Extra Credit Questions

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(07-12-2018 12:34 PM)Susan Higginbotham Wrote:  Old Bay seasoning, which according to Wikipedia was named for the Old Bay Line, employer of John and Isaac Surratt?

I just knew that you would be the one to get this! A+ -- and now for my usual history lesson. Old Bay seasoning dates to the late-1930s when a Jewish family immigrated to Baltimore and began selling his homemade recipe. He was finally bought out by McCormick. If you are from Southern Maryland or miles around, you just plain grow up with Old Bay, especially during the summer. Shrimp, crabs, deviled eggs, popcorn, even hummus tastes better with that seasoning.

The seasoning's name is taken from the Old Bay Line, which was a steam packet company that ran down the Chesapeake Bay from Baltimore to Norfolk (with side stops in DC and Point Comfort) from its beginnings in 1840 through its final cruise in 1962. Their ships were designated as packet steamers because the company was contracted with the U.S. government to carry U.S. mail, but its ships were also rather luxurious, overnight service for passengers. As Susan mentioned, two of the company's employees after the Civil War were John Surratt, Jr., and his older brother, Isaac. There is a photo of John taken aboard one of the ships.

Old Bay ships were known for fine dining and entertainment, but there are some very interesting historical tidbits connected with some of the ships. One of the fanciest of the fleet was called "The Honeymoon," for obvious reasons. Its real name, however, was the President Warfield, named after the company's president at that time -- who just happened to be the uncle of Bessie Wallis Warfield, the Baltimore divorcee and socialite who disrupted the British monarchy by winning the heart of its future king, who abdicated the throne for "the woman I love."

The President Warfield went on to greater fame, however. It was one of the boats turned over to the U.S. Navy during WWII and was used by the British in the staging of D-Day. In 1947, its name was changed to EXODUS1947, and it became the famed ship that attempted to carry nearly 5000 Jewish refugees from war-torn Europe to Palestine before being turned away by the British Navy.

As a sidebar: For those of you who have read or seen the old movie, A Night To Remember, about the sinking of the Titanic, the author of that classic was Walter Lord, whose grandfather was once president of the Old Bay Line.