Tea’s Sordid History in America
Do you every wonder why there is a coffeehouse on every corner in America and not a teahouse? America’s love/hate relationship with tea dates back to before America was even America. In the 1700s, tea was the preferred hot beverage. Even though it was the Dutch that first introduced the beverage to the New World, it was Britain that created teahouses all throughout the 13 colonies. During the 1700s tea was drunk by everyone: from soldiers to fur trappers to settlers. In 1760, after George III had become King of England, Parliament began passing laws that both restricted the freedom of the American colonists and heavily taxed them. The colonists bitterly opposed the new British policies and taxes. They claimed that Britain had no right to restrict their settlement or deny their freedom in any way. In 1770, Parliament repealed…
Controversy about the Titanic 100 years later
For 100 years, the Titanic has been 12,000 feet deep on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, near the shores of Newfoundland. It wasn’t until 1985 when a joint expedition between a French expedition team and the United States Navy, led by Dr. Robert Ballard, found the Titanic. Since then, the debate has raged about visiting the site and the removal of objects. In 1985, Dr. Ballard’s team did not take or remove any artifacts from the site. Instead, they photographed and documented the ship and its condition and left a commemorative plaque paying homage to those that perished on the Titanic. By not taking anything from the site, this left the Titanic open for claim by the first salvager to bring up an artifact. In 1987, salvage company RMS Titanic Inc. was formed and they retrieved jewelry, china, and…
Servants at Sea: Violet Jessop
The following information was taken from Titanic Survivor: The Newly Discovered Memoirs of Violet Jessop Who Survived both the Titanic and Britannic Disasters, by Violet Jessop. Sheridan House Inc., New York 1997) Travel was a huge part of the lives of most wealthy Victorian families. While at sea, they expected a high level of service. Life for ship stewards and stewardesses was not much easier than their counterparts on land. One stewardess who served on Titanic wrote in her memoirs about life serving at sea. Violet Jessop decided on a life at sea when her mother became ill. Violet was around 20 at the time and at least one shipping executive was concerned that she was too young and pretty for the job. Despite those concerns, Violet began her career that year, 1908, on a Royal Mail Line ship sailing to the…
The Untold Story of the Titanic
The following is an excerpt from the Chicago Tribune, February 20, 2000: Did you know that the Titanic included black passengers? Joseph Laroche, a Haitian-born, French-educated engineer left France with his family in 1912. Like Margaret Brown, they did not intend to travel on the Titanic. Joseph Laroche was born in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, and traveled to France to study engineering when he was 15. His wife, Juliette, who grew up in a prominent privileged family, met her husband when she was 15. However, they were not allowed to marry until Joseph finished his degree. They were wed in March of 1908. Laroche was unable to find “fair wages” in France as an engineer due to his race. He was bringing his family to Haiti where his family prospered. He had worked on the building of one of the early Metro…
Aftermath of the Sinking of the Titanic
Once the Carpathia docked in New York City on April 18th, the reality of 1,500 lost crew and passengers devastated those waiting for news. The Halifax, Nova Scotia office of the White Star Line spent weeks recovering those lost at sea. From the Library of Congress The SS Mackay-Bennett was the first ship ready to…
Extra! Extra!
“PASSENGERS SAFELY MOVED AND STEAMER TITANIC TAKEN IN TOW” (Christian Science Monitor, April 15, 1912) “ALL SAVED FROM TITANIC AFTER COLLISION” (New York Evening Sun, Monday April 15, 1912). “2,000 LIVES ARE SAVED OFF WRECKED TITANIC BY WIRELESS: VESSEL IS REPORTED SINKING.” (Denver Times, Monday evening April 15, 1912). These are just three newspaper headlines from Monday, April 15, 1912. In a world full of instant communication, it is hard to believe that for several days the true fate of the Titanic and all those onboard were not known by the public. Many confusing headlines, such as these, illustrate the lack of communication to the press from the rescue ship Carpathia and White Star Line. In fact, it was not until 6:16pm on Monday April 15 that the Olympic, the sister ship of the Titanic, confirmed that it…
Conclusion of Mrs. Brown’s Titanic Story
End of Statement of the Great Disaster Thursday, May 30th, 1912- The Gravity of the situation was there and then relieved, if the expression on faces was any criterion. The tense mental anxiety was perceptibly mitigated. A large number of the passengers living out of New York, were momentarily embarrassed for funds, and only needed enough to tide them over. The committee waited upon the owner—the survivors demands being made known, he conceded all. The demand was that the White Star Line furnish transportation and other necessities to their destination. The second officer, who acted as spokesman for the crew of the Titanic stated that their services were at an end when the Titanic sank, and upon reaching New York they would be sent adrift. It was immediately seen to that their transportation to England would be given, and…
Mrs. Brown’s Titanic Story, Part 2
Margaret Brown’s Titanic Story: Part Two The Rescue by the Carpathia and Other Incidents Wednesday, May 29th, 1912- It was fully lighted, but not one moving object was visible. Suddenly a rift in the water, the sea opened up and the surface foamed like giant arms spread around the ship, and the vessel disappeared from sight, and not a sound was heard. When none of the calamities that were predicted by our terrified boatman was experienced, we asked him to return and pick up those in the water. Again, we were admonished, and told how the frantic drowning victims would grapple the sides of our boat and capsize us. He not yielding to our entreaties, we pulled away vigorously toward a faintly glimmering light on the horizon. After three hours of pulling at the oars, the light grew fainter, and…
Margaret Brown’s Titanic Experience in her Own Words
The Sailing of the Ill Fated Steamship May 28, 1912 – Mrs. James J. Brown of Denver, well known as a summer resident of Newport, has written for the Herald a comprehensive story of the first and last voyage of the steamer Titanic on which she was a passenger. As Mrs. Brown is a keen…
What’s a Binnacle?
A binnacle is the housing for a ship’s compass. The idea behind a binnacle is to counter the magnetic deviation caused by the ship being made of iron so that the compass can point to magnetic north. Metals that were used to construct binnacles were required to be non-ferrous (containing no iron) such as brass. …
The Intrepid Woman Traveler
“I am a woman who has traveled all over the world, who has eaten with chopsticks and sat tailor fashion.” –Margaret Brown By the 19th century a new class of solo women travelers appeared in the United States and Europe. These women traveled not to accompany husbands but to please themselves, venturing beyond destinations considered…
History of the White Star Line
At the turn of the twentieth century, major advances in transatlantic travel were being made. In 1868, Thomas Ismay purchased the bankrupt White Star Line shipping company. Ismay decided to focus on providing shipping services in the North Atlantic. This spurred competition between shipping lines. White Star Line’s greatest competition was the Cunard Line. The…