Ice & Iron (Titanic)

Chapter 18

The rest of the day passed in a blur. Once we disembarked from the Carpathia and fought our way through the crowds, Mother and I followed Lightoller. And I also got my first glimpses of New York, America. There was a long bridge stretching from land and across the water. Buildings lined the docks. People and cars idled by, especially gaping at the Titanic survivors.

The news of the sinking had already been heard worldwide. No doubt everything I knew back home would have heard the news and were probably wondering if my family had survived. My family was just Mother and I. Murdoch had definitely been confirmed dead by the surviving officers, and others confirmed dead included Captain Smith, Chief Officer Wilde and Sixth Officer Moody. Apart from Joe, I had no idea if any of my three Second Class friends and families had survived. I hadn't seen them, but then again I hadn't left the cabin much.

Lightoller led us to a small building just outside of the docks.

"The White Star Line will let us stay here," Lightoller said. "This is one of the houses they own for officers if necessary."

"Thank you for your hospitality," Ada said again.

"It's what we can do," said Lightoller. "Murdoch was a good officer, we need to look after his family."

"We'll probably stay here for a few days, until we know how we are going to live," Mother explained. "Then we'll make arrangements to get back to Southampton."

"There are four ships out there right now sent by the White Star Line searching for bodies to recover," Lightoller reported. "They'll most likely be taken to Nova Scotia, Canada. There is a ship leaving here in a few days to Nova Scotia."

"We'll go over to Nova Scotia," said Ada firmly. "I need to see if they recovered his body."

"I'll make the arrangements," said Lightoller.

Later that night, we were all sitting around a table trying to eat, but none of us had an appetite.

"You mentioned before a couple days ago that you didn't know how he died," Ada said. "What really happened up on the deck while Stacey and I were sitting in the lifeboats? I want to talk about Will without other people around."

Lightoller bowed his head sadly. "Unfortunately, I'm not completely aware of the events myself. Mr Wilde was the other officer with us on the starboard side. He originally was launching lifeboats on the port side, then joined us on the starboard side." He paused, thinking about his other fallen officer. "I heard the gunshots, but I wasn't there at the time. An officer was shooting, but I don't know if it was Wilde or Murdoch." He buried his head in his hands. "It's hard to know what really happened. There was so much going on that night. Earlier, I led Captain Smith, Wilde and Murdoch to the firearms cabinet. We all picked up a gun just in case we needed them. As the original First Officer on the Titanic, that cabinet was my responsibility."

"What do you mean you were the original First Officer?" asked Ada. "What was Will's status?"

Lightoller glanced up at us. "Didn't he tell you?"

"Tell us what?" I asked, just as confused as Mother was.

"He was promoted to Chief Officer for the Titanic maiden voyage," Lightoller explained. "I was the First Officer. Then Captain Smith bought Wilde aboard and Will and I were demoted."

"He never told us that," I said. "He might have wanted to surprise us when we went on board."

"That's probably he kept it a secret," Lightoller said.

"So you're saying that you don't know how Will died?" Ada asked.

"No," answered Lightoller. "If he committed suicide, that would be very unlike him. But there is also the option that he went down with the ship. There were rumours that officers shot at the passengers."