My Special Dining Experience at the 2021 Titanic Conference

by Terri Bey

Since the theme for the Titanic Book Club's November is "Dining and Food on the Titanic, I would like to discuss an activity that is part of the annual Titanic Conference in Pigeon Forge, TN, and a very special meal that we attendees ate.

This past August, I attended the 2021 Titanic Conference in Pigeon Forge. TN, led by Bill Willard, who led the 1996 and 1998 Titanic Expeditions which eventually raised the "Big Piece" from the wreck site. It is a four-day conference where Titanic authors, experts, and enthusiasts get together and listen to guest speakers, go on a trip to the Titanic Museum Attraction, and do other activities. This is an awesome conference and I highly recommend any Titanic enthusiast attending.

One of the activities included the Titanic Memorial Dinner at the Titanic Museum Attraction in a private room. We all dress up and many attendees dress in 1912 attire. We eat a nice dinner and then watch commemorative videos of the passengers who traveled on the ill-fated ship to the music of Robin Gibb's "Don't Cry Alone," from his "Titanic Requiem." Yes, that Robin Gibb. After dinner, we have a group photo taken on the Grand Staircase of the Attraction.

"Don't Cry Alone" from "Titanic Requiem" by Robin Gibb

The Titanic Passengers Memorial Dinner is a very solemn and emotional event as several relatives of passengers, both survivors and victims attend this conference. This year's dinner was different as usually we are served buffet-style. However, due to the pandemic, we were served plated. The settings were nice and we all had name placards at our tables.

We were served food from the final Lunch Menu that the First Class passengers ate on April 14, 1912, the final night on the Titanic. The image below is the menu from which the meal I am about to describe came. According to the article, Titanic Lunch Menu Sells for $122,000 at Auction (businessinsider.com), the menu belonged to the family of Dr. Washing Dodge and his family, until it was auctioned off by auctioneers Henry Aldrich and Sons. Dodge's wife Ruth put the menu in her purse as a souvenir. Little did she know that disaster was awaiting everyone aboard the great line and how valuable that menu would be.

Source: Business Insider.

The first dish served was a bowl of Cockie Leeky Soup, as an appetizer. The ingredients are Beef Stock, Leeks, and Chicken. I didn't think I was going to like the leeks in the soup, but I found the soup to be very delicious.

Cocky Leeky Soup. Photo by Terri Bey

As you can see on the menu, there was plenty of food from which to choose. It really was a shame that COVID protocols prevented us from having the buffet option because I really would have chosen the roast beef. However, what we had was very nice which was a slice of Virginia Ham, Baked Jacket Potato, Peas, a side of Baked Apples, and a roll of bread. For dessert, we had an Eclair.

Our Meal: Virginia Ham, Baked Jacket Potato, Peas, Baked Apples, and a roll. Eclair for Dessert

Photo: Terri Bey

This was a great experience eating from the menu from the grandest ship in the world at that time. I tried to imagine myself aboard the RMS Titanic at lunch and perhaps seeing Benjamin Guggenheim or Margaret Brown. As I ate, I had to remind myself that this meal was to be one of the last meals that some of those passengers would ever eat, and that was sobering.

Thank you for reading

Contact: Alydace@yahoo.com

Debunking the RMS Titanic "Bunker Fire" Sinking Theory

by Terri Bey

The Titanic Book Club's Book of the Month for October is "Titanic: Solving the Mysteries" by Tad Fitch, Bill Wormstedt, Steve Hall, Mark Chirnside, J. Kent Layton, Samuel Halpern, and Ioannis Georgiou. These esteemed authors and historians discuss two mysteries that have surrounded the sinking of the RMS Titanic, the time difference between the ship's time and the time on land and the well-publicized "bunker fire" sinking theory, that claims a bunker fire was the reason for the liner's demise. Even though I have yet to read this book, thanks to television specials and articles, I am familiar with the subject of the "bunker fire" theory. I am writing about this so-called "theory" to totally debunk it.

Ireland-based author Senan Molony along with London-based fire scientist Dr. Guillermo Rein are huge proponents of this coal bunker fire theory which claims that this coal bunker fire made the Titanic's steel so hot, that the steel weakened, and compromised the safety features and the ship's internal structures. There are a few reasons why this theory is totally wrong. Coal bunker fires were quite commonplace in ships of Titanic's day, so this particular fire was not unusual. The coal bunker fire, located in Coal Bunker W of Stokehold No. 9 in Boiler Room 5 on the ship's starboard side did rage for about a total of 10 days but was put out on Saturday night, April 13th, the night before the accident by the stokers removing the burning coal from the starboard side and transferring it to the port side. Dr. Rein and Sean Molony claimed that the coal fire reached temperatures between 932 to 1,832 degrees Fahrenheit. They claimed this would have made the steel brittle. One huge problem with this idea is that right above the bulkhead where the fire occurred was the First Class Swimming Pool. Passengers would have certainly noticed that the water was close to boiling. The hull plates around the pool would have definitely buckled. First Class passenger Archibald Gracie testified that the pool was always "comfortably warm."

This blog is just a small sample size of why the coal bunker fire theory is not valid. Given the background of these esteemed historians and experts, I do plan to purchase this book sooner or later, as I am interested in reading more about this subject in greater detail.

Contact: Alydace@yahoo.com

What I Learned about the RMS Titanic and The Holocaust

by Terri Bey

I went to the Titanic Museum Attraction in Pigeon Forge about a week and a half ago as part of a Titanic Conference. I loved going to the Attraction as usual. I even went to the Attraction on the Fourth of July last year by myself, as it is a great museum. As a Titanic Enthusiast, I get to look at all of the artifacts and exhibits that are all related to the great liner. I forget about all the outside world and get immersed in all things Titanic when I am there. My favorite exhibit is the room containing the photos of the RMS Titanic by Father Brown and by The O'Dells. Without those photos, we would not have photos of the Titanic at all. Of course, I had to buy a few shirts from the gift shop.

What was very special about this particular visit was the Museum's special exhibition dedicated to the Jews of the Titanic and the ship's connection to the Holocaust. There were displays of artifacts belonging to Jewish passengers. There were plaques displaying photos of the Kosher kitchen on the ship. Visitors got to see Kosher menus. The exhibition discussed the Straus Family and other Jewish passengers, and artifacts.

I learned about an interesting connection between the Holocaust and the Titanic. Otto Frank, the father of Anne Frank, was best friends with Nathan Straus, brother of First Class Passenger and Titanic victim Isidor Straus, both of whom co-owned Macy's. Nathan Straus and Otto Frank went to Heidelburg University together and Mr. Frank even worked at Macy's for six months. The two men and their families were best friends, also. Otto Frank returned to Germany in 1911and as most people know, Frank and the rest of his family, including Anne, were captured by the Nazis, while in hiding and sent to concentration camps. Only Otto Frank survived the Holocaust.

We visitors we told by the workers at the Museum that after World War II, Otto Frank wanted his daughter Anne's diary, but couldn't find a publisher. Frank was told that the diary should be published, but no one would want to read a kid's diary. Frank then remembered his old friend Nathan Straus, who was a politician. Frank sent it to Straus. Straus told Frank that he agreed the diary should be published, but he didn't have the means.

However, Straus said he had a close friend who could get it published. The "close friend" not only got Anne Frank's diary published but wrote the introduction. She was none other than Eleanor Roosevelt. Not only is there a Titanic connection to the Holocaust, but there is one to Eleanor Roosevelt as well.

I learned about another connection between the Holocaust and the Titanic. It involved a man who would be the very first person to write and mail a letter from the ship. The gentleman wasn't a passenger but was visiting one before the ship left Southampton. His name was Paul Danby.

Paul Danby, a German Jew, was visiting his uncle, Adolphe Saalfeld, a London-based perfumer before the liner left Southampton by taking advantage of his uncle's ticket, so he could look at the ship. Danby quickly wrote his wife Rose a letter about how he was the first to write a letter from the ship and how his uncle Saalfeld had such a nice cabin. Saalfeld survived the disaster and his vials of perfumes were recovered from the wreck. In fact, at the Museum, as part of the "Jews of the Titanic" Exhibition," there was a video of an actor portraying Adolphe Saalfeld. The video showed the actor as Saalfeld discussing how elegant the ship was.

Sadly, during World War I, Paul Danby was imprisoned in England because he was German. Danby and his family moved to The Netherlands after the war. However, Danby, his wife, and his mother were sent to Sobibor and they perished there. Danby's two daughters, Margaret and Ellen did survive the Holocaust.

Ellen Danby survived the Holocaust by skating for one of the guards at Westerbork Transit Camp. Danby eventually met her husband Jan Burka at Theresienstadt Concentration Camp. After being freed, they eventually moved to Toronto, Canada, and Ellen Danby became one of the best-known figure skating coaches, coaching such skaters as Toller Cranston, Elvis Stojko, her own daughter, Petra Burka, and others.

In the Titanic Museum Attraction Gift Shop, there were plenty of copies of "The Diary of Anne Frank" and a recently released book named "The Jews of the Titanic: A Reflection of the Jewish World on the Epic Disaster" by author Eli Moskowitz. Moskowitz was supposed to be one of the speakers at the Titanic Conference, but because of COVID concerns, he, unfortunately, had to cancel. Perhaps at the 2022 Conference, Mr. Moskowitz will be able to attend. He is a great person and I was looking forward to his presentation. Hopefully, I will get to meet him and hear him speak next year.

The "Jews on the Titanic" Exhibition at the Titanic Museum Attraction was very informative and educational. I learned that the RMS Titanic had connections to historic events that I never knew existed. There was something I noticed on many of the plaques. There was an expression stating and I am paraphrasing "Intolerance is a virus, too." That is very true. When I read "On a Sea of Glass," by Tad Fitch, Bill Wormstedt, et. al., I read about a couple of incidences of anti-semitism, also.

If one thing can put these two events together, it is the phrase, "Never Forget!" We must never forget the tragedy of the Holocaust and most importantly, the events that led to the Holocaust, the extermination of 6 Million Jews in the Nazi Concentration Camps. We all must never forget the tragedy and the lessons of the sinking of the RMS Titanic as well.

Thank you for reading.

Titanic (1997) dir: James Cameron - Deleted Scene. Ida and Isidor Straus stay together.

Trailer for the film "The Diary of Anne Frank" (1959) dir: George Stevens 3x Oscar winner

Petra Burka's Free Skate in the 1965 World Figure Skating Championships in Colorado Springs, CO, where she won the Gold Medal. Burka was coached by her mother Ellen Danby Petra, whose father Paul Danby wrote the first letter from the RMS Titanic.

Contact: Alydace@yahoo.com