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Gilbert Stuart Portrait of Washington.Sells For
Extremely rare menu from the last lunch served aboard the Titanic from a survivor of the notorious Lifeboat No. 1,
Sells for $88,000.00
Description: A Menu from the Last Lunch aboard the Titanic, Hours Before She Struck an Iceberg********** TITANIC MENU. 1p. 8vo. R.M.S. Titanic, April 14, 1912. A menu from the last luncheon served aboard the Titanic, formerly belonging to first-class passenger ABRAHAM LINCOLN SALOMON (1868-1959), a wholesale stationer with offices in New York and Philadelphia and a resident on Manhattan’s Central Park West. Salomon survived the tragedy and carried this menu on board the infamous Lifeboat No. 1. Signed on the verso by another first-class passenger ISAAC GERALD FRAUENTHAL (1868-1932; “I. G. Frauenthal / 1493 B[road]way”), a New York lawyer and likely Salomon’s luncheon companion, who also survived the disaster by leaping from the Titanic’s deck into lifeboat No. 5. ********** Facing competition from the faster ships of the Cunard line, the Lusitania and the Mauretania, the White Star Line’s Titanic and her sister ships, Olympia and Britannic, were built with the intention of being larger and more luxurious than their competition. In order to create the impression that its passengers were in an elegant hotel, the first- and second-class public rooms were decorated in the most lavish manner and included elaborately carved wood paneling, etched glass partitions, and ornate furniture. The grand and sophisticated first-class dining saloon located on D Deck was capable of seating 500 guests. The “immense room has been decorated in a style peculiarly English – that… which… evolved by the eminent architects of early Jacobean times… The furniture of oak is designed to harmonise with its surroundings,” according to the White Star Line’s 1911 advertisements. ********** On April 11, 1912, the New York-bound Titanic set sail on her maiden voyage from Queenstown (Cobh), Ireland, after having departed Southampton and Cherbourg the previous day. The world’s largest ship at the time, the Titanic carried scores of wealthy, upper-crust American and British citizens as well as hundreds of poor emigrants from Europe traveling in steerage. ********** Naturally, the food on board the Titanic was as sumptuous as the décor. Every evening a bugler called passengers to dinner with the tune of “The Roast Beef of Old England,” a White Star tradition, and first-class dinners included up to 13 courses. The importance placed on the Titanic’s meals is reflected in the salary of its head chef, Charles Proctor, the highest-paid crew member after the ship’s captain. The menu for what would be the final luncheon aboard the ill-fated ship included consommé fermier; cockie leekie soup; fillets of brill; egg a L’Argenteuil; chicken a la Maryland; corned beef; vegetables; dumplings; grilled mutton chops; mashed, fried, and baked jacket potatoes; custard pudding; apple merinque; pastry; a buffet of salmon mayonnaise; potted shrimps; Norwegian anchovies; soused herrings; plain and smoked sardines; roast beef; round or spiced beef; veal and ham pie; Virginia and Cumberland ham; Bologna sausage; brawn; galantine of chicken; corned ox tongue; lettuce; beetroot; tomatoes; a selection of Cheshire, Stilton, Gorgonzola, Edam, Camembert, Roquefort, St. Ivel, and cheddar cheese; and, for an extra threepence or sixpence per tankard, “iced draught Munich Lager Beer!” ********** Because of assigned seating, passengers would have dined with the same companions throughout the voyage, thus it is likely that Frauenthal wrote his name on the verso of our menu and gave it to Salomon, so they could remain in touch following their return to New York City. Both men shared the commonality of their Jewish religion and businesses located on Manhattan’s Broadway. ********** Three days into the transatlantic crossing, Captain Edward Smith received warnings about icebergs off the coast of Newfoundland, which, not inconsistent with accepted procedure, he ignored. On April 14, at 11:40 p.m., lookouts on the bridge spotted an iceberg in the ship’s path. Despite maneuvers to avoid it, the Titanic collided with the berg, leaving a huge gash on her starboard side. Twenty-five minutes later, Captain Smith prepared to evacuate passengers onto the woefully insufficient number of lifeboats. ********** In addition to Salomon, Lucy Duff-Gordon, a prominent fashion designer and sister of risqué novelist Elinor Glyn, her husband Cosmo Duff-Gordon, and Lucy’s secretary, Mabel Francatelli, were passengers in Lifeboat No. 1. Describing the disaster as it unfolded, Lucy Duff-Gordon recalled, “I had been in bed for about an hour and the lights were all out, when I was awakened by a funny, rumbling noise. It was like nothing I had ever heard before. It seemed as if some giant hand had been playing bowls, rolling the great balls along. Then the boat stopped and immediately there was the frightful noise of escaping steam, and I heard people running outside my cabin but they were laughing and gay,” (Titanic Voices: 63 Survivors Tell Their Extraordinary Stories, Holman). ********** When her secretary, Mabel Francatelli, noticed water streaming into her cabin on E Deck, she went upstairs to warn her employer: “…A man came to me and put a life preserver on me assuring me he was only taking precautions and not to be alarmed... When we got on the top deck, the lifeboats were being lowered on the starboard side... I then noticed that the sea was nearer to us than during the day, and I said to Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon ‘We are sinking’ and he said ‘Nonsense, come away,’” (from Francatelli’s sworn affidavit submitted to the British inquiry, quoted in Encyclopedia Titanica). ********** Soon, however, the reality of the situation became apparent to the Duff-Gordons and Francatelli. According to Lucy Duff-Gordon’s account, “On the port side was a scene of indescribable horror. Boat after boat was being lowered in a pandemonium of rushing figures fighting for places, tearing at each other, trampling women and children under foot. The Lascars [Southeast Asian sailors] from below deck had run amok and were battling like devils round the remaining boats… While we stood there people rushed by us in a headlong mob to get anywhere away from the hell of that struggling, yelling mob, and there were heart-rending shrieks as one boat, too hurriedly launched, upset and its occupants were shot out into the black depths of water below. ‘We will go round to the starboard side,’ Cosmo said. ‘It may be better there. It can’t possibly be worse.’ It was better, for although there were crowds, there was no confusion. The lifeboats were being quietly filled with women, while officers and male passengers helped to launch them,” (op. cit., Holman). Lucy Duff-Gordon refused to abandon her husband on the Titanic. “Suddenly we saw that everyone in the vicinity had dispersed, except for some sailors who were launching a little boat. We found out afterwards that it was not a lifeboat but rather the captain’s ‘emergency’ boat,” (ibid.). The crewmen, many of whom were firemen or “stokers” invited several passengers, including Francatelli and the Duff-Gordons, to join them in the boat. ********** By around 1 a.m. the Duff-Gordons, Francatelli, “and the two Americans, whose names we found out were Mr Stengel and Mr Salomon,” had joined seven crew members in Lifeboat No. 1, an emergency cutter with a capacity of 40, swung out along the starboard side of the Titanic, ready for quick action should someone fall overboard, (ibid.). Seeing no other passengers on the starboard side of the deck, the boat was lowered into the water with just 12 passengers at around 1:15 a.m. The fourth lifeboat to launch, it rowed away from the sinking vessel and the decision not to return to rescue any of the helpless passengers from the near freezing water later became a subject of much controversy. ********** From the lifeboat, the small party watched in shock as, at around 2 a.m., the Titanic cracked in half and plunged out of sight into the black water. According to the later testimony of Titanic fireman Robert Pusey, while on the lifeboat Lady Duff-Gordon commented on Francatelli’s loss of her (Francatelli’s) nightdress, prompting Pusey to complain that he and his fellow sailors had not only lost their kit but, once the ship sank, their wages, too. Sir Duff-Gordon promised the crew one month’s wages, “a fiver each to start a new kit,” once the lifeboat returned to safety, (“Testimony of Robert W. Pusey,” British Wreck Commissioner’s Inquiry: Day 11, Titanic Inquiry Project). At around 4:10 in the morning, they were rescued by the Carpathia and the next day Duff-Gordon kept his word and authorized Francatelli to issue each crewmember of Lifeboat No. 1 a check for ₤5. Unfortunately, this payment was later misconstrued by journalists as a payoff to row away from the doomed Titanic without taking on additional passengers for fear of being swamped. The press soon dubbed Lifeboat No. 1 “the Money Boat” and “the Millionaire’s Boat.” ********** Three days after rescuing the survivors of the Titanic tragedy, the Carpathia sailed into New York harbor, where a Congressional hearing was held, which concluded that emergency measures aboard the Titanic had been severely lacking and blaming the Titanic’s captain for ignoring the warnings of danger. The British government held its own inquiry, beginning on May 2, 1912. A panel of experts heard testimony over the course of 36 days, including that of the Duff-Gordons, the only passengers called to testify. Cosmo was questioned on the 10th and he and his wife on the 11th day of the hearing. (See G. B. Shaw’s essay on the subject, published on May 14, entitled “Some Unmentioned Morals,” in which he quotes from Lady Duff-Gordon’s testimony.) Additionally, every passenger aboard Lifeboat No. 1 was required to submit a sworn statement. Francatelli’s affidavit vehemently denies the unfounded accusations of bribery. The resulting report of the British inquiry reproved those aboard Lifeboat No. 1 for not returning to assist more passengers. ********** The launching of Lifeboat No. 1 was depicted in the 1958 film adaptation of Walter Lord’s A Night to Remember, and a scene from James Cameron’s 1997 Titanic, in which Cosmo Duff-Gordon notes that it was “out of the question” to turn around and pick up survivors, was cut from the film’s final version. ********** The Duff-Gordons had booked passage on the first available ship to New York, which happened to be the Titanic, in order to attend to the opening of Lucy’s new West 57th Street showrooms. Lucy narrowly escaped death again when she canceled her passage aboard the Lusitania, which was torpedoed by a German submarine on May 7, 1915. Although they remained married, by 1915 the Duff-Gordons had become estranged and pursued their individual interests. Lucy’s impact on the world of fashion (as well as the influence of her sister, author Elinor Glyn) has been the subject of numerous books and museum exhibitions. Her fashion innovations include the introduction of the “mannequin parade,” a precursor of the runway show; the introduction of slit skirts and low necklines; using trained fashion models; and less restrictive corsets and lingerie. Her London couture brand, Lucile Ltd., was so popular that she opened branches in Paris, New York City and Chicago, and counted among her clients several generations of royalty, society ladies and Hollywood starlets. Her success was curtailed by a 1917 precedent-setting contract dispute which was decided against her in an opinion written by future Supreme Court justice Benjamin Cardozo. ********** Frauenthal, the Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania-born son of German-Jewish immigrants, was traveling aboard the Titanic with his brother Henry, a successful New York doctor who specialized in treating chronic joint diseases, and Henry’s new bride Clara, née Heinsheimer, whom he had wed in France just two weeks earlier. All three were saved by jumping into Lifeboat No. 5, but Henry broke the ribs of one of the boat’s occupants, Annie May Stengel, when he fell on her. Coincidentally, Mrs. Stengel was the wife of Charles E. H. Stengel, the fifth passenger aboard Lifeboat No. 1. In 1927, Dr. Frauenthal committed suicide by leaping from a hospital window. His wife, Clara, was institutionalized for the final 16 years of her life. Following the disaster, the menu’s owner, Abraham Salomon, became withdrawn, and refused to discuss the Titanic’s sinking for the rest of his life. ********** Subsequent to his rescue by the Carpathia, Isaac Frauenthal formed a committee with several survivors, including American socialite Margaret “Unsinkable Molly” Brown, to recognize the bravery of the Carpathia’s Captain Arthur Rostron and his crew. A month after their rescue, Brown honored the heroism of Captain Rostron with a silver cup and presented medals to the ship’s crew of 320. ********** Only three other Titanic lunch menus from this date are known: One was donated to the Greenwich National Maritime Museum by Walter Lord, author of A Night to Remember, and another sold for £76,000 (approximately $120,000) in 2012. ********** The top left and lower right corners of the menu are missing. Scotch tape discoloration in the left margin, with two tears along a fragile irregular crease. An extremely rare artifact made even more remarkable with such traceable provenance and association!
Source: Invaluble.com & Lion Heart Auctions