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| A Brush with Destiny |
| No one will ever know the thoughts that must have passed through William Murdoch's mind as the wall of ice passed by the ship, pieces crumbling as it went. He watched in horror as the mound of ice passed the forward well deck, dropping atleast 3 tonnes of ice on the deck. He now turned back to the wheelhouse and ordered "Hard a' Port!" in an attempt to bring the stern away from the berg, but by now the damage had been done. Betraying no emotion, he now went to the switch in the bridge that set off the warning light for 10 seconds, and then closed the few electrically opperated watertight doors that ran through the ship. He now told Officer Moody to note the time and enter it in the log. It was 11:40pm, April 14th, 1912. Down in the bowels of the ship however, it was a different story. The berg had ruptured the first four compartments, but had then gone on and done damage in the first of the larger ones, boiler room number 6. Down in number 6, Leading Stoker Fred Barrett was talking with Second Engineer James Hesketh when the red warning light came on and 'Stop' was signalled on the telegraph, followed by 'Full Astern'. Barrett called out "Shut all the dampers!" in order to prevent the water from reaching the hot flames. Suddenly, a gash two feet above the floor came in followed by a torrent of water. The two men clambered into Boiler Room 5, just aft of number 6 and managed to climb to higher ground. Apart from those on the bridge and the poor souls toiling down in the boilers, many didn't realise anything was amis. Lookout Symons thought the anchor had dropped out of the ship and the rumbling was the chain running along the hull. Fireman Harry Senior dremt he was on a derailing train. Fourth Officer Joseph Boxhall couldn't understand what the sound was was he walked along the starboard boat deck the the bridge - the ice did not extend high enough for him so see it. Kate Buss traveling second class thought the sound was like a skate on ice. Down in the bakehouse, Cheif Baker Charles Joughin thought the ship had lost a propellor blade. Lady Lucile Duff Gordon in first class said that it was like someone had drawn a great finger down the side of the ship. Thomas Andrews, the ship's designer who was working in his cabin didn't notice anything at all. Captain Smith arrived on the bridge within the minute. "What have we struck?" he asked automatically. "An iceberg, sir," came Murdoch's reply. "I put her hard a' starboard and run [sic] the engines full astern, but it was to close and she hit. I tried to port round it, but she hit before I could do any more." "Close the watertight doors." "The doors are closed sir." Smith now faced the horrible fat that his ship had been damaged, yet how damaged would soon be proven. He also had not been present during the most critical phase of the ship's voyage. Now he sent Boxhall down to investigate the damage. "Go down and find the carpenter and get him to sound the ship," was Smith's order. Just after Boxhall had began to decend to A deck, he found carpenter John Hutchinson. "The captain wants you to sound the ship," Boxhall ordered. "The ship is maing water," Hutchinson replied breathlessly, and then headed to the bridge. Boxhall now went down to G deck to the mail hold. He found water was already up to the top two feet of the room and the mail clerks moving the bags of mail and parcels to the deck above. Boxhall returned to the bridge and reported this to Captain Smith. Without saying a word, Smith turned and left. One of the passengers to be awakened by the collison was Joseph Bruce Ismay. Dressed in his pyjamas and Romeo slippers he made his way to the bridge. When he questioned Smith about why the engines had stopped, Smith replied simply with "We have struck ice". "Do you think the ship is seriously damaged?" Ismay asked. "I am afraid she is" was Smith's reply. No further conversation has survied between the two men, but it is likely Ismay pushed for more details. As they spoke, the bow was being pulled lower and lower. |
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| Watertight Door |
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| Diagram of the flooding <Enlarge> |
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