Book Review: Titanic: The Untold Tale of Gay Passengers and Crew by Jack Fritscher
Last year, when I was working on my “Ship of Secrets” blog post, I stumbled across a book called Titanic: The Untold Story of Gay Passengers and Crew by Jack Fritscher. One quote from the author kept popping up in my research: Of the 885 male crew on TITANIC, 693, or 78 percent, died. Altogether,…
Hidden in the Wake: The Lusitania’s LGBTQ+ History
Last year for Pride Month, I wrote a post about the LGBTQ+ history of RMS Titanic. This year I wanted to focus on RMS Lusitania and her stories. Lusitania was one of the most famous ships in the world when she was torpedoed and sunk by U-20 on May 7, 1915. The ship was a…
Lovely Cruise: Sailing on the Margaritaville at Sea Paradise
Last month, my wife and I set sail aboard one of the most talked-about cruise ships currently operating: Margaritaville at Sea Paradise. Famously known as the oldest active cruise ship in North America—at nearly 35 years old—she earned a colorful reputation that’s evolved since her rebranding in 2022. We booked a two-night cruise to Nassau,…
Silent Night, Deadly Night: The Sinking of SS Léopoldville
On Christmas Eve 1944, the Battle of the Bulge raged in the Ardennes Forest. Adolf Hitler’s war machine launched its last major offensive on December 16, recalling the successful Blitzkrieg tactics used in 1939 and 1940. Over 200,000 German troops and 1,000 tanks advanced along a 75-mile front, pushing about 50 miles into Allied-controlled territory….
Book Review: The Sailing of the Intrepid by Montel Williams and David Fisher
Moored at Pier 86 in New York City—where some of the greatest ocean liners in history have docked—sits a ship with a storied past. The USS Intrepid, an Essex-class aircraft carrier from World War II, saw combat in the Pacific and helped turn the tide of the war. Today it houses the Intrepid Museum and…
Beloved Captain Michele Bartolomei Dies Suddenly Aboard Diamond Princess
Captain Michele Bartolomei, a beloved and respected cruise ship captain commanding Diamond Princess, suddenly passed away in the early morning of May 19, 2025. The cause of death has not been revealed. He was just 52 years old. At approximately 2 am, passengers on Diamond Princess awoke to hear a call for a medical team…
The Captain’s Table
Stories from the Golden Age of Ocean Liners to the Cruise Ships of Today
How it all started…
Over a decade ago, I started a blog called The Captain’s Table to tell the stories about the ships and people involved in the Golden Age of ocean liners. I was working as a tour guide aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA at the time and it was a way to help me both deepen my knowledge and explore a topic I’d been passionate about for a long time.
With this overhauled version of the blog, I’ll continue to explore the stories, ships, and people connected to the old ocean liners. But there’ll also be a new emphasis on cruise ships as well: they continue the traditions and history made famous by such ships as Queen Mary, United States, Mauretania, Caronia, and many others. I’ll be nerding out a lot, and I really hope that you enjoy this blog.
Zach Whitlow
Writer, Ship Geek, and Avid Cruiser