Notwithstanding that the Olympic-class liners were effectively American ships, food supplies were regulated by the British Board of Trade. Quantities were determined by the size and capacity of the ship (crew and passengers), as well as by speed, number of propellers, and duration of voyage. Allowance was made for additional time at sea occasioned by, for example, breakdown (a single-screw steamer would be at a total loss if disabled, so such a ship had to be provisioned for at least twenty-six days). In fact, the travel ticket (which was also a form of contract) issued to passengers carried a list of provisions statutorily provided. What follows comes from a third-class White Star ticket of 1910:
The following quantities, at least, of Water and Provisions will be supplied by the Master (captain) of the ship, as required by law, viz.:
To each statute adult (a statute adult may also be deemed to constitute more than one child below a certain age), 4 quarts
Of water daily, exclusive of what is required for cooking the articles required by the Merchant Shipping Act, 1908, to be issued in a cooked state and a weekly allowance of provisions according to the following scale:- 2.25 pounds Beef or Pork, or partly one and partly the other, 1 pound Preserved Meat, 6 ounces Suet, 4 ounces Butter, 2.25 pounds Bread or Biscuit (not inferior in quality to Navy Biscuit), 3.5 pounds Wheaton Flour (not inferior to best seconds), 2 pounds Oatmeal, Rice and Peas, or any two of them, 2 pounds Potatoes, 6 ounces Raisins,
2 ounces Tea, 1 pound Sugar, 2 ounces Salt, 0.5 ounce Mustard,
0.25 ounce Black or White Pepper, ground, 8 ounces Dried or Compressed Vegetables, 1 gill Vinegar or Mixed Pickles.
For children between one and four years of age, in addition to half-rations of the above-named articles:- 3 gills Preserved Milk, 10 ounces Condensed Egg, or 3 ounces Fresh Eggs. For children between four and twelve months of age:- 21 pints Water,
7 gills Preserved Milk, 9 ounces Preserved Soup, 10 ounces Condensed Egg, or 3 ounces Fresh Eggs, 12 ounces Biscuit, 4 ounces Oatmeal, 8 ounces Flour, 4 ounces Rice, 10 ounces Sugar.
Substitution of the following rates may, at the option of the Master of any “Passenger Ship,” be made in the above dietary scale, that is to say: 1.5 pounds Fresh Meat, 1 pound Salt Meat,
0.75 pound Preserved Meat to be considered equal. 0.5 ounce Coffee, 0.25 ounce Cocoa, 0.25 ounceTea to be considered equal.
1 pint Split Peas, 0.75 pound Flour, 0.5 pint Calavances [a kind of pulse] or Haricot Beans, 0.75 pound Rice to be considered equal when issued with Meat rations. 1 pound Marmalade, 1 pound Jam, 0.5 pound Butter to be considered equal. Mustard and Curry powder to be considered equal.
Again, the business of ordering, delivering and storing the vast quantities of food and drink called for very sophisticated logistics,
Especially as foodstuffs were garnered from around the world—fruit from California, cheese from France, oysters from Baltimore, ice cream from NewYork, coffee from Brazil, tea from India, lamb from Berkshire, and so on. For the transatlantic voyage, Olympic and doubtless Titanic too laid on the following stores:
Fresh meats, 75,000 pounds; fresh fish, 11,000 pounds; salt-and dried fish, 4,000 pounds; bacon and ham, 7,500 pounds; poultry and game, 8,000 head; fresh butter, 6,000 pounds; fresh eggs, 40,000; sausages, 2,500 pounds; sweetbreads, 1,000; ice cream, 1,750 quarts; coffee, 2,200 pounds; tea, 800 pounds; peas, rice & co., 10,000 pounds; sugar, 10,000 pounds; assorted jams, 1,120 pounds; flour, 200 barrels; potatoes, 40 tons; apples and oranges, 180 boxes each (36,000 pieces each); lemons,
50 boxes; grapefruit, 50 boxes; hothouse grapes, 1,000 pounds; fresh milk, 1,500 gallons; condensed milk, 600 gallons; cream, 1,000 quarts; fresh asparagus, 800 bundles; onions, 3,500 pounds; fresh green peas, 1.25 tons; tomatoes, 2.75 tons; beer and stout, 20,000 bottles; mineral water, 15,000 bottles; wine, 1,500 bottles; spirits, 800 bottles; cigars, 8,000.
All perishable foodstuffs were subject to inspection, and food left over but still usable at the end of a voyage was sealed in cold compartments.
No expense was spared for top-paying passengers, and as English produce in many cases was considered superior to American, grapes, nectarines and peaches, salmon, sole and turbot, beef, mutton and lamb were all shipped from Great Britain for use on the eastward passage back.
All perishable foodstuffs were subject to inspection, and food left over but still usable at the end of a voyage
Was sealed in cold compartments. Food for crew consumption between voyages (had she survived, Titanic would have made her eastward return trip on April 20) was strictly monitored.
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