Steerage Supper

This week was the anniversary of the maiden voyage of the Titanic. To mark the occasion, the Molly Brown House museum had a Titanic Steerage Shindig. I thought it sounded like fun and Marina was interested as well. We invited Mr. Chuck and Miss Judy to go with us.

We arrived early at the Museum and wandered through the gift shop until it was time to check in. We were labeled as English passengers, since they were the first to board. The second group were the Irish, who were picked up at the second port before the voyage to New York.

We started by hearing about third class boarding from a volunteer playing Violet Jessup. She told us about the exams third class passengers went through before boarding and on arrival at Ellis Island. Then we went inside where another third class passenger told us about the accommodations and meals on the Titanic for steerage passengers.
We got a chance to look around the house. Marina and I definitely smelled cigars in JJ Brown’s room – something we had been told happens from time to time.

We went to the third floor for dinner. We ate roast beef, potatoes, turnips, carrots and green beans. Marina didn’t like the vegetables but the ate the meat and potatoes. She did like the plum cake we had for dessert.

After dinner, we went to the basement, which was set up with information about the Titanic. A group of musicians were playing Irish music. Partway through, several women started dancing. Marina joined them. After about half an hour of music, the musicians moved upstairs but Marina was ready to go. So we went home.