Recovered Titanic First-Class Menu Sheds Light On What Rich People Ate Aboard

Over a century has passed since the tragic sinking of the Titanic in 1912, yet the allure and fascination surrounding this ill-fated ocean liner persist.

Those particularly fond of the history of the iconic liner will be happy to learn that a scarce first-class menu from the ship itself is to be sold at an upcoming auction of Titanic-related memorabilia.

A rare first-class menu from the Titanic is expected to auction for $86,000 this Saturday

Image credits: Wikipedia Commons

Comprising oysters, salmon with Hollandaise sauce, beef, squab, duck, roast chicken, green peas, parsnip purée, and Victoria pudding, this sumptuous fare mirrors the dinner menu enjoyed by first-class passengers aboard the Titanic on April 11, 1912, as the ship embarked from Queenstown, Ireland, bound for New York.

Up for auction on Saturday (November 11) at Henry Aldridge & Son Ltd in southwest England is the very menu from that historic night, distinguished by an embossed red White Star Line flag at the top and displaying signs of water damage.

Andrew Aldridge, the managing director of the auction house, revealed that while a few menus from the ship have endured, this stands as the sole known copy from the night of April 11—just three days before the Titanic collided with an iceberg.

Served three days before the ship met its tragic end, the menu contained spring lamb with mint sauce, Victoria pudding, and French ice cream

Image credits: Henry Alridge & Son

The menu is anticipated to fetch up to £70,000, equivalent to about $86,000.

Among the extensive collection of maritime items featured in the auction are numerous artifacts, including a White Star Line tartan blanket salvaged from a Titanic lifeboat and a pocket watch that belonged to a second-class passenger—a Russian immigrant—who tragically did not survive the sinking.

Andrew told the New York Times that there were “several dinner menus from Titanic in existence,” highlighting that three meals were served each day from April 10, when the ship commenced its maiden voyage, until April 14, the fateful day when it sank in the North Atlantic, claiming 1,500 lives.

Image credits: Henry Alridge & Son

Throughout the years, a few worn menus from the Titanic have entered auction circuits, fetching substantial sums.

In 2012, a first-class menu from the ship’s final lunch was purchased for $120,000. Following this, three years later, a menu from the ultimate dinner served to first-class passengers was sold for over $118,000.

The menu surfaced this summer when it was found in a 1960s photo album owned by Len Stephenson, a community historian in Dominion, Nova Scotia.

The discovery is particularly poignant given that Halifax, over 200 miles southwest of Dominion, served as the headquarters for the Titanic’s search and recovery operations, as outlined by the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.

A pocket watch that belonged to a second-class passenger will also be auctioned

Image credits: Henry Alridge & Son

The city became the resting place for some victims, with some buried at sea, while others were transported to their hometowns or laid to rest in Halifax.

The method by which Len obtained the menu remains unclear, but his son-in-law sent it to Andrew for further examination. Andrew recalled: “I opened the box and was O-M-G.

“Original Titanic menus, they’re just not discovered.

“We know where most of them are. So to have a completely fresh discovery of this nature and this caliber is very, very exciting.

Image credits: Henry Alridge & Son

”Various Titanic artifacts periodically enter the market, such as in 2017 when a letter from a first-class passenger sold for £126,000.

Charles Haas, president of the Titanic International Society, explained: “Items on the ship, and carried off by passengers or crew, or found floating in the sea have been sold for more than 50 years by survivors, their descendants, maritime memorabilia dealers and auction houses on both sides of the Atlantic.

”Harry Bennett, an associate professor of maritime history at the University of Plymouth, finds possessions potentially recovered from the bodies of victims particularly disconcerting.

The Titanic sank in the early morning hours of 15 April 1912, claiming 1,500 lives

Image credits: Henry Alridge & Son

He said: “I find it very uneasy to look at a photo of a pocket watch or a menu and think about the tragic journey that has actually gone on.

“These things are really probably better in museums than actually in private hands because it at least creates a kind of a context for it where issues of profit are rather taken away from it.”