Traveling By Ship in 1900

[huntertrw]

"In this image an elderly passenger reclines on a deckchair with a pipe, a water decanter and a bottle of malt whiskey labelled: 'W. Lumsden & Co, Aberdeen'."
Well done, Sir, well done, indeed!

 

[kcghost]

Ah, yes, the good old days when times were bad.

 

[graydawn]

Nice picture George. What a way to travel.

 

[huntertrw]

Caption: The smoking (and drinking and lounging) lamp is lit!

 

[bpftc]

I just googled this fun fact: The cost of a first-class ticket on Titanic to New York was $2,500, approximately $57,200 today. The cost of a transatlantic cruise in 2015, in a cabin suite with a balcony is about $2,500. Gawd I love progress and capitalism.

 

[mso489]

Like brad, my longest voyages were with the USN and did't involve any time in a deck chair. However, I did take breaks from the radio shack out on the weather decks, and I enjoyed the ventura, like a little balcony in front of the wheelhouse where I could watch the bow cutting through the seas. Some of my shipmates caught me out there in heavy weather looking way too pleased with the rough weather, and one of the enginemen said, "Hey hawk, you really enjoy this s..t, don't you?" Meaning the heavy weather. Never seasick. Just had the genetics for sea duty.

 

[mcitinner1]

The gentleman in that photo looks positively serene...I can almost feel it too, just imagining being there with him. He looks about the right age to have been born around 1890ish. I'd like to have been born then, so I could have seen the St Louis World's Fair as a young teenager. :wink:

 

[metalheadycigarguy]

Back in 2011 I went on a cruise along the Pacific Coast of Mexico, and I spent all 7 evenings in the cigar lounge enjoying fine cigars. There were two evenings where I also enjoyed a nice cigar on one of the decks just walking around the ship taking in the nice evening, ocean breeze and of course enjoying the cigar. This was before I got into pipe smoking otherwise I would have enjoyed a nice pipe or two on the ship as well. I think I enjoyed my time of the ship more so then the ports of call.
I agree with the original poster; the journey is the destination. Just because something is faster doesn't mean its better.

 

[buroak]

Some of my shipmates caught me out there in heavy weather looking way too pleased with the rough weather, and one of the enginemen said, "Hey hawk, you really enjoy this s..t, don't you?" Meaning the heavy weather. Never seasick. Just had the genetics for sea duty.

You remind me of a retired sailor I chatted up on a boat ride to Isle Royale.

 

[huntertrw]

"The cost of a first-class ticket on Titanic to New York was $2,500, approximately $57,200 today."
A bad bargain considering the fact that she sank en-route!

 

[jpmcwjr]

Did the company refund the passage to the estates of the victims? (a real question, one I may google later if no one pipes up)
Travel today is on ships that are "classless". Though you pay more for better accommodations, cabins with portholes, cabins with balconies, suites, etc. So, going first class equivalent NY-Southampton is way cheaper than it was a hundred years ago. But also way slower!

 

[jvnshr]

@jpmcwjr

Acoording to wikipedia:

In January 1912, the hulls and equipment of Titanic and Olympic had been insured through Lloyd's of London. The total coverage was £1,000,000 (£88,424,710 today) per ship. The policy was to be "free from all average" under £150,000, meaning that the insurers would only pay for damage in excess of that sum. The premium, negotiated by brokers Willis Faber & Company (now Willis Group), was 15 s (75 p) per £100, or £7,500 (£663,185 today) for the term of one year. Lloyd's paid the White Star Line the full sum owed to them within 30 days.[169]
Many charities were set up to help the victims and their families, many of whom lost their sole breadwinner, or, in the case of many Third Class survivors, everything they owned. On 29 April opera stars Enrico Caruso and Mary Garden and members of the Metropolitan Opera raised $12,000 ($292,682.93 in 2014)[170] in benefits for victims of the disaster by giving special concerts in which versions of "Autumn" and "Nearer My God To Thee" were part of the program.[171] In Britain, relief funds were organised for the families of Titanic's lost crew members, raising nearly £450,000 (£39,791,120 today). One such fund was still in operation as late as the 1960s.[172]

 

[georged]

Relevant and interesting (if a bit depressing):
https://malcolmoliver.wordpress.com/titanic-vs-oasis-of-the-seas/

 

[jpmcwjr]

Interesting link! Depressing is the number of morons posting comments criticizing the article. Then maybe I am not too bright for having read a bunch of them.

 

[mso489]

I crossed Lake Michigan from Chicago to Michigan on a lake boat on perfectly glass smooth water and polished off two bottles of fruit wine we'd bought onshore, my late wife and I (I'm remarried). One of the best buzzes I've ever had, a little like flying.