Titanic Survivor Adolphe Saalfeld-- Part 2: Forgot His Perfume Samples in the Chaos

Before boarding, he and his nephew, Paul Joseph Danby, also a chemist, boarded the ship and toured it together.  Danby wrote a letter back to his wife in Manchester which stated:  "Uncle has a very large cabin, nearly a living room with sofa and electric ventilator."

Saalfeld wrote his own wife:  "... I just had an hour's roaming about on this wonderful boat.  I like my cabin very much.  It's like a bed-sitting room and rather large.  They are still busy to finish the last things on board...."

According to a later statement, Adolphe Saalfeld had been  in the smoking room at the time of the collision and saw the iceberg following which, he went to his cabin.  In his haste, however, he left his perfume samples there.

He recounted:  I saw a few  men and women go into a boat and I followed and when lowered, pushed off and rowed some distance,  fearing ... Titanic sinking... as we drifted away gradually saw the Titanic sink lower and lower and finally her lights went out, and others in my boat said they saw her disappear.  Our boat was nearly two miles away but the pitiful cries could  be plainly heard."

--Cooter

Titanic Survivor Adolphe Saalfeld-- Part 1: British Subject, Born in Germany

From Encyclopedia Titanica.

Back in April and early this month, I was writing about what they ate and drank on the Titanic on that first and last voyage it made across the Atlantic.  The article I used gave the name of "Popcorn Dan" Coxon and Adolphe Saalfeld.

He was born in Oranienbaum, Anholt, Germany, to Jewish parents  around 1865.  Trained as a chemist, he came to Britain in the  mid-1880s and became a naturalized citizen in July 1896, living in Clarence Lodge, Victoria Park, Manchester.  By 1901, he was described in the census as a chemical merchant and still living in Manchester.

A self-made  businessman, Adolphe was chairman of the  chemists and distillers at  Sparks, White & Co. and oversaw  his line  of concentrated perfume fragrances and fine oils for distribution and sales.

Saalfeld boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a first-class passenger (ticket #19988 which cost30 pounds, 10 shillings.  He was traveling with samples of his perfume products with the intention of opening up a new outlet for his floral fragrances in America.

--Cooter

What They Ate and Drank on the Titanic's Last Night-- Part 4: A Chicago Connection

Adolphe Saalfeld had boarded in Southampton and his letter was mailed before the Titanic headed across the Atlantic Ocean,  "It was pure joy for me to stitch together the tales told in letters home, to tell the story of these amazing people through the lens of drinking and dining," Veronica Hinke said.

Hinke's culinary narrative tells the stories behind the dishes, desserts and drinks that appeared, or likely appeared on Titanic menus, based on contemporary Edwardian dining trends no doubt embraced on board.  She also includes recipes, many of which were adapted to modern tastes by Chicago-area chefs.

Hinke now lives in the Chicago area, notes that there were many Chicago connections to the Titanic.  One of them was Anne Isham, one of only five female first-class passengers who did not survive. She refused to leave without her Great Dane.

First-class passengers Ida Hippach and her daughter Jean, of Evanston were survivors of both the 1903 Iroquois Theatre fire in Chicago (at least 602 deaths) and the Titanic sinking.

--Cooter