Preparing for the Journey

On the morning of Good Friday, April 5 1912, the Andersson and Danbom families were already on their way to their fate with destiny. Imagine how this whole adventure must have been for nine year old Ingeborg Andersson. She was travelling with her parents and siblings.

Anders and Alfrida Andersson, were from the small town of Kisa in Sweden. They were heading to their new home in Manitoba Canada with their five children, Sigrid 11, Ingeborg 9, Ebba 6, Sigvard 4 and little Ellis 2.

Andersson Family

Young Ingeborg and her family were heading for Manitoba, Canada, following a number of relatives who had already emigrated. Her Aunt Anna (Sigrid) had gone to America a number of years earlier where she met and married Ernst Danbom. They had headed back to Sweden for their honeymoon, where Anna found she was with child. It was decided they would stay there until after the birth of the child and then return. While there, they convinced Anna’s sister Alfrida and her husband, Anders, to join them.

Alfrida’s sister Anna, who was known to her family by her second name Sigrid, along with another sister, had emigrated in 1905. There she met Ernst, whose family had moved to America in 1867. The Danbom’s had a farm in Stanton Iowa, which boasted a large population of Swedish immigrants. Ernst had lived his life there working the farm with his family, until he met and married Sigrid. They were married in 1910 and set off for a year long honeymoon in Europe. Whilst on their honeymoon Sigrid discovered she was going to have a baby and they spent a year in Sigrid’s home town until the baby was born and old enough to travel. Little Gilbert Danbom was not quite 5 months old, when they headed for home.

Ernst, in addition to farming at home in Stanton also worked as an agent for White Star Line. This meant he was able to purchase his ticket at a discounted price and further, he received a commission from the White Star Line for all tickets he sold to those he persuaded to emigrate using White Star packages. This time it was members of his wife’s family that he was profiting from. By the time he was returning to America, Ernst had made a tidy sum, allowing him to purchase a fruit farm in California where he was planning to settle on their return.

The Andersson family were quite wealthy but were convinced by Ernst to sell their farm and try their luck on the other side of the Atlantic. Life in America would provide greater opportunities for a large family such as theirs than their homeland Sweden, where productive farm land was becoming scarce due to population growth. Anders and Alfrida sold everything they owned and were hoping to buy a farm in their new country. As with many of the large families travelling third class, they chose the cheaper mode as a money saving measure, leaving them with more money in their pockets to set up in their new homeland. Most of these families had the money to travel second class but as the third class accommodations on Titanic were far better than most second class on other ships, it wasn’t thought of as a difficulty.

At home Alfrida and Sigrid, brother Axel and his wife Hilda in Langebro outside Kisa arranged a farewell party. As well as relatives of the families of Danbom, Andersson and Anna Nysten , an acquaintance who also chose to emigrate, there were also members of the Burn Torp missionary congregation present. Slightly more than 60 people in all turned out to see the travellers off. There were songs and music and Ernst took the opportunity to advertise both the White Star Line and Titanic.

The morning of Good Friday, April 5 1912, was a grey and chilly awakening for the Danbom and Andersson families. They had to be up bright and early, even if they day itself was proving to be otherwise. They were to catch the train to Gothenburg, 200 kilometres from Kisa, on the first leg of their long journey. They began their trip on a rainy blustery morning, with winds blowing from the north west and the temperature not creeping higher than six degrees on the Celsius scale. Then they boarded the Calypso, leaving at 13:00 hours heading for Hull in England. They would spend the night in Hull and the following day boarded the train to Southampton. Once there they would wait another few days before the Titanic was due to sail.

Their's was a journey being followed by many with a total of 254 Scandinavians on board, 14 Danish, 63 Finnish, 31 Norwegian and 123 Swedish. Most of the Scandinavians followed the same arduous journey, travelling from their small towns to one of the ports offering passage to England, where they would board the train to Southampton.

Meanwhile on board Titanic was a flurry of activity. The crew not already on board were arriving. The final touches being made to the inside of the ship and the supplies being loaded.

Such as the 12,000 dinner plates, 44,000 pieces of cutlery and 29,000 glasses. Then there was the linen, 18,000 sheets, 7,500 blankets, 15,000 pillow cases and 25,000 towels, plus much more.

Everything had to be loaded and put in it's place. Testing out that everything worked, including the ovens etc in the huge kitchens that would supply the food to all the dining rooms. Each class had their own dining room and kitchen

The ship was equipped with its own waterworks, able to heat and pump water to all parts of the vessel. While the main water supply was loaded while Titanic was in port, in an emergency she could also distil fresh water from the sea. A network of insulated ducts conveyed warm air, driven by electric fans, around the ship, and First Class cabins were fitted with additional electric heaters. All needed to be in perfect working order.

There were also all the consumable supplies needed to feed the 2,224 passengers and crew. Some of the supplies were 1,500 gallons of fresh milk, 1,200 quarts of fresh cream, 6,000lbs of butter 15,000 bottle of ale and 1,000 bottles of wine. There was also 1,000 lbs of grapes, 1,750 quarts of ice cream, 40 tons of potatoes, 40,000 eggs and 100,000 lbs of meat and poultry. This is just a sample of the tons of supplies required for the journey.

There was also a great quantity of cargo to be loaded, with everything from dragon's blood to a car. All in all the Titanic was a hive of activity in the days leading up to her maiden voyage.

So as the ship was being readied and the passengers were making their way from near and far toward the Southampton docks the fickle finger of fate was working to create an unforgettable event.

 

Background
Part 1   Introduction to the story.
Part 2   Sign of the Times
Part 3  The Times They are a Changing
Part 4  Crossing the Atlantic
Part 5  Iceberg Dead Ahead

The Journey
Part 1 Preparation
Part 2 Setting Sail
Part 3 A few stops
Part 4 All's well
more coming soon

Another Perspecive
Part 1 An astrological look
Part 2 An astrological perspective