Ice & Iron (Titanic)

Chapter 14

The sound of the alarm bell was still going through my brain. I stayed where I was, but something was seriously wrong. I gazed towards the wheelhouse. There had to be a reason causing the panic. And it had to be very bad to cause Murdoch sprinting off into the wheelhouse. The curiosity had me turning around trying to spot what raised the concern. I couldn't see anything in the black night.

Faintly I heard another officer call out, "Iceberg right ahead!"

Iceberg?

"Hard to starboard!" I heard Murdoch call out.

Now, I faintly noticed the iceberg ahead. It was black against the ocean and moonless night sky. Obviously it had been hard to spot until now. I turned back to the wheelhouse and saw my stepfather changing the ship's status on all the engine telegraphs to full astern and another crew member, who I think was the quartermaster, turning the wheel as fast as he could with Sixth Officer Moody yelling commands to turn and steady.

"Helm's hard over sir!"

Murdoch raced back out onto the bridge to see the bow of the ship. Another officer, who I thought might be Fourth Officer Boxhall, was running across the bow to the edge. I stayed put and watched the events unfold. The officers' up here had done what they could. Now it was up to the Titanic.

Time seemed to slow down, the anticipation anxiously building up.

The big vessel moved closer and closer to the iceberg, but it wasn't turning. I held my breath and hoped it would turn.

"Why aren't they turning?" I heard a shout. I looked up at one of lookouts on the crows nest.

"Is it hard over?" Murdoch yelled.

"It is, hard over, yes sir," Moody replied.

Beside me, I heard Murdoch muttering, "Come on...come on... Turn!"

We both let out a sigh of relief when the bow swung to port. It was going to make it!

Everything was going to end well.

But the relief was soon cut short a second later when the officer on the bow started running away yelling, "It's gonna hit!"

The shudder ran through the ship only a couple of short seconds later. I was jerked forward, but grabbed onto the wall to steady myself. Murdoch put an arm around me to prevent me from falling. His other hand was on the wooden ledge, feeling the shaking underneath. The whole ship was shaking. My ears were ringing from the high pitched screeching of ice against iron. Fourth Officer Boxhall who was running across the bow was sent sprawling from the impact. Chunks of thick ice broke off the iceberg and fell onto the ship along the side.

I glanced up as the iceberg passed by. It was massive!

We could still hear the ice scraping along the side of the ship, everything was still shaking.

Murdoch turned and yelled, "Hard to port!" After glancing back towards the iceberg, he ran back inside the wheelhouse turning more dials and switches. Now no more scraping could be heard, indicating the ship had stopped hitting the iceberg. Hopefully the damage wasn't going to be too bad. Enough to hold on to until we reached New York. I hoped the Titanic would be able to have a happy ending like the Olympic did.

Officers Murdoch, Moody, Boxhall and the quartermaster were all standing inside the wheelhouse. I walked over towards them to hear what they were saying.

"Note the time and enter it in the log," Murdoch said. I glanced at the clock over his head. Eleven forty. I had only been out on the bridge for ten minutes? So much had happened in such a small amount of time.