Monthly Archives: January 2025

Titanic

Titanic News for the New Year

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If you have the time and place for it, you can make a room to resemble a Titanic cabin. And a Titanic enthusiast in England did just that. He turned his shed into a cabin from the famous ship. He got paneling and other items from Olympic and it really is quite remarkable to see. This is really well done and worth watching the short video.

Screen Capture from BBC

“Derbyshire Man Turns Shed Into Replica of Titanic Cabin.” Video, n.d. https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/c2kx4lyv210o.

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Intricate Detail Medals Given To Carpathia Crew

There’s a wonderful level of detail to the medals which were awarded to the crew of the Titanic rescue ship Carpathia. Most crew members got a bronze one of which this is one but it seems it was later gilded. The story goes that Amy Quayle, the stewardess it was awarded to, fell on hard times, left the medal at a pawnbroker’s shop and never returned for it.

“Intricate Detail in Original Carpathia Medal: Titanic Rescuer’s Medal Was Left at Pawnshop,” Encyclopedia Titanica, last modified December 25, 2024, accessed January 2, 2025, https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/intricate-detail-origianal-carpathia-medal.html.

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J. Bruce Ismay, president of White Star Line (1912) Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
J. Bruce Ismay, president of White Star Line (1912)
Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

Childhood Home Of J. Bruce Ismay Has Rooms Available To Rent

The house where J. Bruce Ismay spent his childhood (bought by his father Thomas Ismay who founded the line) was in private hands until 2022. The house, near the Mersey River in Waterloo borough, is Grade II-listed house (meaning it has historical and/or architectural significance) now is open to the public. The Beach Lawn House & Ismay Suites (it overlooks Crosby beach, so it has great views of the river) now has its rooms for rent for those who want to experience living in such a house. They advertise on their website:

One or more of our fully serviced suites will suit your living requirements. One thing is certain: whichever one of our suites you choose from, it will feature all the comforts you would expect to find in a home – state of the art facilities, sumptuous furnishings, elegant interior design, beautiful surroundings, spacious living areas and convenient travel connections along with having a personal host who can arrange things like groceries for your room or dry cleaning and a laundry service.

One can surmise this will cost quite a lot of guineas in the old British currency.

Now this is not the central part of this story. It seems a distant relation of J. Bruce Ismay, Clifford Ismay (Thomas Ismay’s fourth cousin, twice removed) stayed there in 2023 and relates a spooky occurrence. This story was posted on 25 Dec 2024 so not sure if there was a tie-in to A Christmas Carol. At any rate he woke up early in the morning to the smell old pipe tobacco. Then later when he toured a room, now occupied by a long-term tenant and once Thomas’ bedroom, and opened a cabinet where he could smell tobacco. I will leave it to others to draw their own conclusions about this. Clifford is certain that something supernatural occurred.

Whatever you may think of the story, the house that Thomas Ismay purchased for £2,500 is certainly quite lovely and well situated. It is not a hotel but a posh living place for those who have the money to afford it.

McMullin, Kate. “‘I Stayed at “Titanic” Mansion and Something Strange Woke Me Up.’” Liverpool Echo. Last modified December 25, 2024. https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/gallery/i-spent-night-titanic-mansion-30647839.

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Lump of Coal Sells for £1,500 in Cornish Auction

“Certificate of Origin: This coal was recovered from the wreck of R.M.S. Titanic during the 1994 Titanic Research and Recovery Expedition. Object No. 94/0036. Authenticated by the signature of President, RMS Titanic, Inc.; Captain, IFREMER.” Exhibited at the National Shipwreck Museum in Charlestown, Cornwall, South West England. [This is the coal up for auction.]
Image: Ben Sutherland via Wikimedia Commons. Posted originally on Flickr.

A small lump of coal recovered from the Titanic wreck is one of hundreds of pieces of shipwreck memorabilia that went under the hammer last week – with that item in particular selling for £1,500 ($1,856). Some of the lots sold for much more with model ships going for thousands of pounds after the collection from Charlestown Shipwreck Museum, near St Austell, went up for auction with the building itself still for sale. Auctioneer David Lay said he had never seen a sale like it with thousands of bids coming in from all over the world.

Letcher, Lisa. “Lump of Coal Sells for £1,500 in Cornish Auction.” Cornwall Live. Last modified November 11, 2024. https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/lump-coal-sells-1500-charlestown-9705029.

Suggested Reading

Behe, G. (2012). On board RMS Titanic: Memories of the Maiden Voyage. The History Press.

Brewster, H. (2013). Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage: The Titanic’s First-Class Passengers and Their World. National Geographic Books.

Lord, Walter, A NIGHT TO REMEMBER, Holt Rinehart and Winston, New York, New York, 1955. Multiple revisions and reprints, notably Illustrated editions (1976,1977,1978 etc.)

Lord, Walter, THE NIGHT LIVES ON, Willian Morrow and Company, New York, New York, 1986 (First Edition)

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History, Miscellaneous

Welcome to January

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Photo of Head of Janus
Vatican Museum, Rome
Source: Loudon Dodd (via Wikimedia)

January is the first month on the Gregorian and the Julian calendar. It is named after the Roman god of doors, Janus, as this month is a doorway into the new year. Janus is an interesting Roman god as he is two-faced. Thus, he can see both the future and the past. In January, you can see the previous year and view the upcoming one. The old Roman calendar ended in December and did not start up till March. This was changed later with the addition of January to replace March but was made official when the Julian calendar was adopted in 8 BC. The new Julian calendar used the solar cycle rather than the lunar making it more accurate. Unfortunately, its creator Sosigenes, an Alexandrian astronomer who helped create the Egyptian solar calendar, made a small mathematical error of 11 minutes and 14 seconds. Small but significant as the calendar started going out of sync with the solar cycle over time making it hard to use for holy days that required a precise measurement in order to be done at the correct date and time.

Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry Folio 1, verso: January
Part of Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry by Limbourg brothers (fl. 1402–1416)
Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

This became apparent by the Middle Ages and calls for it to be resolved became more urgent. It was no longer minutes but by then 10 days. This would ultimately result in the Gregorian Calendar (named for Pope Gregory XIII) that was adopted in 1548 by the Catholic church and the Papal States. This resolved the major problem regarding the scheduling of Easter. Since however this was a civic reform, it was up to each nation to decide whether to implement or not. It would gradually be adopted by many countries. Spain was the first to switch over and that included much of Roman Catholic Europe. Protestant countries were not keen on changing right away since the reform was made by the Catholic Church. The British would adopt it 1750 but by a method to avoid saying it was from the Catholic Church. Sweden adopted in 1753. Turkey would switch to using the fiscal year as Gregorian in 1917 and then for the entire calendar in 1926. Russia, under the Communist government, changed in 1918. Greece would change in 1923. Saudi Arabia would formally adopt it in 2016. The change between calendars was startling at first. You might be in November and suddenly thirteen days back in October!

Eastern Orthodox denominations decided for religious purposes to use the Julian rather than Gregorian for their liturgical year (separate from the civic calendar). Which is why in countries  like Greece or Russia the celebration of Christmas and Easter is currently 13 days after it is celebrated elsewhere.

For Further Information

Amy Tikkanen, “Why Does the New Year Start on January 1?,” Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/story/why-does-the-new-year-start-on-january-1.

“The Month of January,” https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/months/january.html.

Catherine Boeckmann, “The Month of January 2025: Holidays, Fun Facts, Folklore,” Almanac.Com, last modified January 2, 2025, https://www.almanac.com/content/month-january-holidays-facts-folklore.