AN ADVENTURE TO REMEMBER AND A MEMORY TO FORGET
Chapter Twelve
Harry’s POV
I had just gotten clocked in for
work when I was in the wheel room with the captain, who was about to clock out,
and Lightoller, who was coming on.
"Clear outside."
Captain Smith was stirring his tea as he talked.
I waited on Lightoller to
respond. "Yes. I don't think I've ever seen such a flat calm."
"Like a mill pond. Not a
breath of wind." He was still stirring his tea, this time a bit more
nervously.
"It will make the bergs
harder to see, with no breaking water at the base." Lightoller was
beginning to look worried.
Captain Smith just stirred his
cup of tea. "Maintain current speed and heading, Mr. Lightoller. I’m
off."
I watched Captain Smith take off
in the direction of the captain’s quarters. Lightoller shook his head. "We
don’t need to be doing this. We’ve already gotten ice warnings from other
ships. Some are even stopped during the night as not to hit the icebergs
because they can’t be seen."
I shrugged my shoulders. "If
the captain wants us to continue, the captain can continue. I personally agree
with you, but if we question him or slow down, we’ll all lose our jobs."
"Yeah, but I still don’t
agree with it. When other ships stop at night, that should be his first
clue."
I put my hand on Lightoller’s
shoulder as I walked by him, heading outside to keep an eye on things.
"When you’re captain of the next voyage, do as you wish. Let me know if
you need me."
I started to walk around on the
boat deck, but stopped by my room to grab my jacket. It was exceptionally cold
outside. I got that and leaned up against a railing, overlooking the bow of the
ship. I saw two people laughing and having a good time. She was kissing him. He
was kissing her. How I wished that was Victoria and me.
I was interrupted from my
thoughts by the lookout phone ringing. I turned around to watch Moody walk to
the phone.
I heard one of the lookouts on
the phone. "Is there anyone there?"
Moody replied, "Yes. What do
you see?"
"Iceberg, right ahead!"
Moody, looking very scared,
replied, "Thank you." He hung up the phone and ran out to get
Murdoch, who was standing by me. "Iceberg! Right ahead!" I watched
Murdoch squint his eyes, looking out at the dark sea.
They yelled in unison, "Hard
‘a starboard!" inside to the wheelman. I watched him turn the wheel over
hard. Murdoch ran to the gear dials and dialed full astern. I ran to another
one and did the same thing.
The ship started to slowly turn.
It looked for a minute like we were going to miss it, but I felt the shudder of
the wood underneath my hands as we hit the iceberg. I followed the iceberg with
my eyes as it scraped alongside the Titanic. It hit one of the cables holding
up the lookout tower and part of the iceberg fell towards the lower deck,
barely missing a few other people the and the lady and man down below.
"Holy shit!" was all I
could say. "Holy shit." In all my years of sailing, I had never seen
this.
Murdoch must have awakened
Captain Smith. I heard him talking with Lightoller and Murdoch. They called an
all stop for the ship. I was asked by the captain to find Mr. Andrews. Captain
Smith, Lightoller, and Murdoch needed to speak to him after the iceberg hit.
After finding Mr. Andrews in his room, I escorted him back to the wheel room to
discuss the damage to the ship.
I heard Mr. Andrews and the
captain talking when we walked in. Mr. Andrews unfolded a plan of the Titanic
on a table. After placing paperweights on it, I saw him motion to the
watertight head on E-Deck.
"Water’s already in one of
the boiler rooms and the mail hold is flooded." I didn’t see who said
that. I was too busy watching Mr. Andrews.
He looked up from his blueprint
of the ship momentarily to say something, but decided against it.
"When can we get underway,
dammit?" Mr. Ismay was being impatient.
"She can stay afloat with
the first four compartments breached, but not five. Not five." Mr. Andrews
had a very worried look on his face. I could tell something bad was about to
happen. I had to tell Victoria. She had to get to a lifeboat. I knew from doing
the math in my head that there were enough for about half on board. I had to
make sure Victoria and her family were part of the half who weren’t going to
freeze to death.
Victoria’s POV
I knew where Rose was going to
be, so I felt it in my best interest to stay hidden. I’m not a good liar, and I
did not want to run into Cal or Father. I found Shannon reading in her room. I
knocked on the door and she told me to come in.
"Hello, Shannie. What are
you doing?" I moved closer to the bed. She held up a copy of a book she
had gotten from the library. "Are you not speaking?"
Shannon sighed. "I am just
really into this book. You’ve hardly spent any time with me. But I understand.
Father wants you to find a husband."
I smiled. "I think I might
have. But you have to swear to me that you won’t tell Father."
Shannon put her book on her bed
and sat up. "I swear."
"Remember the officer at the
beginning of the voyage? He met us at the docks."
Shannon nodded her head.
"I really like him. I think
I love him, too. He’s told me he loves me, too."
Shannon started to smile.
"He told you he loves you? What did you think? How does it feel that
someone said that they love you? How does it feel to be in love?"
I laughed at her barrage of
questions. "It feels good. I enjoy it when I’m around him, and it pains me
not to be around him. I miss him. I just don’t know what Father will say when
the ship docks and Harry asks Father’s permission to marry me."
Shannon shook her head. "If
you are as happy as you say you are, then he’ll be happy for you. I think all
he wants is for you to be happy. Remember how he’s been hammering that into our
heads since we were little? That’s all he said when we were growing up after I
was born. He just wanted us to be happy."
I sat there for a minute, trying
to digest what my wise beyond her years little sister had said. "I know
that Father wants us to be happy. But I think he also wants us to court someone
who is of our station." I stopped a minute, unsure as to how to proceed
from here in a way that Shannon would understand it.
I was interrupted from my
thoughts by a slight tremor of the ship. The chandelier crystals above
Shannon’s bed jingled ever so slightly.
"Tory, what was that?"
Shannon stood up from her bed to walk to the port window. "Good gracious!
That’s an iceberg! Do you think we hit it?" Shannon motioned for me to
come over.
I peered out her window and
watched as the dark iceberg passed us by. "Shannon, I don’t think so. But
Father will let us know if we did."
Shannon nodded, and we walked off
to go find Father. I knew, deep in my heart, though, that we did hit the
iceberg. I just didn’t know what it meant. I had to find Harry. He’d know what
to do.
"Girls, we need to be on
alert. I heard from one of the attendants some disturbing news." Father
sighed before he continued. For the first time in my life, I saw fear in his
eyes. I knew what he was going to say next. "The ship has hit an iceberg.
I don’t know what this means. But we need to be ready in the event of
anything." Father hugged us both, then walked back to his room. Shannon
and I sat there looking at each other for what seemed like forever.
"What do we do next,
Tory?"
I looked out the window. "I
don’t know, Shannie. I guess we just wait."
It was all we could do.