The sea was smooth as glass and no moon hung in the sky, leaving the young liner feeling as if there was no end to the ocean she plowed through. If not for her wireless, she would have been utterly convinced she was utterly alone in the darkness. But off in the distance she felt the other ships that had been equipped with the system. A relief, her wireless had broken earlier in the voyage and even now her wireless operators were working around the clock to catch up on messages.
Californian’s wireless operator, only a short distance away messaged Philips.
“Say, old man, we are stopped and surrounded by ice.”
“Shut up! Shut up! I am busy. I am working Cape Race.” Philips snapped back. The liner winced, she knew he was overworked, but that was no excuse for rudeness. Plus Californian was so close…and Jack had not informed the bridge of Mesaba’s warning either…
‘Sorry,’ she sent out to Californian, ‘he's been working round the clock since they fixed the wireless.’
Californian took a second to respond, ‘ah, maiden voyage troubles?’
The liner winced, ‘yes, they took most of the other day fixing it, and are still trying to catch up ‘
Californian chuckled, ‘my operator says he understands, but asks you to remind him of decorum once he's had sleep.’
‘of course,’ the liner agreed easily.
As Jacks paused to wipe his brow, Titanic asked him, ‘do you want me to inform the bridge of the ice warnings?’
“No.” He sighed, ‘I’ll take them in a moment. They already know theres ice, so theres no rush.”
Titanic hesitated, Californian was very close, but her crew were the best White Star Line had to offer. Mr.Phillips had been at sea for years If he said it was fine, who was she to argue.
She chatted with Californian and the other ships around her, glad they could communicate without interrupting their operators. As the night wore on, she was getting restless. Mr. Philips had yet to take the messages to the bridge. He had probably forgotten, she would remind him when he next paused. She overheard Californian say she was about to shut down her wirless for the night.
She looked out ahead anxiously.
She hadn’t been ordered to slow, and she was still racing west, towards the icefields. She shook her head, the crew knew what they were doing, they wouldn't put her in danger needlessly. Everything was clear, she could probably…
She strained as she looked forward, why weren't there stars…
Clang Clang Clang the look outs bell rang as they spotted the same gap in the stars she had.
Even as the lookouts rang the bridge she focused aft. She was only weeks old. The older ships had told her it would take months or years before she would learn to override her controls. Learning the thousands of pieces of your body was not something that could be done in a voyage. But she was no ordinary ship, and her passengers and crew were depending on her
The machinery groaned as she focused on overcoming the controls.
She was the pride of the White Star Line.
Her rudder slowly, painfully began to turn.
She was the largest ship ever built.
Inch by agonizing inch the rudder moved away from the center line.
She was the pride of Harland and Wolff.
Her rudder finally swung freely as the Bridge ordered her hard over and she was no longer having to fight her controls.
This was her maiden voyage, it would not be her last.
Her bow slowly swung port, but the berg was large.
Her watertight compartments finished closing, all that was left was to brace as the ice loomed alongside her.
“Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!’ the liner was unable to keep her cry of sudden pain from her wireless and the other ships fell silent.
First Officer Murdoch ordered the rudder swung Hard-a-port and she instinctively swung it, swinging herself clear.
The wireless was filled with ships asking if she was okay, but she couldn't process them through the dread of feeling her forward compartments filling with water.
Captain Smith strode onto the bridge, “What have we struck?”
“Close the watertight doors.”
“There's water in my forward four compartments,” the liner spoke with quiet horror.
“Are you certain?” Captain Smith asked urgently.
“Yes sir. The other ships are asking if I'm okay...”
Captain Smith was quiet for a long moment, “tell them to come at once.” He said solemnly.
Titanic turned her attention back to the wireless and the ships calling to ask if she was fine, barely noticing the Captain set off to look for Mr.Andrews. She took a deep breath.
“C.Q.D. C.Q.D. S.O.S. S.O.S.” the other ships fell gravely silent.
“This is R.M.S. Titanic, I have struck a berg and my forward four compartments are flooding.”
Californian swore, ‘my engines are down for the night, it’ll take at least two hours for me to get started even if I can get through the ice.”
The other ships chimed in, feeling their distance from the stricken liner. Its soon revealed the Cunarder R.M.S. Carpathia was their best hope, 58 nautical miles away.
Captain Smith strode back onto the bridge, his face grim, Thomas Andrews, her designer followed him.
“R.M.S. Carpathia is on the way sir.” Titanic said quietly.
“She thinks she can make it in just under four hours.”
Captain Smith turned to Mr. Andrews, “can we hold out that long?”
The crew on the bridge and the liner held their breath for the verdict.
“It is close…but she shouldn't founder.” He finally said, “I ran the calculations three times to be sure, and the watertight doors should hold. Had we lost another compartment, we would have lost her.”
“What are your recommendations?” Captain Smith asked after a long moment.
“Keep her in place until Carpathia arrives. We’ll need to lighten her as much as we can before we can consider attempting a tow.”
Her designer glared at the assembled crew, “make no mistake, she escaped foundering by mere feet. The safest ship in the world was nearly sunk on her maiden voyage. Had your reflexes been any slower…”
The silence was deafening and uncomfortably long.
“She saved herself,” Mr. Murdoch finally said quietly, “her bow was beginning to turn even as I gave the order.”
“It hurt.” Titanic said quietly, watching the water lap higher and higher on her bow.
Captain Smith and Mr.Andrews exchanged glances, “you shouldn't have been able to at all.” The designer said with concern, “Olympic only figured out her rudder on her third trip, and that was unusually quick.”
“I couldn't fail.” The stricken liner said softly, “not on this.”
“And you didn't,” Captain Smith gripped the bridge railing firmly, “your performance tonight can't be faulted, unlike our own.”
‘...mpic calli…Tit…Oly…please ans…’
Titanic strained her wireless, searching for the signal.
“Olympic is trying to reach us.” She informed the bridge.
“Talk with her, let her know what has happened,” the Captain ordered, “we'll look into repairs and begin preparing to transfer the passengers. Mr. Philips is already coordinating with Carpathia, you’ve done what you can. Let her know you're safe.”
‘...ympic to Tita….come in...blast it all!...R.M.S. Oly…’
Titanic stretched out her wireless, feeling the power coursing through the system as she stretched for her sister.
‘R.M.S. Titanic to R.M.S. Olympic…’
‘Titanic! Are you okay? They're saying you're hurt!’ Olympic replied instantly.
‘...Mr.Andrews says I’ll remain afloat.’
‘I’ve set course for you, and my head engineer is waking all my stokers. How badly are you damaged?’
‘My forward four compartments are flooding.’ she winced at the silence after the response.
‘what.’ Olympic’s tone was clipped.
Titanic winced, “We’d heard there was ice earlier and had diverted south. We received more warnings but when I asked if I should tell the bridge my wireless operator said he would take them to the bridge. Before he could I spotted the berg.”
Carpathia continued before Olympic could respond, ‘ We heard her cry out from hitting the berg about 11:40. A minute later she sent out a distress call that her forward four were flooding. I’ll be the first to arrive just under four hours from now, Californian is closer but her boilers were already cold.’
‘What? Did they have you running at full speed to cause that kind of damage?’ Olympic snarked.
Titanic suddenly wanted very badly to cut off her wireless.
The silence after her question did little to dissuade the feeling.
‘Titanic,’ Baltic asked, how fast were you going when you saw the berg.’
Olympic swore, a word Titanic hadn't heard even from the shipyard workers. More than one ship agreeing with the normally restrained liner's unexpected vulgarity at the information
‘Try not to use that word,’ Baltic told Titanic calmly, ‘even if I must say it is justified in this case.’
‘Justified?’ Caronia swore, ‘her bloody incompetent crew drove her full steam into an iceberg!’
“Oi!” Titanic barked, unintentionally startling many of the crew on her bridge.
‘No, no.’ Baltic sighed, ‘I’m afraid she's the right of it,’
‘Were mine before you and your sister were even conceived, much less built.’ Baltic said firmly, ‘and as such were more than experienced enough to have known better. You were not. Their job is to teach you to sail safely, not endanger you.’
‘Liners maintain their schedules,’ Titanic protested. ‘none of you slow for ice.’
‘And if it was one of us it would be understandable. We have years of experience spotting ice. You have mere days.’ Baltic answered mildly. ‘They have our experience, vision, and reflexes to rely on beyond their own to keep us safe. It may be true your crew were unaware of the true extent of the ice, but even that can be blamed on your wireless officer not having you inform the bridge of the warnings he received.’
‘If I was to guess, you spotted the berg around the same time as your lookouts?’ Olympic asked gently.
‘I saw it slightly earlier, but they knew what we were seeing first.’ Titanic admitted.
‘Exactly.’ Olympic said, ‘had it been me instead of you, I would have spotted the berg earlier and understood what I was seeing quicker, simply because I know what to look for, especially on a night like tonight. I also could have forced my rudder over without having to wait for my crew.”
‘She didn't.’ Caronia interjected.
‘Pardon?’ Olympic asked, confused.
‘if what her wireless operator says is true,’ Caronia explained, ‘the young lass managed to begin forcing her rudder over before the order was given. It's the only reason the damage wasn't worse.’
‘You…you managed to force your rudder over?’ Olympic was clearly taken aback.
‘Only partly,’ Titanic shifted uncomfortably, ‘I did what I could but it was harder than I thought to do. I only managed a few degrees and it hurt to do that.’
The air was silent for a long moment.
‘I’m so proud of you little sister.’ Olympic said suddenly but with heavy feeling, causing Titanic to blush.
‘Aye,’ Baltic agreed, ‘despite your crews poor judgment, you rose to the occasion when called. You've done us all very proud.’
The other ships chimed in with agreement.
Before Titanic could even hope to come up with a response to that, Captain Smith came to the railing he normally spoke to her from. “Is everything alright Titanic?’
She hesitated but told him, “the other ships aren't happy with the situation sir. They think I wasn't experienced enough to run the ice field at full speed.”
The captain sighed, “You mean they realized we risked you unnecessarily.”
“They are right.” He said firmly. “I allowed our pride and confidence in your abilities to cloud my judgment. You were on your first voyage, and we should have taken far better care of you. It was only your quick reaction that saved us.” He patted her bridge railing. “It was enough to save us, but it should not have been necessary.”
He paused, “you may have not been unsinkable my dear, but you were enough, and that is more than anyone should have asked of you.”
He walked away, leaving Titanic to her thoughts and the sounds of the other ships on the wireless. She sighed, it would be a long night.
