Titanic: Voyage Of The Damned

Chapter 6: Desperate Measures

Chaos reigned on the slanting deck of the sinking Titanic. Jack fought his way through the thrashing mob, frenziedly searching for any sign of Rose. All around him, panicked souls shoved and slipped on the tilting surface now slick with icy seawater churning across it.

The ship's heavy list rendered one side of the deck nearly useless for lifeboat launching. Women screamed as the vessels tilted precariously, threatening to spill them out into the black icy void awaiting below. One boat swung out on its creaking davits, flung out perpendicular to the ship from the steep angle.

"Lower away! Keep lowering!" an officer shouted desperately as frozen, terrified passengers clung to the wildly swinging lifeboat.

Nearby, a man was shot dead as he tried vaulting over women to claim one of the few remaining seats. Ruthless survival instinct had eclipsed all pretense of order and protocol. It was every man, woman and child for themselves.

Jack helplessly scanned the chaotic masses, searching for any glimpse of Rose's fiery red hair, her blue silk nightdress. But the scene grew more crazed as deep groans echoed up from the Titanic's core. Its spine was breaking under its own tremendous weight.

Jack seized a passing steward by the arm. "There was a woman with me, have you seen her?" he pleaded. But the steward tore free with a panicked look and disappeared into the scrum.

The noises morphed into a hellish cacophony as metal walls creaked, heavy furniture broke loose and slammed wildly across the deck. The panicked multitude voiced screams of pure primal fear. No semblance of human dignity or reason remained, only frenzied terror.

Somewhere beneath Jack's feet, torrents of icy water surged into the bowels as the forward compartments imploded under the immense pressure. The sinking ship seemed to wail in distress with each wrenching convulsion.

Jack spotted Chief Officer Wilde working feverishly to ready the collapsible lifeboats as the ship juddered beneath them. "What's the use?" Jack cried desperately, gesturing at the relatively tiny vessels.

Wilde's eyes held the haunted look of a man who knew he was staring death in the face. "Not enough by half," he lamented between heaving breaths, never slowing his efforts.

Indeed, the vast majority would find no salvation here. As the last overloaded boats rowed away, hordes remained stranded on the foundering liner. Some men made a desperate bid to survive, leaping overboard into the numbingly cold pitch black sea. Those remaining stared after the receding lifeboats with incredulous despair.

"My God, the ship is going to founder!" a grizzled steward gasped nearby.

Jack barely heard him. His sole thought was finding Rose, determined to protect her to his last breath. Heedless of the slanting angle, he tore across the deck, scanning the clusters of weeping, praying passengers. His heart pounded brutally against his ribs.

Then, miraculously, through the panicked throngs, he glimpsed her familiar figure stumbling into view as the deck canted further. Jack leapt down icy steps toward her, heedless of falling bodies and debris crashing around them.

"Rose!" His cry of relief was lost in the surrounding din. But she turned at the sound of her name, relief breaking across her tear-streaked face.

They collided in a fierce embrace, shaking with adrenaline and cold. Jack cradled her face in his hands, wiping the tears from her cheeks. "I thought I'd lost you!"

"I'm here now Jack, I'm here," Rose gasped through chattering teeth. She clung to him like one already drowning, and Jack hugged her tightly to his chest, shielding her from the horrors surrounding them. For this fleeting moment, they were reunited. He silently vowed to keep them together through whatever end awaited.