24. Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Four
Half Of Forever by Henrik
April 14-15, 1912
I grip Charlie’s hand tightly. We’ve made contact with the iceberg. He and I lock eyes and it feels as though the hourglass has tipped to the other side, the final countdown has begun, for the ship and for us.
Somewhere off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, Titanic has sideswiped an iceberg, the result of a last-minute swerving maneuver to avoid impact. The damage has been done, and Titanic is mortally wounded. She had received ice warnings on April 14th, but was traveling at a speed of approximately twenty-two knots when the iceberg was spotted, making it incredibly difficult to turn quickly enough.
There has been a debate for years whether she could have hit the iceberg head on and survived. She likely would only have flooded two to four of the watertight compartments and possibly would have been able to limp to a safe destination. In this instance; however, the iceberg strikes the starboard side of the ship, exposing six of her sixteen compartments to the ocean.
History asks the age old question: how could it have been avoided? Did Murdoch make the correct decision in swerving to avoid impact? Honestly, who can say? If anyone had mere seconds to make a career altering, life-changing decision, can they honestly say they could choose a different course of action than he did? History always looks for someone to blame. And sometimes there is someone. But sometimes, more often than not, tragedies are just that: tragedies. Multiple errors added up to this specific tragedy. True, things could have been different if they had heeded the ice warnings or if they had seen the iceberg early enough to maneuver. But the moonless sky certainly wouldn’t have helped with visibility either, binoculars available or not. A maritime officer trains to maneuver and avoid impact. Perhaps hitting the iceberg head on would not have been as devastating, but that goes against their training.
Titanic is bleeding to death, and we all stand here staring at each other, unsure of what to do next.
A heavy stillness hovers above us. No one is sure what to say and certainly none of us want to be the one to break the silence. We stare around the circle at each other, waiting for someone to move.
“Should we… go up to the boat deck?” Ben asks as he looks around at the group of us. I understand the hesitation in his voice. Everything we do at this point feels morbid and insensitive.
“I think we should,” Sarah says. “I know it feels wrong, but this is the reason we traveled here: to learn. And that means the good and the bad.” She’s right, that was the purpose of our mission. We knew going into this it would be difficult, though I’m sure none of us expected it to be this hard. We’re running out of time to gather any meaningful evidence. We have a limited window where we can safely venture to and from our cabin. The ship will take on water quickly and we need to get back to our cabin before our deck floods.
“Actually,” Eric interrupts, “I think Sarah and I should stay here. We need to get the rooms packed up and all our trunks together into one spot to make the return easier. You guys should go up and meet us back here.”
Ben nods. “Good idea, Eric. You’re right.”
I grab a long green coat from my trunk and put it on before returning to the group. I leave it unbuttoned. I know it’s cold outside, but the adrenaline rushing through me right now has me feeling quite warm.
“Okay, guys,” Ben says. “I don’t know what it’s going to be like up there. If something happens and we get separated or it becomes too dangerous to manage, we all need to hit our buttons, okay? Agree?”
We all exchange glances and nod before Ben, Charlie, and I head up to the boat deck together.