Norfolk jacket
A Norfolk jacket is a loose, single-breasted jacket with box pleats on the back and front, with a belt or half-belt. It was designed as a shooting coat that did not bind when the elbow was raised to fire, it was named either after the Duke of Norfolk or after the county of Norfolk and was made fashionable after the 1860s in the sporting circle of the Prince of Wales Edward VII, whose country residence was Sandringham House in Norfolk. The style was long popular for boys' jackets and suits, is still used in some uniforms. British country clothing
Isidor Straus
Isidor Straus was a German-born American Jewish businessman, politician and co-owner of Macy's department store with his brother Nathan. He served for just over a year as a member of the United States House of Representatives, he died with Ida, in the sinking of the passenger ship RMS Titanic. Isidor Straus was born into a Jewish family in Otterberg in the former Palatinate ruled by the Kingdom of Bavaria, he was the first of five children of his second wife Sara. His siblings were Hermine, Jakob Otto and Oscar Solomon Straus. In 1854 he and his family immigrated to the United States, following his father, who immigrated two years before, they settled first in Columbus and lived in Talbotton, where their house still exists today. After the Civil War, they moved to New York City, where Lazarus convinced Rowland Hussey Macy, founder of Macy's, to allow L. Straus & Sons to open a crockery department in the basement of his store. Isidor Straus worked at L. Sons, which became the glass and china department at Macy's.
In 1888, he and Nathan Straus became partners of Macy's. By 1896, Isidor and his brother Nathan had gained full ownership of R. H. Co.. In 1871, Isidor Straus married Rosalie Ida Blun, they were parents to seven children: Jesse Isidor Straus, who married Irma Nathan, served as U. S. Ambassador to France, 1933–1936 Clarence Elias Straus, who died in infancy Percy Selden Straus, who married Edith Abraham, daughter of Abraham Abraham Sara Straus, who married Dr. Alfred Fabian Hess Minnie Straus, who married Richard Weil Herbert Nathan Straus, who married Therese Kuhn in 1907 Vivian Straus first married Herbert Adolph Scheftel with whom she had two of her three children and second, in 1917, married George A. Dixon, Jr. Isidor and Ida were a devoted couple, writing to each other every day when they were apart, he served as a U. S. Congressman from January 30, 1894, to March 3, 1895, as a Democratic representative to New York's 15th congressional district. Straus was president of The Educational Alliance and a prominent worker in charitable and educational movements much interested in civil service reform and the general extension of education.
He declined the office of Postmaster General, offered him by U. S. President Grover Cleveland; when the newly formed Mutual Alliance Trust Company opened for business in New York on the Tuesday after June 29, 1902, there were 13 directors, including Emanuel Lehman, William Rockefeller, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Straus. Traveling back from a winter in Europe spent at Cape Martin in southern France and his wife were passengers on the RMS Titanic when, at about 11:40 p.m. on April 14, 1912, it hit an iceberg. Once it was clear the Titanic was sinking, Ida refused to leave Isidor and would not get into a lifeboat without him. Although Isidor was offered a seat in a lifeboat to accompany Ida, he refused seating while there were still women and children aboard and refused to be made an exception. According to friend and Titanic survivor Colonel Archibald Gracie IV, upon seeing that Ida was refusing to leave her husband, he offered to ask a deck officer if Isidor and Ida could both enter a lifeboat together.
Isidor was reported to have told Colonel Gracie in a firm tone: "I will not go before the other men." Ida insisted her newly hired English maid, Ellen Bird, get into lifeboat #8. She gave Ellen her fur coat. Ida is reported to have said, "I will not be separated from my husband; as we have lived, so will we die, together." Isidor and Ida were last seen on deck arm in arm. Eyewitnesses described the scene as a "most remarkable exhibition of love and devotion". Both died on April 15. Isidor Straus's body was recovered by the cable ship Mackay-Bennett and taken to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where it was identified before being shipped to New York, he was first buried in the Straus-Kohns Mausoleum at Beth-El Cemetery in Brooklyn. His body was moved to the Straus Mausoleum in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx in 1928. Ida's body was never found, so the family collected water from the wreck site and placed it in an urn in the mausoleum. Isidor and Ida are memorialized on a cenotaph outside the mausoleum with a quote from the Song of Solomon: "Many waters cannot quench love—neither can the floods drown it."
In addition to the cenotaph at Woodlawn Cemetery, there are three other memorials to Isidor and Ida Straus in their adopted home of New York City: A memorial plaque can be seen on the main floor of Macy's Department Store in Manhattan. The Isidor and Ida Straus Memorial is located in Straus Park, at the intersection of Broadway and West End Avenue at 106th Street in Manhattan; the park is one block from where they resided at West End Avenue. An inscription reads, "Lovely and pleasant they were in their lives, in death they were not divided." New York City Public School P. S. 198, built in Manhattan in 1959, is named in memory of Ida Straus. The building, at Third Avenue between East 95th and 96 Streets, shares space with another school, P. S. 77. Straus Hall, one of Harvard's freshman residence halls in Harvard Yard, was given in honor of the Strauses by their three sons; the couple is portrayed in the 1953 film Titanic, the 1958 film A Night to Remember, in the musical Titanic, in scenes that are faithful to the accounts descri
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a war fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865, between the North and the South. The Civil War is the most studied and written about episode in U. S. history. As a result of the long-standing controversy over the enslavement of black people, war broke out in April 1861 when secessionist forces attacked Fort Sumter in South Carolina shortly after Abraham Lincoln had been inaugurated as the President of the United States; the loyalists of the Union in the North proclaimed support for the Constitution. They faced secessionists of the Confederate States in the South, who advocated for states' rights to uphold slavery. Among the 34 U. S. states in February 1861, secessionist partisans in seven Southern slave states declared state secessions from the country and unveiled their defiant formation of a Confederate States of America in rebellion against the U. S. Constitutional government; the Confederacy grew to control over half the territory in eleven states, it claimed the additional states of Kentucky and Missouri by assertions from exiled native secessionists without territory or population.
These were given full representation in the Confederate Congress throughout the Civil War. The two remaining slave holding states of Delaware and Maryland were invited to join the Confederacy, but nothing substantial developed; the Confederate States was never diplomatically recognized by the government of the United States or by that of any foreign country. The states that remained loyal to the U. S. were known as the Union. The Union and the Confederacy raised volunteer and conscription armies that fought in the South over the course of four years. Intense combat left 620,000 to 750,000 people dead, more than the number of U. S. military deaths in all other wars combined. The war ended when General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at the Battle of Appomattox Court House. Confederate generals throughout the southern states followed suit. Much of the South's infrastructure was destroyed the transportation systems; the Confederacy collapsed, slavery was abolished, four million black slaves were freed.
During the Reconstruction Era that followed the war, national unity was restored, the national government expanded its power, civil rights were granted to freed black slaves through amendments to the Constitution and federal legislation. In the 1860 presidential election, led by Abraham Lincoln, supported banning slavery in all the U. S. territories. The Southern states viewed this as a violation of their constitutional rights and as the first step in a grander Republican plan to abolish slavery; the three pro-Union candidates together received an overwhelming 82% majority of the votes cast nationally: Republican Lincoln's votes centered in the north, Democrat Stephen A. Douglas' votes were distributed nationally and Constitutional Unionist John Bell's votes centered in Tennessee and Virginia; the Republican Party, dominant in the North, secured a plurality of the popular votes and a majority of the electoral votes nationally. He was the first Republican Party candidate to win the presidency.
However, before his inauguration, seven slave states with cotton-based economies declared secession and formed the Confederacy. The first six to declare secession had the highest proportions of slaves in their populations, with an average of 49 percent. Of those states whose legislatures resolved for secession, the first seven voted with split majorities for unionist candidates Douglas and Bell, or with sizable minorities for those unionists. Of these, only Texas held a referendum on secession. Eight remaining slave states continued to reject calls for secession. Outgoing Democratic President James Buchanan and the incoming Republicans rejected secession as illegal. Lincoln's March 4, 1861, inaugural address declared that his administration would not initiate a civil war. Speaking directly to the "Southern States", he attempted to calm their fears of any threats to slavery, reaffirming, "I have no purpose, directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the United States where it exists.
I believe I have no lawful right to do so, I have no inclination to do so." After Confederate forces seized numerous federal forts within territory claimed by the Confederacy, efforts at compromise failed and both sides prepared for war. The Confederates assumed that European countries were so dependent on "King Cotton" that they would intervene, but none did, none recognized the new Confederate States of America. Hostilities began on April 1861, when Confederate forces fired upon Fort Sumter. While in the Western Theater the Union made significant permanent gains, in the Eastern Theater, the battle was inconclusive during 1861–1862. In September 1862, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which made ending slavery a war goal. To the west, by summer 1862 the Union destroyed the Confederate river navy much of its western armies, seized New Orleans; the successful 1863 Union siege of Vicksburg split the Confederacy in two at the Mississippi River. In 1863, Robert E. Lee's Confederate incursion north ended at the Battle of Gettysburg.
Western successes led to Ulysses S. Grant's command of all Union armies in 1864. Inflicting an ever-tightening naval blockade of Confederate ports, the Union marshaled the resources and manpower to attack the Confederacy from all directions, leading to the fall of Atlanta to William T. Sherman and his march to th
7th New York Militia
The 7th Regiment of the New York Militia, aka the "Silk Stocking" regiment, was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Known as the "Blue-Bloods" due to the disproportionate number of its members who were part of New York City's social elite, the 7th Militia was a pre-war New York Militia unit, mustered into federal service for the Civil War; the regiment, located in New York City, was organized during the furore created by the firing of British at American vessels off Sandy Hook in April 1806, as the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th companies. On 25 June 1861 they were reorganized by the state as part of the uniformed militia of the state, attached to the First Brigade of the Battalion of Artillery commanded by Maj. Andrew Sitcher. On 5 April 1807, the battalion became the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Regiment of Artillery, New York State Militia; when war with England became imminent in 1807, these four companies, with other volunteers, were temporarily organized as a regiment, commanded by Col. Peter Curtenius, remained thus detached until 20 April 1809.
In 1812 the battalion became the 2nd 11th Regiment of Artillery, New York State Militia. In 1812-14 the regiment was deployed in the harbor forts of New York. On 25 August 1824, the battalion was named Battalion of National Guards in tribute to the Marquis de Lafayette. Gray uniforms were adopted and the intention to become a regiment was declared. In December 1824, the fifth company was organized, Captain Stevens' company, of the 11th New York Artillery, transferred to it as the sixth company. In January 1825, the battalion was transferred to the 2nd New York Artillery. On 1 October 1825, the battalion was detached and organized as a separate and independent battalion, during the month the seventh company was organized. On 4 May 1826, the organization of the eighth company was completed, 7 May, the battalion was organized into a regiment, the 27th Artillery. 17 April 1838, a troop of cavalry was admitted to the regiment, which, in 1861, became the ninth company. In 1843, the state furnished the regiment with arms.
On 27 July, the designation of the regiment was changed to 7th Regiment. In 1847 the regiment was redesignated the 7th Regiment of New York State Militia. In April 1849, an engineer corps was organized, revived and reorganized 1 March 1855. A tenth company, Company K, was organized 29 March 1860; the regiment was ordered to hold itself ready for service, did active service for the United States, the state and New York City, as follows: United States service from 15 September to 15 December 1812. After organizing and brief training, the regiment, commanded by Colonel Marshall Lefferts, left New York City for Washington, D. C. on special call of President Abraham Lincoln on April 19, 1861, arriving in Annapolis Junction and opening communications with Washington April 24–25. There it was mustered in the service of the United States for thirty days, 26 April 1861. 25 May 1862, the regiment, still commanded by Col. Lefferts, again left the state, was mustered in the United States service at Camp Hamilton, Va. 29 May 1862, for three months, from 26 May 1862.
It served most of this time at Md.. And was mustered out of the United States service, 5 September 1862, at New York City. 16 June 1863, it again re-entered the United States service, was mustered in at New York City, for thirty days. It left the state on the 17th, under the command of Colonel Lefferts, served at Baltimore, Frederick, Md. In the 2d Separate Brigade, Middle Department, 8th Corps, was mustered out of the United States service, 20 July 1863, at New York City. In its service, in 1861, it lost one enlisted man, accidentally killed, it took part in the advance into Virginia on 24 May 1861; the regiment was housed in the Capitol Buildings at Washington from April 25–May 2, was mustered into Federal service on April 26, serving duty at Camp Cameron, Meridian Hill, Georgetown Heights, from May 2–23. After occupation of Arlington Heights, May 24–26, it assisted in building Fort Runyon and was mustered out at New York City on June 3, 1861; the regiment was again mustered in for three months' service on May 25, 1862.
It left New York City for Baltimore, Maryland, on May 26, was attached to Dix's Command, Middle Department, to July 1862. It was assigned to the 8th Army Corps, Middle Department, to September 1862, it was in camp at Stewart's Hill, from May 28 to June 5, duty at Fort Federal Hill from June 6 to August 28. The regiment mustered out in New York City on September 5, 1862. Once again, the regiment was mustered in, this time for thirty days' service startin
Lifeboat (shipboard)
A lifeboat is a small, rigid or inflatable boat carried for emergency evacuation in the event of a disaster aboard a ship. Lifeboat drills are required by law on larger commercial ships. Rafts are used. In the military, a lifeboat may double as a whaleboat, dinghy, or gig; the ship's tenders of cruise ships double as lifeboats. Recreational sailors carry inflatable life rafts, though a few prefer small proactive lifeboats that are harder to sink and can be sailed to safety. Inflatable lifeboats may be equipped with auto-inflation canisters or mechanical pumps. A quick release and pressure release mechanism is fitted on ships so that the canister or pump automatically inflates the lifeboat, the lifeboat breaks free of the sinking vessel. Commercial aircraft are required to carry auto-inflating life rafts in case of an emergency water landing. Ship-launched lifeboats are lowered from davits on a ship's deck, are hard to sink in normal circumstances; the cover serves as protection from sun and rain, can be used to collect rainwater, is made of a reflective or fluorescent material, visible.
Lifeboats have oars and mirrors for signaling, first aid supplies, food and water for several days. Some lifeboats are more capably equipped to permit self-rescue, with supplies such as a radio, an engine and sail, navigational equipment, solar water stills, rainwater catchments and fishing equipment; the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea and the International Life-Saving Appliance Code requires certain emergency equipment be carried on each lifeboat and liferaft used on international voyages. Modern lifeboats carry an Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon and either a radar reflector or Search and Rescue Transponder. During the Age of Sail, the ship's boats were also used as lifeboats in case of emergency. In March 1870, answering a question at the House of Commons of the United Kingdom about the sinking of PS Normandy, George Shaw-Lefevre said that...in the opinion of the Board of Trade, it will not be possible to compel the passenger steamers running between England and France to have boats sufficient for the numerous passengers they carry.
They would encumber the decks, rather add to the danger than detract from it. In the late 1880s, Maria Beasley improved the design of life rafts, she patented a life-saving raft in both the United States and England in 1880. By the turn of the 20th century larger ships meant more people could travel, but safety rules regarding lifeboats remained out of date: for example, British legislation concerning the number of lifeboats was based on the tonnage of a vessel and only encompassed vessels of "10,000 gross register tons and over", it was not until after the sinking of RMS Titanic on April 15, 1912, that a broader movement began to require a sufficient number of lifeboats on passenger ships for all people on board. Titanic, with a gross tonnage of 46,000 tonnes and carrying 20 lifeboats, exceeded the regulations laid down by the Board of Trade, which required a ship of her size to carry boats capable of carrying a total of 1,060 people. Titanic's boats had a capacity of 1,178 people on a ship capable of carrying 3,330 people.
The type of life raft used on Titanic were the ones patented by Beasley. The need for so many more lifeboats on the decks of passenger ships after 1912 led to the use of most of the deck space available on the large ships, creating the problem of restricted passageways; this was resolved by the wider use of collapsible lifeboats, a number of, carried on Titanic. During World War II and the Battle of the Atlantic with convoys going to northern Russia through the Arctic Ocean it was found that the chance of the crews of merchant ships surviving in open lifeboats was not good unless they were rescued in a couple of hours; the US Navy asked various groups and manufacturers to suggest solutions. The result was the first enclosed, self-righting lifeboat, manufactured in Delanco, New Jersey; these radically new lifeboats were 24 feet in length and weighed 5,000 lb. They had two enclosed cabins which could hold a total of 25 persons; the space in between was designed to help persons in the water be pulled aboard, could be enclosed with a canvas top.
The new type lifeboat could be driven either by a small motor or sail. In 1943 the US developed a balsa wood liferaft that would not sink, irrespective of the number of holes in it; these balsa liferafts were designed to hold five to ten men on a platform suspended on the inside or fifteen to twenty-five hanging lines placed on the outsides. They were inexpensive, during the war thousands were stored in any space possible on US warships and merchant ships; these liferafts were intended only for use during a short term before lifeboats or another ship in the convoy or group could bring them aboard. When USS Indianapolis, a cruiser operating alone, was sunk in 1945, none of its larger lifeboats were launched, the survivors had to rely on balsa liferafts automatically released as the ship sank. Today, enclosed lifeboats are the preferred lifeboats fitted on modern merchant ships because of their superior protection against the elements; each merchant ship has one lifeboat fitted on the port side and one on the starboard side, so that a lifeboat is always available if the ship is listing to one side.
Lifeboat capacity is specified
A Night to Remember (1958 film)
A Night to Remember is a 1958 British drama film adaptation of Walter Lord's 1955 book, which recounts the final night of RMS Titanic. Adapted by Eric Ambler and directed by Roy Ward Baker, the film stars Kenneth More and features Michael Goodliffe, Laurence Naismith, Kenneth Griffith, David McCallum and Tucker McGuire, it was filmed in the United Kingdom and tells the story of the sinking, portraying the main incidents and players in a documentary-style fashion with considerable attention to detail. The production team, supervised by producer William MacQuitty used blueprints of the ship to create authentic sets, while Fourth Officer Joseph Boxhall and ex-Cunard Commodore Harry Grattidge worked as technical advisors on the film, its budget of £600,000 was exceptional and made it the most expensive film made in Britain up to that time. The World Premiere was on 3 July 1958 at the Odeon Leicester Square. Titanic survivor Elizabeth Dowdell attended the American premiere in New York on Tuesday 16 December 1958.
The film received critical acclaim upon release and is still regarded as "the definitive cinematic telling of the story." Among the many films about the Titanic, A Night to Remember has long been regarded as the high point by Titanic historians and survivors alike for its accuracy, despite its modest production values, compared with the Oscar-winning version of Titanic. In 1912, the Titanic is the largest vessel afloat and is believed to be unsinkable. Passengers aboard for her maiden voyage are the cream of British society. Boarding are first class passengers Sir Richard and Lady Richard, second class passengers Mr. Clarke and Mrs. Clarke, a young newly wed couple, steerage passengers Mr. Murphy, Mr. Gallagher and Mr. James Farrel. Second Officer Charles Lightoller is readying for the voyage. On 10 April, Titanic sails out to sea. On 14 April, at sea, the ship receives a number of ice warnings from other steamers. Only a few of the messages are relayed to Captain Edward J. Smith, who orders a lookout, but does not slow the ship or consider changing course.
Late that night, the SS Californian spots float ice in the distance, tries to send a message to the Titanic. On board the Titanic, the steerage passengers are enjoying their time on the ship when Murphy spies a young Polish girl, asks her to dance with him. In the depths of the ship, Thomas Andrews, the ship's builder, inspects the boiler room. Up in the wireless room, wireless operators Jack Phillips and Harold Sydney Bride are changing shifts. Phillips receives an ice warning, but when more messages arrive for him to send out, it is lost under them. On the Californian, field ice is spotted, the ship stops, for it is too dangerous to proceed, a message is sent to the Titanic; because the Californian is so close, the message is loud, Phillips interrupts the message. On the Titanic, passengers begin to settle in for the night, while some, including Mr. Hoyle and Jay Yates stay up to gamble; the vessel collides with an iceberg. Captain Smith sends for Thomas Andrews. Andrews determines that the ship will sink within two hours, it lacks sufficient lifeboat capacity for everyone on board.
A distress signal is sent out, efforts begin to signal the SS Californian, visible on the horizon 10 miles away, but its radio operator is off duty and does not hear the distress signal. The radio operator on the RMS Carpathia receives the distress call and alerts Captain Arthur Rostron, who orders the ship to head to the site; the ship is 58 miles away, will take around four hours to reach the Titanic. Meanwhile, the Californian remains where it is, the crew failing to comprehend why the large ship they are in sight of is firing rockets. Captain Smith orders Officers William Murdoch to start lowering the lifeboats. On Lightoller's side, men are not allowed on board, but Murdoch, working the other side of the ship, is far more lenient, letting men board lifeboats. Chief Baker Charles Joughin, after giving up his space in a lifeboat, turns to the bottle to ease his ailments. In the Grand Staircase, Robbie Lucas runs into Mr. Andrews and asks if the ship is damaged. Andrews tells him to get his wife and children into the boats.
Lucas rouses his children and wife to go to the lifeboats. He gets them safety in a boat, turns away, realizing he will never see his family again. Murphy and Farrel help the Polish girl, her mother find their way though the ship, get them in a lifeboat; the Richards, Hoyle are admitted to a boat by Murdoch. Yates gives a female passenger a note to send to his sister. Andrews advises the Clarkes on; as the stewards struggle to hold back women and children in third-class, most of those from first- and second-class board the lifeboats and launch away from the ship. The ship fills with water, the passengers begin to realize the danger, as the ship lists more and more; when the third-class passengers are allowed up from below, chaos ensues. The Titanic's bow submerges, only two collapsible lifeboats are left. Lightoller and other able seamen struggle to free them. Captain Smith remained on the Titanic's bridge when the forward superstructure went under, died there. Lightoller and many others are swept off the ship.
Thomas Andrews, asked if he will save himself, remains in the first-class smoking room, lamenting his failure to build a strong and safe ship. Passengers jump into the sea; the Clarkes, struggling in the water, are killed by a falling funnel. The stricken liner sinks into the icy sea. Many passenge
Washington Light Infantry
The Washington Light Infantry is a military and social organization located in Charleston, South Carolina. Founded in 1807, it is one of the oldest of these militia groups still active in the United States. Following the American Revolutionary War, tensions lingered between the fledgling United States and Great Britain, many Americans feared another war. In cities across the new country, citizens organized themselves into private militia groups. Several were established in Charleston, including the Washington Light Artillery, named for George Washington; the company was first mustered into active service during the War of 1812, but did not see combat as British troops did not invade South Carolina. In 1827, the widow of Colonel William Washington presented the company with his old Revolutionary War battleflag. In 1836, the company was activated and sent to Florida to combat hostile Seminole Indians during the Seminole Wars, they guarded the city of St. Augustine. Six years the company helped establish the South Carolina Military Academy.
During the Mexican–American War, the company became part of the Palmetto Regiment and marched into Mexico City in the army of Winfield Scott. When South Carolina seceded from the Union in early 1861, the Washington Light Artillery reformed into three distinct companies and served in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. One company became Company A of the Hampton Legion. A total of 414 men served in the unit during the war. Following the war, the survivors returned home and helped reopen the closed military academy in 1882, they formed the Washington Light Infantry Charitable Association to assist the families of fallen Confederate soldiers, as well as those men, invalided or otherwise disabled while on duty. In 1916, the unit took the field again, serving as border guards with Mexico near El Paso, Texas, at the request of President Woodrow Wilson. A year following the United States' entry into World War I, the WLI served in the United States Army overseas in the 105th Ammunition Train, 55th Field Artillery Brigade, 30th Division.
Following the armistice, the National Guard reorganized, many of the state militia units were redesignated. The Washington Light Infantry became Company B of South Carolina National Guard. In May 1921, the unit guarded ships and docks on behalf of the United States Shipping Board during a bitter dispute between sailors and shipping companies over wages. Parts of the National Guard were sent overseas during World War II, Company A was reinstituted for guard duty on the home front. A military banquet is held in Charleston annually on February 22 coincident with Washington's Birthday. List of South Carolina Confederate Civil War units Schreadley, R. L. Valor and Virtue: The Washington Light Infantry In Peace and In War. Spartanburg, South Carolina: The Reprint Company, 1997. Washington Light Infantry website Washington Light Infantry Monument, Cowpens National Battlefield, Gaffney, SC
