Titanic: The Novelization (110th Anniversary Edition)

April 10

Wednesday, April 10th.

Titanic was just about ready for her maiden voyage. It was to begin at noon and the sailing hour was drawing near. After years of advanced publicity and with the sheer size and elegance of it's liners, White Star had at last created the spectacle it desired. Throughout the morning, Southampton was filled with sightseers, blackening the pier next to Titanic like ants on a jelly sandwich. The waterfront was lined with onlookers and well-wishers. Photographers and news reporters were everywhere, including one reporter from the Southampton Pictorial, who wrote:

"Through Titanic, the world's last word in shipbuilding construction, has not been open to inspection by the general public since her arrival in Southampton from Belfast, hundreds of sightseers have visited the docks to catch a glimpse of the leviathan as she lies moored in the new wet dock at the same berth occupied by her sister Olympic. Perhaps the most striking features of the great inert mass of metal are the four giant funnels - huge tawny brown and black capped elliptical cylinders of steel which tower 175 feet from the keel plate, dominating the other shipping in the port, and dwarfing into insignificance the sheds on the quayside."

At 10:00 a.m., White Star's chartered boat train from Waterloo Station pulled up next to Titanic. In addition to travelers from London, the train also carried people from Liverpool whose ship's had been docked by the coal strike. All began to board the ship from special gangways that connected directly to the railway carriages in an arraignment similar to the boarding gates of modern airports. This convenience cost the passengers an extra two pounds above their ticket price and helped Purser Hugh McElroy board the passengers in a more orderly manner. Titanic's range of passengers was like a cross-section of the Edwardian society that had made her possible. Whether they were magnets and heirs, happy to spend thousands of pounds on a transatlantic jaunt, or humble people who had earned their passage to America and the shops and mills of the wealthy, all were ready to entrust their lives to Titanic for the next week.

Among these wealthy magnates was the American William Carter, travelling with his wife and children. A dock crane was lowering his new burgundy Renault into the cargo hold through hatch number two. The car was loaded into a huge crate, and those who saw it from below could only guess what the contents were.

Also boarding was 45 year old Hugh Woolner, son of the late Sir Thomas Woolner, a noted sculptor. He was an independently wealthy resident of London and one of six men to escort the famous feminist author Helen Churchill Candee for the voyage. She was returning home to be with her son who was injured in an airplane accident and they were to meet her at the next stop.

There was also Dr. Washington Dodge, a 51 year old medical doctor and later president of the Federal Wireless Company in San Francisco travelling with his second wife Ruth Vidaver and their four year old son Washington Jr.

Isidor Straus, 67 year old co-owner of Macy's and his 63 year old wife Ida also came aboard. They had been vacationing in Europe with their daughter Beatrice, who was making other arraignments for returning home.

Most of the dock was filled to the brim with steerage passengers, with an officer shouting above the din and directing them to their proper places.

"All Third Class passengers with a forward berth! This way please!"

One family, the brown-haired Cartmells, consisting of Father, Mother and little girl Cora, were off to America in search of a better life, a life of golden opportunity, fresh air and plenty of jobs to find. Life in Manchester was, well, let's just say not very comfortable. The family patriarch Bert, was amazed as much as everyone else was.

"Big boat, ain't it?" he asked as he carried his 5 year old daughter in his arms.

"Daddy, it's a ship," Cora corrected, in spite of her age.