Unsinkable: A Wallace Hartley Story

Gentlemen, I Bid You Farewell

R.M.S Titanic
Northern Atlantic Ocean
2:14 a.m

"Goodbye Wallace," Theodore said as he gave Wallace one last solemn hug goodbye. "I better see you again, you hear?"

The two hugged briefly, with Theodore backing up a step. He gazed at Wallace. Wallace smiled faintly. Roger and John both shook Wallace's hand and said their final words.

"Take care lad," John said, "it was a pleasure getting to play with you tonight."

"The pleasure was all mine," Wallace said softly.

The teeth-chattering, frigid cold water was rapidly approaching. The slant forward was becoming more unstable and difficult to stand on.

"Now grab onto something and say a final prayer with me," Wallace stated.

John, Roger, and Theodore all grabbed onto the same railing as Wallace, gripping their instrument cases tightly.

"As we say our final prayer to you Lord, I would like to say that I am grateful for everything that has come before me during my lifetime. Meeting my beautiful wife, learning such a beautiful sounding instrument, playing on monstrous liners like the Lusitania, Lucania, and Maurentania," Wallace said as Roger began his final prayer.

"Lord, if I may say," Roger began, "this was the most modern and luxurious liner the world has ever known. But why did she have to sink? In the paper, they said she was unsinkable, so again why did she sink? I am grateful for having the opportunity to come aboard this vessel and entertain the passengers. That is one memory I will never forget. I am also grateful for having such loyal, and dedicated bandmates. In the afterlife, I hope we can all continue to sound the tunes we did here tonight. I thank you, Lord, for listening in on my final prayer."

"As I go down with this vessel, I will take one thing to my watery grave. The pride and joy of playing onboard this historic, ill-fated liner," John Hume began, "and once I'm gone, I know for certain who's care I will be in—yours. I'm prepared to depart this world, and join you and up in the heavens. My final wish is to have my family prepare a service upon my body's arrival back home—if they find my body that is. Anyway, I thank you for your time. Farewell."

And before Percy could begin his prayer, he was pulled underwater vigorously. John Hume and Roger Bricoux were also pulled under, leaving behind Wallace, John Fredrick Preston Clark, Theodore Brailey, and Percy Taylor.

They were never seen again from this moment forward. Wallace glanced back at his remaining band members.

"Gentlemen," he began, "I bid you farewell."

"Farewell, Wallace," Theodore said.

"Take care, son," John Fredrick Preston Clark said as he patted Wallace on the shoulder two times.

And just like that, they began walking away in the direction of the stern. Wallace remained put. Once the others were lost amongst the crowd, Wallace turned around to look at the water ahead of him. He gulped and took a deep breath in, and then exhaled quickly.

He stood stationary in his spot, letting the water drag him into the vast, black ocean. The stern of Titanic was now almost at its peak height.

The sounds of screaming passengers continued. Wallace closed his eyes and lifted his head up towards the sky. Not a minute went by before he was sucked underwater, losing his violin case in the process. He sincerely went down as a gentleman.

Northern Atlantic Ocean
April 23, 1912

It was a cloudy morning, with the overcast slowly decaying away as the Sun awoke on the horizon. A ship, which was named the C.S Mackay-Bennett, was sailing towards the site where the R.M.S Titanic had gone down just weeks earlier. She had already recovered a large sum of bodies, putting those in the cargo hold over ice to preserve their bodies for burial on land.