19th Century Meal Calls

Meal calls at West Point in the 19th century were not what you might expect. In 1853, USMA regulations specified the following times and signals for meals:

• 7 A.M.: “Peas-upon-a-trencher, the signal for breakfast”

• 1 P.M.: “Roast-beef, the signal for dinner.” This was used on the Titanic and other ships into the 20th century for meal calls.

Videos of both calls are linked below:

Peas-upon-a-Trencher

Roast Beef of Old England (fife and drum)

Roast Beef on the Bugle as played on the RMS Olympic [skip to 5:40]