The Unforgettable Disaster
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It was a beautiful Spring day in Liverpool, England. Many civilians of the small village just outside the docks came to see the history in the making . The most beautiful ship they would ever-lay eye's on was about to set sail on her madien voyage. The RMS (Royal Mail Ship) Titanic. Like her sister ship the RMS Olympic she was one of the largest man made moving objects on the face of the planet.
Men, woman and children waved goodbye to loved ones from either the railings on the boat deck or from the dock that was a good 6 stories down. It would be the last time anyone aboard the vessel would be able to gaze upon the beautiful landscape of England.
Third class passengers were forced to go through a health inspection before boarding the ship. A great outburst of lice had formed over in London in the past few months and the third class passengers were the most vulnerable to catch the small pests.
If they were found to have the little critters they would be denied passage under any circumstances. Being in a floating tin can where disease and rumors could spread at the speed of light, in a matter of days everyone would be carrying them around.
Among the passengers in the lines of people getting inspected was a young 19-year-old girl. She had shoulder length brown hair with matching color of eyes. Her complexion was like a porcelain dolls face. She wore a short dress that had a multitude of patches covering moth bite sized holes. Her stockings where ripped and torn and she carried one suitcase in her dirt covered hand. In the other hand was a smaller one, one of her adopted daughter Sasha who was standing close to her mother’s side not wanting to get separated.
Sasha had brown eyes and hair just like her young mother. She wore a ratted old dress that was covered in dirt and god knows what else. In her free hand she carried her porcelain doll that she named Francesca. Sasha had sadly lost her father when she was only 3 year's old and her mother felt that she wasn't capable of taking care of a child all on her own. She brought Sasha to an orphanage and 3 years later Sara adopted her.
It was around the same time Sara had bought her third class ticket aboard the Titanic. Sara wanted to be accompanied by someone on this long journey across the Atlantic Ocean. She sadly never had a husband and had just broken up with her most recent boyfriend Hank. She always wanted a child of her own, so Sasha became the best thing that had ever happened to her.
Down the dock a little ways an old fashioned car pulled up honking it's horn to warn the spectators to move out of the way or be run over. The car came to a complete stop and the driver got out of the front seat. He went around to the back door and opened the small door for the passenger. A slim cream-colored hand of a woman clasped his as he helped her out down the small step and out of the car.
She stared in awe at how magnificent the ship looked, she had dreamed about how huge this ship was going to be but never as big as it was in front of her face. The lady had long flowing blonde hair that was pinned back in a French braided bun. She had sparkling blue eyes that stood out from her white complexion. She wore a long flowing pink dress with white high-heeled shoes just showing under the long trail.
Behind the young lady was an older one, her mother. She, like her daughter had blue eyes and blonde hair. She stood beside her daughter dressed in a sea blue dress wearing a large brimmed hat to shield the blistering sun that was behind them. She grabbed her daughter's hand as they walked towards the wooden ramp that would bring them up to the first class entrance to the ship.
The two women walked up the ramp glancing one last time back at their beautiful home of Liverpool England. As they entered the ship two men dressed in uniforms greeted them welcoming them to the beautiful ship. They directed them towards their staterooms as four men behind them had their entire luggage.
"Isn't this marvelous Catherine? I feel like I'm being treated like a Queen," the women's mother said as she opened up the door to her stateroom.
"Oh yes mother, this ship is magnificent," Catherine replied admiring the decor, "Although is there never a time when you don't feel like you're being treated like a Queen? You where basically pampered to death at home" Catherine exclaimed.
"Now don't start, we just got aboard the ship we don't need to make a scene in front of all these important and rich people." Her mother said as the men brought her luggage into her room and Catherine's into her's.
"That's all you ever care about mother is money, I'm going up the boat deck to wave one last goodbye to England" Catherine said and left before they got into a cat fight.
Back down at the dock the young lass and girl were passed through the health inspection and headed aboard the grand ship, the Titanic. More crewmembers greeted them and showed them the way towards the staterooms. As the two where pushing and shoving their way through the crowds of people heading towards their rooms Sasha pulled on her mother's matted skirt.
"Yes Sasha," she said with a very heavy British accent looking down at the little girl clinging to her for dear live in the swarm of people.
"Sara, can we go up to the boat deck and wave good bye to Liverpool?" Sasha asked with her puppy dog eyes. She knew that Sara could never resist her daughter when she did that face.
"Alright...hurry up, we want to get up their before we loose a good spot by the railing" Sara replied.
Sasha smiled broadly as they pushed and shoved there way in the opposite direction of the other passengers.
The Titanic was about to leave port in Liverpool as her last whistle blew on the smokestacks. Another ocean liner called The New York drifted away from one of the docks near by. One of the ropes that were attached to the Tugboat snapped and it was now on a head on collision with the bow of the Titanic.
Catherine, Sara and Sasha backed away from the bow seeing the other liner making it's way towards them along with many other frightened passengers. The bow of The New York was centimeters away from the Titanic when a tug came to the rescue.
The Tug happened to throw another line on to the boat deck of The New York as the crewmembers grabbed a hold. They tied it around the hook on the deck and it pulled the boat back towards the dock.
The people on the bow were almost jumping out of their skin. They had just cheated death. In the eyes of the passengers it all happened within seconds but in reality it took over 10 minuets. Once The New York was secure to the dock once again the Titanic went full speed out into the open ocean.
Sara and Sasha headed down to the below decks once again seeing that the crowds of people had died down most likely because they where all in there designated staterooms. Sara was scared out of her mind. Her hands where shaking and her bottom lip was trembling with fright. She had just cheated death and swore she would never go back to the bow of the ship for the entire voyage.
Unlike her mother Sasha was excited. She had never seen a ship so close. She didn't see it as almost killing her and her mother she saw it as a new experience. Sasha couldn't quite understand why everyone on deck was screaming and yelling. Didn't they know that the ship was unsinkable? That there was nothing to worry about for this voyage? Surely a piece of metal could not sink this ship.
"Wasn't that amazing Mama?" Sasha said jumping up and down through the now deserted corridor.
"Sasha, that was not amazing that was frightening, we where almost crushed to death and we hadn't even left the dock yet!" Sara yelled at the seven-year-old who stopped jumping and frowned.
Sasha had never heard her mother raise her voice before. Whenever Sasha was bad she just said not to do it again, but this time it was different. She yelled at her, a side of Sara that she had never seen before. One that scared her, one that made her feel non-secure around her mother when she had a tantrum.
"I'm-I’m so-sorry Mama...I didn't know that was going to happen" Sasha sulked.
"Aw Sasha," Sara said and stopped walking kneelig down to be eye level with her daughter, "It's alright darling, I know that you didn't mean for that to happen" she gave her daughter a hug and whispered, "I'm sorry I raised my voice at you, I promise to never do that ever again" Sara said as she stood up and opened the door to there state-room.
On the above decks Catherine was in a complete state of shock. She still couldn't get over what had just happened moments ago on the boat deck. She and many other passengers where almost crushed to death by the bow of an on coming ship. She noticed the fear in the third class woman's eyes that was standing right beside her on the deck. Catherine also noticed the excitement in the child's eyes seeing a huge ship like that. She probably had no idea that she was almost killed.
Catherine saw how happy most of the third class passengers where that she saw out on the boat deck. Why did she not feel as happy as they did when she had everything she ever wanted in life and they had so little? She felt like she was missing something, something that money couldn't buy and something they had and she didn't.
She stopped in front of her stateroom "B56" and psuhed open the white laqured door. She was utterly amazed at how large and beautiful her room looked. It was like she was back in her bedroom back in England.
It had a Queen sized bed with a drapery that went around the entire bed if she wanted privacy. The walls were made of wood paneling and had many designs carved into them and then painted or plated gold. In the middle of the floor there was a white leather sofa that sat in the middle of the Persian carpet. Around the other parts of the rug there was hardwood flooring that looked to have been just laid down. To the left wall there was a marble and wooden fireplace with a fire already burning in it to warm up the room. The fireplace mantle had a clock on top that read 4:40 in the afternoon; it was almost time for supper.
There was a small bathroom that was to the side of her bed. Catherine walked inside and saw that the tub, and basin where all made of shinny, white porcelain. It had tile flooring that was white and an almost transparent shower curtain. It was obvious that the bathroom was made for one person and one person only. On the gold towel racks there where two large white towels and then two washcloths on top of those. Stitched into the cotton was the symbol of the White Star Line.
Catherine noticed that her luggage was already in her room and saw another door that she had not entered yet. She walked over to it and turned the brass doorknob. She ended up stepping into her mother's stateroom.
Her mother was laying out what she was going to wear to supper that evening on the bed and Catherine quietly closed the door behind her. She noticed that their staterooms were identical, probably the same in every first class suite on A and B decks.
"Your back early, I would have guessed you would be exploring the ship right now,"
"No not yet, I wanted to come back and see what my stateroom looked like and then get ready for dinner" Catherine replied.
She decided not to tell her mother about the ship that they almost collided with earlier. The last thing Catherine needed was her mother to be worried for the enitre voyage across the Atlantic.
Back down on E deck Sara and Sasha were settling into their stateroom as well. It was not as fancy as the once on the above decks but it would be more than enough for many of the third class passengers on this voyage.
There were 2 bunk beds, one on each side of the room. On the top bunk there was a guardrail so no one would fall out of bed in the middle of the night and get injured. Their where blankets and pillows on each bunk and an extra of each in a small closet. The walls where white and the floor was cement but painted an orange red color. There was one small porthole, in the shape of a circle on the wall across from the door. When you opened it you could smell the salty sea air come into the stuffy cabin. It made you feel like you were right in the ocean with all of the other sea animals.
To the side of the small stateroom there was a toilet and a sink that was a mini bathroom. She poured some of the water from the flask into the basin and it was crystal clear water instead of the murky brown water they were acustomed to drinking. Being in the third class cabins was like a 5 star hotel to a poor person.
Sara placed her suitcase on the bottom bunk of one of the bunk beds while her daughter looked out through the open porthole at that waves and ripples the Titanic was making as she was going almost 21 knots through the open ocean.
Sasha looked down and noticed something gray with a fin just below the surface of the waves. She knew it was a dolphin and knew that it was going to come up out of the water for a breath. She needed to show her mother this; it might make her feel better after the very traumatizing event that happened earlier.
"Mama! Come look!" Sasha yelled.
Sara walked over towards the porthole and saw nothing out ahead of her but the deep blue sea. "It's beautiful sweetheart, now let's go explore the ship,” Sara said grabbing Sasha's hand.
Her daughter let go and Sara turned around puzzled by her daughter's reaction.
"No mama watch" Sasha demanded.
"Darling there's..." Sara began to say when a dolphin jumped out of the water right in front of their eyes. Sasha looked at her mother and saw that she was smiling. It was the first smile she had seen on her mother's face all day.
That evening Catherine and her mother were dressing for their first meal aboard the Titanic. It was to be in the first class dinning room and they would be in the same room as some of the richest people in the world including the American billionaire John Jacob Aster.
Catherine really didn't care about the money aspect of being rich although her mother was a different story. Her mother and her would get into little fights about it all the time and usually her mother won.
Catherine put on her long silk evening gown that was a periwinkle color with sequence along the collar. It was so slender that it defined almost every curve in her body. Her dress had a long trail at the back that people had to be aware of or she would go for a mighty tumble. She wore her silver high-heels that where barley noticeable under the long gown.
Her long blonde hair was pinned back into a different bun with ringlets that around her heart shaped face. With her hair pulled back she could show off her 10k diamond earrings and matching necklace that fell just above her cleavage. Catherine slipped on a pair of white gloves that went all the way up to her elbows and a diamond bracelet she wore on top with her white satchel in her left hand. Catherine was all set to go to the dinner or even a ball for that matter.
Her mother was wearing her favorite evening gown she owned. It was a light blue silk dress, like her daughters it showed about ever curve on her body. The dress had a long slit at the back instead of a trail
She wore white high-heels that were hardly seen under the dress. Pearl earrings were pierced through her ears although they were hardly noticeable under her shoulder length blonde hair that she wore down for this evening. A matching pearl bracelet that her daughter had given her for her birthday the year before was around her wrist, and she wore no gloves.
Her mother wore a gold chain with a heart shaped locket attached to it. She never takes it off because it has a picture of Catherine when she was a child and her late husband Charles inside of it. Her husband had passed away a few months ago from lung cancer. She swore from that day forward she would never take that locket off because it was a way for her and Charles to always be together.
"Are you ready Catherine?" her mother asked as she peeked into her daughter's stateroom seeing she was dressed in her evening gown as well.
"Coming mother, do you happen to know where the dinning room is?" Catherine asked as she joined her mother at the door.
"Yes, now let's get going we don't want to be late for dinner now do we"
Catherine and her mother headed down the corridor seeing many other first class couples heading towards the grand staircase. Catherine knew that her mother really didn't know where she was going but she was too stubborn to ask anyone for directions. She was probably relaying on following someone there.
The corridor was lit by rows upon rows of lights that where situated outside of each of the staterooms. The walls were made of paneling that was white washed and then lacquered. The floor was again hardwood but a long skinny carpet covered the middle part of the floor.
The mother and daughter ended up at the Grand Staircase. Both of them stood in awe and took in all of the beauty and elegance that the room was made of. The staircase was made of wood with a statue of two children at the foot of it. Up at the top of the first level was a clock that was all carved out of wood and it was of two angels. The time read 5:30 and evening dinner was about to begin.
Catherine looked up and saw a huge glass dome that was lit up from the sun that was slowly setting outside on the horizon of the sea. The floors where made of tile and they where so shinny that when you looked down you could see your refelction.
They walked over towards the lifts and saw Mr. and Mrs. Bishop were getting inside the small cage. The man said that there was enough room for Catherine and her mother to come in as well. The lift attendant closed the steel gate behind Catherine and moved a brass lever to where it said C deck, which was the deck th first class dinning room was on.
A few moments later the lift stopped and the man opened up the steel caged door. Catherine and her mother exited first and then the elderly couple. Catherine spotted Mr. John Jacob Aster and his young pregnant wife Madeline getting on the lift that was beside them.
They where probably heading back to their suite that was located on A deck. They bought the biggest and most expensive suite on the whole ship. Catherine followed her mother who was entering the first class dinning room.
There where dozens of tables situated all around the room seating as many people varying from 2 to 16 depending on how many people at a table. The room was full of smart and filthy rich people that where waiting to start up big businesses in the United States of America.
Back down in Third Class Sara and Sasha were heading towards their dinning room that was located just down the hall from their stateroom. They where expecting it to be rows of benches that you had to push and shove your way into get a seat.
When they entered the third class dinning room and it looked like a real dinning room. There where small 4 seater tables situated all around the room making them eat like civilized people. Sara and Sasha spotted a table where a young lady and another young girl where sitting.
"Do you mind if we sit here?" Sara asked.
"No not at all, what's your name?" the young woman asked
"Sara and yours?"
"August, and this is my sister Neleh. Where heading to America to live with our Aunt and Uncle. What's you're little sister's name?"
"Oh no, she's my daughter her names Sasha" Sara replied and smiled.
"Sorry, it's just that you two look like sisters" August appologized.
"What would you like to eat Miss?" the waiter asked as he came and stood between Sara and August.
"My daughter and I will have the lamb please" Sara replied.
"And for you miss?" he said and turned towards August.
"We'll have the same thank you,"
He left the 4 girls and they all smiled at each other. At that moment all of them felt like they where rich and up in first class dinning with crystal and eating Caviar.
The waiter came back moments later and had four plates of lamb and placed each of the plates in front of the girls. They waited for the waiter to leave and then dug in to the best meal any of them had ever tasted before.
Up in first class Catherine and her mother where settled into a two seater table in the corner of the huge dinning salon. They were scanning the room to see if they had recognized anyone but they had no such luck. They didn't think they would find anyone since they did travel alone on this voyage.
The waiter came to their table and poured some steamy tea into each of china white teacups on top of a saucer plate. He as well placed two scoops of caviar on each of the ladies plates before taking the women's orders.
"What would you like to eat miss?" the waiter asked turning towards Catherine.
"The lamb please, and thank you" she replied and took a sip of her hot tea.
"And you Madame?" the waiter asked turning towards Catherine's mother.
"The fillet please," she replied and the waiter left the women in peace.
"Catherine, do you happen to see anyone we know here tonight?" her mother asked placing the napkin on her lap.
"I don't believe so, since we didn't know any of them when we boarded it wouldn't make much of a difference to this evening. We haven't picked up any new passenger's yet" Catherine rebutted and her mother gave her a scowl.
"Don't you take that tone with me young lady. Can we at least have one decent meal without us getting into an argument"
"That all depends on if you want to start an argument or not." Catherine said and the waiter came back with their food.
He placed the plates down in front of the woman and walked off once again sensing the tension between the mother and daughter. He didn't want to get mixed up in a family feud.
Both of the woman dug into their meals enjoying every bit of it without saying a word to each other knowing that if one began to talk then they would make a scene in the dinning room.
