RMS Olympic Oleograph Advertisement

This oleograph depicts the RMS Olympic in a port, advertising her for the White Star Line.  Advertisements such as this were typically hung in a White Star Line agent's office along with other advertisements, depicting ships available for people to sail on by the White Star Line.  The artist Fred Pansing painted 2 other depictions of the Olympic which were used for the Olympic and Titanic and this must have been painted and/or used during the Titanic era due to the fact Mr. Pansing passed away in 1912.  Following the Titanic disaster, the White Star Line was particular about showing their ships having enough lifeboats, so there is a chance a different artist added more boats later.  These were used even in 1920s and there are just a handful in existence today.

Rearranging Deck Chairs On The Titanic

On board the RMS Titanic, a passenger could go to the Inquiry Office on C-Deck off the Forward Grand Staircase and rent a deck chair.   They would take the passenger's name and write it on a card and slide it into a slot on the top slat to ensure there was no confusion of who had the chair.  A passenger could then sit on the chair with the option of also renting a blanket in cooler weather with a cup of tea or coffee or a book from the ship's library as the sea passed below them.  During the sinking, some had the idea of using deck chairs as makeshift rafts or flotation devices.  Some people such as Thomas Andrews and Charles Joughin threw deck chairs off the ship.  Following the disaster, the White Star Line contracted the Commercial Cable Company to send their ships out to recover the bodies of the victims floating in the North Atlantic in busy shipping lanes.  In total, 4 ships went out there.  Along with the bodes, crew members also recovered items floating on the surface from the wreck.  1st class Dining Saloon chairs, paneling, life jackets, deck chairs, and many other items were found and the crew would recover them and bring them home where they would be re-purposed for practical use such as furniture, game boards, picture frames, etc.  

The section of wood above came from a deck chair recovered by the CS Minia, the 2nd ship to arrive on the scene.  Due to bad weather, only 17 people were recovered.  This deck chair was owned by 1st Officer James Adams who lived in Halifax.  It was still with him when in 1917, the highly explosive cargo of the SS Mont-Blanc in the Halifax harbor ignited and created the largest explosion in history until the atomic-bomb.  The explosion impacted everyone in the surrounding area, damaging the deck chair.  The chair remained intact, though in bad condition for many years until it was put on display at a museum and then dismantled due to its condition.  Some pieces were used to repair other exisitng Titanic deck chairs, other were sold, others gifted.  The chair was used to give the team on the 1997 Titanic film the dimensions for recreating the chair on set.  

The 1st class Smoke Room

The Titanic's 1st class Smoke Room was a gorgeous public room, reserved mainly for 1st class men on the Titanic.  The paneling was darkly stained mahogany inlaid with mother of pearl.  It was lit from ornate chandeliers and wall sconces with stained glass windows lit from behind setting the ambiance.  A fireplace with an beautifully carved marble mantle and painting by Norman Wilkinson of the entrance to Plymouth Harbor called, "Approach to the New World" were at the center of the room.  It was furnished with comfortable leather chairs and chairs topped with green baize fabric which rested on top of linoleum red and blue tiles.  After dinner, it was customary for the men and women to retire to separate rooms for conversations and gossip before joining each other again.  For the men, they would typically go up to the Smoke Room where the space was open late into the night.  There were some late night card games and conversations on the evening of the 14th of April when the Titanic struck the iceberg.  Afterwards, it became a busy room where people stayed to get warm and wait to decide what to do.  Thomas Andrews was reportedly seen at one point in that room, though contrary to popular belief, it wasn't the last place where he was seen.  William Stead was also seen in that room during the sinking.  Unfortunately, the room was obliterated during the break up and subsequent implosion of the stern.  There are pieces of it on the ocean floor including tiles, stained glass windows, sconces, and chandeliers, some of which have been recovered.  Items do still exist from the RMS Olympic's 1st class Smoke Room which had an almost identical room to the one on the Titanic with the exception of the color scheme on the Olympic being green and blue rather than the red and blue on the Titanic.

Above are items from my collection which related to the 1st class Smoke Room.  The background is a copy of one of the stained glass windows.  The piece of wood on top is a cross section of the ceiling arch tray of the RMS Olympic's 1st class Smoke Room.

The next item is an original C.R. Hoffman photographic postcard of the RMS Olympic's 1st class Smoke Room, showing the room in all her beauty. 

The next items are original WSL playing cards.  The only cards we know for sure were used on the Titanic looked like the one on the far left.  Examples were saved by certain card players on board.

The final item is a section of green baize fabric which was used on top of the tables in the 1st class Smoke Room of the Titanic.  This fabric section came from a larger piece which was taken as a souvenir from Harland & Wolff during the Titanic's construction.