A Toast to the Titanic

Just before midnight on April 14th, 1912 the Titanic struck an iceberg and began its plunge into the icy depths of the North Atlantic taking with her the lives of more than 1500 passengers.  The story of the Titanic grabbed the world's attention more than any other maritime disaster.  Perhaps it was the symbolism of the great ship...a wonder of modern engineering brought to its tragic end by nature or the stories of the souls lost.  Whatever it was that resonated with the public, the Titanic remains the most famous maritime disaster of all time. Even the Lusitania sinking which became a rallying cry that brought America into the first World War has since been mostly forgotten about while the legacy of the Titanic still beckons us in song, cinema and television.  Find more about the Lusitania here: http://www.pbs.org/lostliners/lusitania.html

100 years later we are still captivated by the story of the great ship and its human cargo.  In that same year the SS Kiche Maru, a Japanese steamship, sank during a typhoon on September 22nd with over 1,000 lives lost and no survivors.  Almost no newspaper accounts exist of this tragedy...not even in Japanese sources.


http://www.wrecksite.eu/


The RMS Empress of Ireland was an ocean liner that sank in the St. Lawrence River after being struck by a Norwegian ship - over 1,000 lives were lost making it the deadliest maritime disaster in Canadian history.  While travelling Titanic exhibits tour the world and Titanic museums exist in places like Tennessee, Massachusetts, Missouri and Ireland (just to name a few), the Empress of Ireland has an exhibit space at a maritime museum in Quebec, Candada - Site Historique Maritime de la Pointe-au-Pere.  Read why the Empress was forgotten here:  http://cruiselinehistory.com/?p=3099

None of this is to disparage our fascination with the Titanic or to lessen the liner's tragic toll...but instead to wonder...why she holds our attention as no other ship has or possibly ever will?  Like many others here in America and the UK, REGAL will mark the 100th anniversary of the great ship's sinking with our own 1912 event.  Our Titanic evening, A Toast to the Titanic, will start out in 1st class with drinks at the Oak Bar located inside the historic Hermitage Hotel (ca.1910 ) and then move on to dinner and music in steerage at the Irish pub McNamara's.
Drinks at the Oak Bar will begin at 4:30 p.m. - please note that seating is first come first serve. 
http://www.thehermitagehotel.com/homepage.aspx
http://www.mcnamarasirishpub.com/
After drinks everyone will make their way under their own steam to McNamara's for dinner and music in steerage. The steerage festivities will begin at 6 :30 p.m. and seating will be reserved for those that RSVP. Reservations for the event must be made by April 4th - if you do not RSVP you may be standing! 
RSVP on the Facebook event page here:
http://www.facebook.com/events/340439339336045/ 
or email your reservation to beaujaneandgeorge@gmail.com
No admission charged but everyone is responsible for their own costs. Since there will be driving involved from the bar to the pub we ask that you have plans for a designated driver.  Please come in your best 1912 duds as historic dress is greatly encouraged!


http://photocaption.org/

Not to worry though...you will not be subjected to screenings of Titanic or to renditions of "My Heart Will Go On" but possibly to some Titanic trivia (the actual ship and not the movie)! 

Hope you can join us in commemorating this once in a lifetime anniversary and raise your glass in memory of the lives lost, the dreams dashed and the heroes made in that fateful maiden voyage.


The Unsinkable Molly Brown



Drums Along the Duck

Has it really been nearly a year since this was updated? We'll have to do better...

Well, it's finally arrived. The bicentennial of the War of 1812 is upon us, and the members of REGAL are busy preparing for the Muster on the Trace event scheduled for May 26 and 27. This will be a weekend long event hosted by the 7th U.S. Infantry reenactment group and will take place at the magnificent Gordon Ferry site, part of the Natchez Trace National Park. Find more information here:
www.nps.gov/natr/parknews/war-of-1812-partnership.htm

The event is set just prior to the outbreak of the War of 1812, at a time when suspicion and hostility between Tennessee's citizens and the neighboring Muskogee Creek nation to the south flared into open violence. The militia mustered and prepared to march south into Alabama and the entire region came to the brink of war. Members of REGAL will be portraying Tennesseans of all walks of life responding to the crisis.

But what does that mean? What did a Tennessean look like in 1812?

The next few blog posts will be an attempt to put together some simple guidelines aimed at portraying the citizens of the area at this time in history. It is not intended to be comprehensive by any means. Nor is it meant to be an encompassing look at clothing of the era. Instead, we'll be looking at some of the slender threads of evidence as to what an average Tennessee man or woman specifically might have worn, and (hopefully) why he or she would have worn it. So stay tuned, and watch this spot. More to come!

But next...a detour forward in time.