The Blanchard House Blog

Date: Friday, July 9^th

Place: Lucania

Last night the sea was so rough that the boat dipped above the port holes on both sides of the saloon, and a bottle standing on our table flipped over. All of our party, however, are O.K. I did not get to sleep last night until after midnight. Every minute or two the boat would roll so that our porthole would be buried in the water and our dress suit cases on the floor slid back and forth as the boat rolled. The (rades?) were used at table all three meals today. Many people sick. Great fun at the table. Abe and I walked a mile on the deck to night. Sea calmer in the evening.  All O.K. 470 Miles.

In this entry of John’s travel journal, he writes about how he was in a saloon that night. The Lucania saloon was a bar and dining area, where passengers could go for meals, socializing, and entertainment. Usually the saloon was filled with about 100 to 13

Dining Hall

0 tables and over 700 velvet plush dining chairs. At the bar, there were raised chairs and a large counter. The passengers could eat and relax while being entertained for hours.  John also wrote a lot about how the seas were very rough and how high the water around the boat was getting. In 1909, there were many accounts of missing ships, due to the seas being so rough. On July 5^th, a newspaper in London printed the reports of 5 missing ships during the few past weeks. The ship that John was sailing on, the Lucania, was lucky to not be caught in one of the more ferocious storms, and instead at the edge and end of a smaller sea storm. Later in his entry, Jo
hn writes ‘All O.K. 470 Miles.’  indicating how far the ship had sailed. This would have been very good in 1909, when traveling by ship took a lot of time. Two entries’ ago John wrote that they had sailed 460 miles. This means that the Lucania had traveled 10 miles in two days.

Date: Thursday July 8^th

Place: Lucania

Slept like a top all night. Abe had upper berth and I lower. This morning the sky was overcast and there was a stormy N.E. wind blowing which kicks up quite a sea. We are at a table with two actresses and a man named Sargent who is a real Yankee joker so we have lots of fun. In the morning Abe and I went up in the aft wheel house and were shown compasses, wheel, sounding leads, etc. Dale had a hair-cut by the ships barber, and Abe also patroniges the barber by buying a cap. Sea rather rough and many sick. All of our party at church and dinner.  Afternoon sea very rough. Boat hitched and rolled a great deal.

In this entry, John mentions that he and Abe go and visit the aft wheel house and were shown “compasses, wheel, sounding leads, etc.” In 1909, big cruise ships like the Lucania had many different rooms for passengers to explore. One of these rooms was the aft wheel house. An aft  wheel house is the room where the wheel,  maps, and compasses are stored. When John and Abe went up into the wheel house, they saw many of these things. In 1909, most of the wheels were very large, had many spokes, and were usually made of oak or pine wood. Big ships always had to have someone at the wheel to prevent them from steering off course. A ship’s maps were usually pasted on a wall in the aft wheel room, so they could be easily accessed by the capion of the ship. Maps had to be extremely detailed and were always up to date. The maps could be in black and white, or in color, to show the different countries more easily. Compasses in 1909 were much simpler than the compasses we have today. In 1909, the compasses usually had a small sun or star in the center, with its points pointing to North, South, East West, Northeast, Northwest, Southeast and Southwest. The arrow would spin on a small pin, allowing it to point to north.