An original menu from the last first-class lunch served aboard the ill-fated Titanic has sold for $88,000 to a private collector at an online auction. The luncheon menu had been saved by a first-class passenger, Abraham Lincoln Salomon, one of only a handful of people who climbed aboard a lifeboat called the “Money Boat” or “Millionaires’ Boat” when the main ship started sinking into the icy waters of the Atlantic.
The lifeboat gained its moniker because the wealthy passengers it saved purportedly bribed the crew to row away from the disaster rather than rescue more people. Stamped with a date of April 14, 1912 and the White Star Line logo, the menu included grilled mutton chops and custard pudding; corned beef; mashed, fried and baked jacket potatoes; a buffet of fish, ham and beef; an apple meringue pastry; and a selection of eight cheeses. The menu was offered for sale by an unidentified person who was given some Titanic items by a descendant of one of the lifeboat survivors.
Facts About the Titanic
- The Titanic’s fourth funnel was fake. It was added to make the ship look more powerful and symmetrical.
- Not a single engineer, out of the 30, made it off the Titanic: they stayed and kept the power on so others could escape.
- It took 73 years to find the wreck of the Titanic.
- Kim II-Sung, founder of North Korea, was born on the day the Titanic sank.
- A man who survived the sinking of a ship in 1871 was finally able to overcome his fears and decided to sail again in 1912: he died in the sinking of the Titanic.
- The movie “Titanic”won 11 Oscars, but none for acting.
