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Cruise Line Ephemera

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Artifacts of current or former operating cruise ships from around the world. Collectibles may include sailing schedules, promotional or advertising materials, cruise menus, passenger itineraries, luggage tags, etc.

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Latest Activity: Oct 12

Dollar Steamship Line

I've started this group in hopes of unearthing some of the wonderful ephemera related to worldwide cruising.

The Group image I have chosen is a Menu from the 1927 Around the World sailing of the S.S. President Harrison. The date was March 22nd, 1927 and it was Voyage Ten. Two items of interest on the menu are that it says "Farewell to our Boston Passengers" and also "Clocks to be Retarded 30 Minutes". That tells us that it was not a daylight savings time setback (which is typically one hour) so what might it have been? I'd be interested in hearing others opinions. Clearly they were entering some port, or there would not have been any departing passengers. So where were they.. and why the clock "retard"? Here's a possible clue. In the "Musical Programme" section of the menu, the first number was to be "California Here I Come... by Gates"

I also find the Entre of the Dinner quite interesting. It was "Chow Long Special... Chicken Chop-Souy with Noodles, Chinese Saute of Egg and Rice. Presereved Lychees and Tree Rice".

Here's a final clue as to where the ship may have been.. the route of sail, as depicted on the back of the menu, was to be Boston, New York, Havana, Cristobal and onward westbound.

OK, lets hear from some of our Cruise Ship Ephemera enthusiasts.

Tom

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Comment by Mike Ferguson on June 8, 2008 at 8:55am: My interest is cruise ships is secondary to my interest in steamships, which is really an interest in Pacific Mail Steamship Company because they actually played a significant role in the coffee industry during WWI.

Prior to WWI, only 18% of the coffee grown in Central America was exported to the U.S. Most of the coffee was going to Europe. Americans were drinking mostly low-grown, uninspiring, Brazilian coffee. There were still some interesting coffee to be found in coastal cities but most of the country was drinking bland, flat flavor profiles.

German submarines slowed both the movement of coffee from Central America coffee to Europe and the movement of Brazils up to New York. But there was nothing stopping coffee from moving from Central America up the west coast to San Francisco. Pacific Mail Steamship Company, which also carried passengers, had a near monopoly on these shipping lanes.

Prior to the war, only 400,000 bags (60 kilos each) were being imported annually into San Francisco. After the war that number had tripled to 1.2 million bags, and Americans were introduced (or actually, re-introduced…but that’s a different story) to complex flavor profiles in coffee. At the time, there were two large but regional roasting companies in San Francisco. The influx of Central American coffee helped fuel their eastward expansion. They were Folger’s and Hills Brothers.

By the 1923, when the Pacific Mail steamship, The Cuba, hit rocks near San Migual Island off California and began a slow sink, the captain made sure to rescue—after crew and passengers—the silver, the mahogany, and the COFFEE.