Titanic's Second Class Experience

I'm thrilled that everyone is enjoying Titanic month! But now I need to start looking ahead. Leave me your suggestions on topics/foods they'd like to see in the next few months.

One of the craziest stories from second class has to be that of Ruth Becker. She was 12, traveling back to America with her mother and two younger siblings after having spent the first part of her life in India, where her father was a missionary. On the night of the sinking, she and her family went to the boat deck to wait for a lifeboat, but her mother sent her back to the cabin to get blankets for her siblings. As she went below decks, an officer took Ruth's siblings, placed them into a lifeboat, and called for it to be lowered. Her mother panicked and begged to be let on, which the officer did. So 12 year old Ruth got back on deck just in time to see her family being lowered away in another lifeboat! Her mother yelled for her to get into another one, so, she approached an officer and asked to be let in. Seeing a 12 year old all alone, he literally chucked her into lifeboat 13 (the same one Lawrence Beesley was in) and they lowered into the water. Even though she was just 12 and all alone, she remained calm, passing out her blankets to the stokers on the lifeboat who were dressed in nothing but shorts and thin shirts, mending the hand of an injured stoker, and soothing a young woman who had lost her baby. She was so steadfast throughout the whole thing even her mother was shocked. When they docked in New York the family was mobbed by reporters asking for questions and her mother just went "ask Ruth!" She didn't talk about the event for much of her life until the late 70s, when Titanic historians tracked her down and she started to open up about her experience. She was one of the few survivors who maintained that the ship broke in two, even reprimanding a Titanic historian who said she was wrong at a convention in the early 80s. She became friends with Titanic historians Ken Marschall and Don Lynch. Marschall tells this great story of watching "A Night To Remember" with her and saying how surreal it was to watch a movie of the event with an actual survivor and hearing her go "Oh I remember that." There's some great interviews with her on YouTube. Thanks, Max!

Ah, Escoffier, our old friend. Now I’m imagining he made 20 slight variations of this dish and named them after people he wanted to impress.

A man lived near my grandmother, he survived that sinking. I’m in Michigan, and the man initially lived near the stadium in Detroit when he arrived in Michigan. He told my grandmother that he had to move away, he couldn’t bear to hear the crowds roar when someone hit a home run (or big play). He said the sound of the roar took him back to that night, and he had to move away. Long story short… he lived near my grandmother until he passed away. I always think of the sinking every time I hear the roar of a large crowd, because that’s what he said it sounded like.

A note about the lifeboats: the common belief and procedure that many have believed for years was that Captain Smith gave the order, "Women and children only" and many of the crew took it that way, however it's since been revealed that that was likely a misinterpretation of his orders, which were likely "women and children first", simply meaning women and children board first and men to follow if there are no other women and children nearby, ready to board but again, due to misinterpretation, many boats were launched partially full because several crew believed no men were allowed aboard.

I clicked so scandalously fast, ladies at the first class passed out.

Eva Hart died in 1996. She did many interviews regarding her time on the Titanic. She said she suffered from nightmares for years after. She decided to face the "demons" and booked a cruise where she locked herself into her state room for a few days. My daughter did a paper on Eva when she was in Middle School. We live in East Tennessee, near Pigeon Forge where they have a Titanic exhibit. One of the things is you are given a card with a passenger name and details- at the end of the tour you find out if you survived or died. By chance my daughter was given Eva Harts card. This was after she did her paper.

Eva Hart story is the most mind blowing one. Her mother had a bad feeling about the trip from start and a few other people had the same feeling like the owner of Hershey choclate. He canceled the trip as his mother won't let them go as they had a bad feeling about the trip.

This dish literally made me drool while you were making it, so I had my husband pick up some demi glace from a local butcher and we had it for dinner! We took your advice and lowered the vinegar. It was every bit as tasty as I thought it would be!! Thank you so much!!!

Yesterday I learned that the ship's cat survived the sinking along with her five kittens. She saw the ship was in distress, and in four trips, got all of her kittens to a life boat where they were picked up, and cuddled by the ladies on the boat. Womeown and children first after all.

I was actually wondering if you were going to cover crew meals. The crew always fascinated me. The Captain who seemingly surrendered himself to his fate on the bridge. The stokers and mechanics who kept the generators going until the end. The musicians who tried to calm the passengers. And the wireless operators who continued to send out distress messages until the end. Coming from Hospitality, I find it fascinating that so many continued to perform their duties in the face of imminent death.

As a history lover, Titanic lover, and my love to cook..... This is the greatest Titanic series. Hell, I was so lost in the story, I forgot you were even making the Chicken haha. LOVE this channel bro!

I really like this channel the comments aren’t a burning fury of random arguments but rather civil conversations and I love the videos and the mix of cooking and history

Nothing second-class about this episode, Max. You are a great storyteller (and an eloquent gourmand)!

2nd class is where the “women and children first” rule really held. The only children to die were in 3rd class and all the 2nd class women who were lost chose to remain but the worst death rate that night was among the 2nd class men almost all of whom were lost. Beesley was one of only a handful of surviving men.

I'd so love to see meals from flying and train travel 1940-1970s. Also, Native American food, Appalachian and Amish foods. I am new to you tonight, so I apologize if you've covered these. Tyvm.

I have waited 24 years for information about the second class. This is the longest video dedicated to them.

I'm sure you already know the reason behind the fact that third class had their main meal at lunchtime, but just for anyone who doesn't know. It originates from the service industry, people in service i.e. 'servants' had to have their main meal at lunchtime, because the Masters usually had a small (often cold) lunch (as we do now) and their main meal was at night, so the working classes, often in service would have a large meal when the work was light and then a meal called 'Tea' which was smaller. Even up to the 80s when I was a child, the working class English called their lunch ,Dinner and their Dinner, Tea.

I'm really obsessed with the woman saying there was a "crazed Italian" on her lifeboat because I feel like considering the situation it would've just been an international gathering of "crazed" people. I'm guessing she didn't like Italians.

“It was impossible to open a regulation steamer trunk in said cabin” has to be the most 1912 worded complaint I’ve ever seen