17,613 HALF-BOTTLES OF CHAMPAGNE AND 63,340 CIGARS

From the Atlantic Ferry magazine in 1892 interesting particulars, of the victuals put on board a Cunard liner for the round voyage, and also of the staff employed by the Company:

"For a single passage to America the Etruria, with 547 cabin passengers and a crew of 287 persons on board, carries the following quantities of provisions:-12,550 lbs. fresh beef, 760 lbs. corned beef, 5,320 lbs. mutton, 850 lbs. lamb, 350 lbs. veal, 350 lbs. pork, 2,000 lbs. fresh fish, 600 fowls, 300 chickens, 100 ducks, 50 geese, 80 turkeys, 200 brace grouse, 15 tons potatoes, 30 hampers of vegetables, 220 quarts ice cream, 1,000 quarts of milk, and 11,500 eggs (or at the rate of one egg per minute from the time the ship sails from Liverpool until her arrival in New York.

"The quantities of wines, spirits, beer, etc., put on board for consumption on the round voyage, comprise 1,100 bottles champagne, 850 bottles claret, 6,000 bottles ale, 2,500 bottles porter, 4,500 bottles mineral waters, 650 bottles various spirits.

"Crockery is broken very extensively, being at the rate of 900 plates, 280 cups, 438 saucers, 1,213 tumblers, 200 wine-glasses, 27 decanters, and 63 water-bottles in a single voyage.

"As regards the consumption on board the whole Cunard fleet for one year, the figures seem almost fabulous:-4,656 sheep, 1,800 lambs, 2,474 oxen are consumed-an array of flocks and herds surpassing in extent the possessions of many a pastoral patriarch of ancient times-besides 24,075 fowls, 4,230 ducks, 2,200 turkeys, 2,200 geese, 53 tons of ham, 20 tons bacon, 15 tons cheese, and 832,603 eggs.

"Other articles are in extensive demand, and in the course of a year there is consumed:-one ton and a half of mustard, one ton and three quarters of pepper, 7,216 bottles pickles, 8,000 tins sardines, 33 tons salt cod and ling, 4,192 four-lb. Jars of jam, 15 tons marmalade, 22 tons raisins, currants, and figs, 18 tons split peas, 15 tons pearl barley, 17 tons rice, 34 tons oatmeal, 460 tons flour, 23 tons biscuits, 33 tons salt, 48,902 loaves of bread 8lbs. each.

"The Cunard passengers annually drink and smoke to the following extent:-8,030 bottles and 17,613 half-bottles champagne, 13,941 bottles and 7,310 half-bottles claret, 9,200 bottles other wines, 489,344 bottles ale and porter, 174,921 bottles mineral waters, 344,000 bottles spirits; 34,360 lbs. tobacco, 63,340 cigars, and 56,875 cigarettes.

"The heaviest item in the annual consumption of the Company is of course coal, of which 356,764 tons are burnt-nearly equal to 1,000 tons for every day in the year.

"This quantity of coal, if built as a wall four feet high and one foot thick, would reach from Land's End to John o'Groats' House.

"With regard to the aggregate employment of labour by the Cunard Company, it includes 34 captains, 146 officers, 628 engineers, boilermakers, and carpenters, 665 seamen, 916 firemen, 900 stewards, 62 stewardesses, 42 women to keep the upholstery and linen in order, with 1,100 men of a shore gang, or about 4,506 people to run the ships, which traverse yearly a distance equal to five times that between the earth and the moon!"

In the old picture, kitchen and dining room staff of a steamship circa 1900.

From The Gjenvick-Gjønvik Archives.