GRATITUDE
Chapter Six
About an hour or two later,
Thomas woke her up so that they could go down to dinner. They dressed and then
left for the dining room. When they sat down, Rose was nowhere to be found, and
this worried Arabella. They ordered their dinner and everything went along as
if nothing was going to happen.
After dinner, Arabella and Thomas
went on their evening walk, spending that walk talking, as they always did on
their walks. Once they had gone around the deck at least twice, they returned
to their suite. By this time, it was nine o'clock. Arabella went to the couch
and rested while Thomas sat at his desk looking over some blueprints. Then,
after finding she could not fall asleep, Arabella sat up, was joined by Thomas
on the couch, and they talked for God knows how long. But just as Thomas was
sitting back at his desk, observing the blueprints again, and Arabella was
falling asleep, they felt the ship shake. Thomas looked at his brandy, which
was shaking, and then at the chandelier which held the light, and it was rattling.
Arabella sat up and looked at
Thomas. He had a look on his face and was afraid of what it might have been.
Not even five minutes later, there was a sharp knocking on the door. Thomas
stood up and went to answer it. On the other side stood Will Murdoch.
"Thomas, the Captain needs
to see you. Right away, in the chart room," he said.
"All right. Thank you. I'll
be right up," Thomas said. He closed the door and began to fear the worst.
He didn't speak to Arabella, but
began to gather his blueprints. Arabella made her mind up at once and went to
her room for her coat.
"Arabella, stay here,"
he said.
"No, Thomas. I'm going with
you," Arabella stated.
Thomas just decided not to argue.
He was not going to win this. He put on his coat, got his blueprints, and then
went up to the chart room with Arabella on his heels.
Before reaching the room, Will
told them they had hit an iceberg and that he had checked the holds and that
water had breached three of the rooms and in boiler room six and in the
forepeak.
When Thomas walked into the room,
Arabella stood off to the side as Thomas unrolled the blueprint showing the
watertight bulkheads. Arabella knew it was bad. Her husband’s hands were
shaking as he did this.
"Water fourteen feet above
the keel in ten minutes...in the forepeak...in all three holds...and in boiler
room six," Thomas said.
"That’s right," Captain
Smith said.
"When can we get underway,
dammit?" Bruce Ismay asked. At this question, Arabella felt like slapping
the man.
"That’s five
compartments!" Thomas said, almost yelling at Bruce. Then he turned back
to the Captain. "Five compartments. She can stay afloat with the first
four compartments breached. But not five. Not five. As she goes down by the
head, the water will spill over the tops of the bulkheads...at E Deck...from
one to the next...back and back. There's no stopping it," Thomas continued
with pointing at the print.
"The pumps--" the
Captain started.
"The pumps buy you
time...but minutes only. From this moment, no matter what we do, Titanic will
founder," Thomas said, cutting him off.
At this, Arabella felt like
fainting, but did not. Smith looked like someone had just hit him in the gut.
"How much time?" he
asked.
"An hour. Two at most,"
Thomas answered.
"And how many aboard, Mr.
Murdoch?" the Captain asked.
"Two thousand two hundred
souls aboard, sir," Will answered.
Then the Captain turned to Bruce.
"I believe you may get your
headlines, Mr. Ismay," the Captain said softly. "You may go now.
Thank you, Thomas," the Captain continued.
Thomas rolled up his blueprint
and then took Arabella's hand. Before leaving the room, he pulled out of the
closet in the room a lifebelt and put it on Arabella. Then they left the room.
About ten, fifteen minutes later, the crew was running about on the deck trying
to prepare the lifeboats for departure. They were striding along on the deck,
overseeing it all, when Thomas began to speak to one of the men.
"Turn to the right! Pull the
falls taut before you unchock. Have you never had a boat drill?" he asked.
"No, sir, not with these new
davits," the man said.
Thomas looked around at all the
men who were struggling with it all.
A few moments later, Thomas and
Arabella were rushing up the deck to see it almost completely empty, with only
the crew.
"Where are all the passengers?"
Thomas yelled.
"They've all gone back
inside. Too damn cold and noisy for them," Murdoch replied.
Thomas pulled out his pocketwatch
and then with a grave look at Arabella, they headed for the foyer entrance.
As they walked down the stairs of
the Grand Staircase and reached the bottom, Rose came up to them with Cal right
behind her.
"I saw the iceberg, Mr.
Andrews, and I see it in your eyes. Please tell me the truth," Rose said.
Thomas gave her a heartbroken
look and then took her hands.
"The ship will sink,"
Thomas admitted.
"You're certain?" Rose
asked.
"Yes. In an hour, or
so...all this...will be at the bottom of the Atlantic," Thomas said.
"My God," Cal said.
"Please tell only who you
must. I don't want to be responsible for a panic. And get to a boat quickly.
Don't wait. You remember what I told you about the boats?" Thomas asked.
"Yes. I understand. Thank
you," Rose answered.
Thomas and Arabella walked off and
Arabella gave Rose one last sad look before helping to urge the passengers to
put their lifebelts on and get to the deck.
The couple ran through the first
class halls, checking that people were out of their rooms, then the second.
After about half an hour, Arabella heard the call of a familiar voice.
"Mr. Andrews!" the
voice cried.
Thomas was opening a door and
yelling into the room, "Is anyone in here?"
Suddenly, Rose ran into the hall.
Arabella looked at Rose, puzzled.
"Mr. Andrews, thank God!
Where would the Master-at-Arms take someone under arrest?" Rose asked.
Arabella looked at her with the
same look Thomas had. She must be crazy!
"What? You have to get to a
boat right away!" Thomas ordered.
"No! I'll do this with or
without your help, sir. But without will take longer," Rose said.
Thomas paused for a second and
then spoke. "Take the lift to the very bottom, go left, down the crewmen's
passage, then make a right."
"Bottom, left, right. I have
it," Rose said.
"Please hurry!" Thomas
called after her. Rose ran off with a quick glance at Arabella. Arabella looked
at Thomas, frightened, but they continued on with checking the rooms.
By the time they were done, it
was 12:45. They went up to the deck. Thomas was trying to prolong it all when
he would demand Arabella get on a boat, leaving him.
When they got on the deck, they
looked out at the sea, where they noticed a lifeboat was rowing away. Thomas
counted the people and scowled. He walked up to Officer Lightoller.
"Why are the boats being
launched half full?" he demanded.
"Not now, Mr. Andrews,"
Officer Lightoller said.
Thomas pointed at the boat that
he had counted off of. "There, look...twenty or so in a boat built for
sixty-five. And I saw one boat with only twelve. Twelve!" Thomas said.
"Well...we were not sure of
the weight--" Lightoller said, but Thomas stopped him.
"They were tested in Belfast
with the weight of seventy men. Now, fill these boats, Mr. Lightoller. For
God's sake, man!" Thomas said.
They walked up a bit more and
stopped near the boat that Harold Lowe was going down with.
"Arabella, I have prolonged
this as much as I can. But it's time. Get on the boat," Thomas said.
Arabella looked at him like he
was crazy.
"No. I'm not getting on a
boat. Not without you," Arabella replied.
"Arabella, you staying on
this ship and waiting for me to get on a boat is just going to increase your
risk of dying," Thomas said.
"So, you expect me to go on
a boat, and pray that you survive? Thomas, I have been apart from you for
fifteen years. If you are going to die, then I am going to die with you,"
Arabella replied, defiant.
"No, you are not staying on
the ship. You might be with child. Think of the baby," Thomas said.
"But Thomas," she said.
Just then, she felt a hand pull on hers. She turned to see Harold pulling her
towards the boat.
"No, Harold! Let go of
me!" she yelled. Arabella lunged for Thomas, who gave her a kiss and a
whispered "I love you" and then she was pulled onto the boat. Thomas
stood by the side and watched as she was about to be lowered away, away from
the ship, and away from him.
"Someone hold her
down!" Harold ordered as Arabella was trying to get off of the boat.
Harold put as many more people as
he could fit into the boat and then they began to lower the boat. Arabella
looked away for just a second as the boat was being lowered, and when she
looked back, Thomas was gone.
"Thomas!" she cried.
"Let go of me!" she yelled.
But two crewmen held her tightly
and a woman sat there, trying to comfort her.
By the time they had reached the
water, Arabella knew it was pointless. She had no hope of getting back onto the
ship. They rowed away and Arabella crumpled into the women’s arms in tears.