compartments and remotely activated watertight doors, she lacked enough lifeboats to accommodate all of those aboard. Due to outdated maritime safety regulations, she carried only enough lifeboats for 1,178 people – a third of her total passenger and crew capacity.
After leaving Southampton on 10 April 1912, Titanic called at Cherbourg in France and Queenstown, Ireland before heading westwards towards New York. On 14 April 1912, four days into the crossing and about 375 miles south of Newfoundland, she hit an iceberg at 11:40 pm (ship’s time; UTC-3). The glancing collision caused Titanic’s hull plates to buckle inwards in a number of locations on her starboard side and opened five of her sixteen watertight compartments to the sea. Over the next two and a half hours, the ship gradually filled with water and sank. Passengers and some crew members were evacuated in lifeboats, many of which were launched only partly filled. A disproportionate number of men – over 90% of those in Second Class – were left aboard due to a “women and children first” protocol followed by the officers loading the lifeboats. Just before 2:20 am Titanic broke up and sank bow-first with over a thousand people still on board. Those in the water died within minutes from hypothermia caused by immersion in the freezing ocean. The 710 survivors were taken aboard from the lifeboats by the RMS Carpathia a few hours later.
Interest in the Titanic sails on as the 100th anniversary of its April 15, 1912, sinking draws near.
The Henry Ford is readying a sold-out dinner for 400 as it opens “Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition,” which begins a long run in Dearborn on March 31. In Royal Oak, a Titanic dinner will kick off the Stagecrafters’ production of “Titanic: The Musical.”
The Kirby House, a bed-and-breakfast in Saugatuck, will put on its annual Titanic dinner, and in Alma, the public library will be turned into a ship’s dining hall for a buffet-style affair for 125.
Titanic enthusiast David McMacken, 71, of St. Louis suggested the Alma library event.
Because of the centennial, “it’s literally a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said McMacken, a retired Alma High teacher who has donated more than 100 books on the Titanic to the Alma Library.
On April 14, the sold-out Alma event will feature presenters impersonating passengers who will follow a script provided by McMacken.
“All of the impersonators will be in costume, and we are encouraging people to come dressed in Edwardian-era” clothing, McMacken said.
Some organizers took menu cues from “Last Dinner on the Titanic: Menus and Recipes from the Great Liner” by Rick Archbold and Dana McCauley (Madison Press, $25.95). Then, like chef-owner Greg Reyner of Café Muse in Royal Oak, they looked for ways to modernize and economize.
“One of the menus had marrow,” said Reyner, who is preparing the sold-out strolling buffet for 250 at Royal Oak’s Baldwin Theatre on April 12. “We had to find things that were comparable.”
For example, Reyner will serve caviar-topped deviled eggs instead of oysters. Beef consommé topped with scallops will become a tomato-based consommé served in cucumber cups.
One of Reyner’s entrées will be Chicken with Braised Leeks, Spinach and Apples, a takeoff on the Titanic’s Roast Squab with Watercress.
“And we are contrasting the opulent first class with the steerage-esque, so to speak, third class,” Reyner said. So a boiled dinner is also on the menu.
Jesse Eisenhuth, director of food service and catering, said the Henry Ford pulled its April 14 menu from all three classes.
“Most people concentrate on the first-class menu,” Eisenhuth said. “For this dinner, it’s from every class, because we wanted to make sure we tell the whole story.”
They’ve added shaved truffle to a consommé course and are serving Roast Turkey with Savory Cranberry Sauce, Turnip Purée, Green Peas and Roasted Potatoes as a main course.
This is the 14th year for the Titanic dinner at the Kirby House in Saugatuck. Owner Jim Gowran began the events the year James Cameron’s film won the Academy Award.
“We rotate the main entrée each year,” Gowran said.
This year, it’s Filet Mignon Lili with creamed carrots and chateau potatoes.
Gowran’s event April 14 will feature guests dressed in period costume or black tie. Each is given the name of a passenger and information about them.
“At the end of the dinner, they find out if they survived,” Gowran said.
Contact Susan Selasky: 313-222-6432 or [email protected]
dinner party with Bill & Sheila
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