Have you ever heard of a fancy restaurant floating in the middle of the ocean? In 1907, a huge ship set sail. It was called the Lusitania. Builders designed it to carry passengers across the Atlantic Ocean. Onboard, ladies sipped turtle soup from fine china. Gentlemen ate lamb with shiny silver forks. These passengers were riding on a huge ship, staying in an impressive hotel, and eating at an elegant restaurant all at once.

The time the Lusitania and other ocean liners sailed is called the “the golden age of sea travel.” Visitors to a new exhibit at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, will get to relive it. They will look at more than 200 items in the exhibition called Ocean Liners: Glamour, Speed, and Style. Some are photographs of ocean liners. Some are leftover objects from the huge ships. The items tell a story: For 100 years, ocean liners ruled the seas. Ocean liners were tough. They had to carry people through rough waters. But they were luxurious too. To make the decorations for a liner called the Mauretania, it took 300 woodworkers two years! Women on ocean liners wore floor-length gowns and carried parasols. Men put on fashionable coats. Their lunch might include tomato omelets, anchovies, and rolled ox tongue. (It may sound gross to you. But to them, it was quite glamorous!)

When an American traveled on an ocean liner to Europe, it sent a message. It was a way of saying, “Look at me. I am somebody!” But ocean liners weren’t just elegant. They also moved quickly. People wanted the speediest ride across the ocean. Daniel Finamore is a curator for the new exhibit. A curator chooses and cares for items in a museum. He says of that time period, “The latest ship had to be the fastest.”