At the Captain’s Discretion

The steward of the Edmund Fitzgerald stepped into my bakeshop and made this  brief announcement, “The Captain is  having guests for dinner tonight , so be sure to chill some white wine.”

Knowing they were going to have seafood or chicken, I immediately went to the liquor cabinet and chose a Chablis.

We had just departed from Silver Bay, Minnesota and were heading eastward on Lake Superior. The seas were gentle and I knew I would not  have much difficulty serving the passengers.

My greatest concern during the captain’s dinner was to plan well ahead so that I wouldn’t have to flee at the last moment to get something I had forgotten, committing a faux pas by answering a guest’s question, then having the captain graciously give his version  which would inevitably contradict whatever I had said.

My mind became a jumble of facts and figures and subconsciously I reviewed some of them.  “Let’s see now, Two Harbirs is about 26 miles northeast of Duluth and about371 miles from Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

Depending upon the weather, it usually 24 hours to sail from Silver Bay to the Soo Locks and about 12 to 14 hoursto get to Port Huron.

A deckwatch jolted me back to reality, saying, “The captain gave the passengers a tour of Silver Bay this morning and said you should “chill” this wine for his dinner tonight.

The wine label told me the wine was a Pinot Chardonnay, a wine we didn’t have in our liquor closet so  I placed it in the refrigerator and went to my cabin to learn all I could about this n0ble white wine.  This time I would be well prepared!

After lunch hour was over, I returned to the galley with renewed enthusiasm.  Iprepared a tray of my finest hors d’oeuvres  and had the passenger porter deliver them to the passenger’s lounge.

I went into the galley and asked the steward if he had any suggestions for an after-dinner drink.

“What do you have in mind?’ he asked.

“Oh, I can give them Brandy Alexanders, Pink Squirrels or Grasshoppers”

“Brandy Alexanders sound good, he replied.

“O.K.  Brandy Alexanders it shall be!”

When they arrived, I made them feel welcome.   I gracefully pulled out the chairs for each lady and gestured where the men should sit. Moments later the captain’s dinner was underway.

Everything went smoothly.  Planning ahead assured that.

The captain, sitting at the head of the table began the dinner conversation as I entered with the chilled salads

When the time came to serve the wine, I beamed with pride. and everyone stopped eating as I began my little speech.

“Ladies…..gentlemen, our dinner wine for this evening will be Pinot Chardonnay.  With a napkin draped over my wrist,I held it high for all to see, and continued, “It is  a noble white wine made from Chardonnay grapes.  Since these grapes have a smaller yield, this makes the wine more expensive. Our captain went up town in Silver Bay and purchased this wine especially  for dinner tonight.  We sincerely hope you enjoy it.”

As I began filling one of the lady’s glasses with wine, I could hear the captain’s voice  almost apologetically say,  “George, I didn’t buy the wine,  Our passengers bought it!”