Ice & Iron (Titanic)

Chapter 19

Nothing could prepare us for the sight behind that certain. Victims were lined up in rows upon rows, all covered in sheets. The harsh reality of what happened over two weeks ago

"Over three-hundred-and-thirty-four bodies were recovered. But only about two-hundred-and-nine came back here. We've tried to sort them by class the best we can," said the man. "Some have already been identified and taken away. If you identify any bodies here today, you can choose to take the body somewhere else for burial, or you can leave it here and we'll bury it in a particular Titanic cemetery."

"Okay," said Ellen's mother.

"Crew are the first few rows, followed by First, Second and Third." He turned to face Ada and the rest of us. The man gestured to another worker, who led Ellen and her remaining family to where the Second Class victims lay.

Mother and I followed the man through the Crew, halfway down a row. "That first section is women," he explained. He stopped beside a covered body. "I will give you a warning, I haven't seen bodies of any officers come through, but loved ones would recognise them more than I would."

"Did any bodies of the Captain and Officers who died get recovered?" I asked.

"If the Captain's body was found, he probably would have been buried at sea," explained the man. "They say Captain's go down with their ship."

"Three other officers died in the sinking," Ada said. "Chief Officer Henry Wilde, First Officer William Murdoch." She choked on his name. "And Sixth Officer James Moody. They all would have wearing officers' uniforms."

"Like I said, I haven't seen their bodies here," said the man. "But I wasn't here when everyone was bought in."

He lifted the sheet up from the first victim. Mother and I gasped. My hand flew to my mouth and I stifled back tears. I had never seen a dead body this close before.

My mind was torn. Part of me wanted to find Murdoch here so that Mother and I could have peace about what happened to him. But part of me didn't want to find him here, as I didn't want to see him like this.

Ada shook her head and the man replaced the sheet and moved on to the next body. We worked our way through the little crew section, with none of the bodies being Murdoch. Wearing a uniform would make Murdoch more distinguishing than other bodies. But I couldn't stand to look at more bodies anymore. All the victims eyes gazed unblinkingly upwards. Their skin was a deathly shade of white from the unforgiving freezing water of the Atlantic Ocean.

"Do you want to look at the First Class bodies?"

"No, thank you," Ada said, wiping tears from her eyes. "If he was here, we would have found him. Actually, can I have a look at the women? I haven't heard from a couple friends I knew from the ship."

Ada and the man looked through the female sinking victims while I stood at the edge of the room.

"Stacey?" Ellen asked, walking up behind me. "I'm so sorry about your stepfather."

I hugged her back. "Thanks, did you find your dad?"

Ellen nodded. "Yes, we did. We're going to leave him here as we can't afford to take him back home. But at least he'll get a proper grave. And.." She gulped back tears. "We found Annie's body as well."

"Oh no," I said quietly. "What about Hazel?"

"No, we didn't see her," Ellen said. "If she died, she might have not been found."

"Did she and Annie spend much time together?" I asked.

"I think they were together all the time," said Ellen. "So they could have died together, then their bodies got separated in the water."

Ada and Jane with the twin boys joined Ellen and I with the men from the temporary morgue. Ada mentioned that she didn't see Margaret, Ruth or Mary's bodies, which gave two options that they had survived or were buried at sea. Plans were made and we thanked them for their help. They apologised for not being able to help Mother and I regarding Murdoch. They would finalise it in the records; Murdoch's body if recovered was never identified.

As we walked out of the rink, Ada and Jane kept talking. We found out that they had been staying in Nova Scotia for the past two days and staying at the same hotel that Mother and I would be staying at.

"When the Olympic stops here, are you getting on?" Ada asked.

"Yes," replied Jane. "We lived just outside of Southampton, but we might have to sell the house to make ends meet."

"You can come live with us," Ada offered. "We have plenty of room in our house."

Ellen and I looked at each other and smiled. We'd become good friends on the Titanic.

"That's very kind of you," said Jane. "How many rooms do you have."

"There's five rooms," explained Ada. "One each for myself, Stacey and our housekeeper and then two spares with two beds each. Will sometimes invited fellow officers to stay a night if need be."

"Thank you," said Jane. "That will help us greatly while we get back on our feet."

Everyone was silent on the walk to the hotel. Mother put one arm around me as we walked and I could tell she was deep in thought. As was I. And certainly thinking the same thoughts.

We had to come to peace that First Officer William Murdoch of the sunken RMS Titanic was buried out at sea. 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Author's Note:

Hope you guys liked Chapter 19 of Ice & Iron. This is the shortest chapter in the whole book. Because of what happens, I felt like not much else could be said, so here we are. Also, you can ask me any questions regarding anything also in the comments or shoot me a message and I will answer!

Chapter 20 Preview: travelling back to England (the longest chapter in the book) 

Question of the Day: How were your emotions? 

I'll post the next chapter update on..... (temporary hiatus) Thanks for reading!

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