Titanic 1912: A Lovecraft Mythos Novel Page 8

  “What is it…are they?”

  “I don’t know, but I doubt we want to go any closer to see,” Howard said.

  “That…I must be going mad.”

  “Mr. Murdoch, I think what the Captain saw drove him mad. We need you. Ignore those visions. They cannot always come through,” Howard told him. In lifeboat seven, already upon the water, the men cheered and tried to row that direction, but Murdoch called to them, warning them not to believe anything they saw.

  The Pomeranian, Lady, whined as it looked at the visage.

  “Don’t row to it. It is but a mirage,” Murphy called to those in the boat. “It is not real, and if it is, we do not want anything to do with it.”

  In a few minutes, the mysterious sailing ship was lost to the dark as if it had never been there.

  “The Flying Dutchman,” Boxhall said.

  “No. It was worse. Be glad it is gone away.” Howard said.

  Bruce Ismay, in his nightclothes, looked around. He asked, “What is gone away? Was it a ship to help us?”

  “No Sir,” Murdoch said, “Sir, please, let us prepare. Perhaps you might go and dress more…ummm…warmly.”

  “They say to put couples onboard. Should we not just put the women and children aboard? We know….” Ismay tried.

  “Sir, please….” Murdoch begged, “If you will move away, we can get the boats loaded and away.” He was about to become rude to one of the owners of the ship line.

  He moved to the side to speak with Ismay and allowed Lowe to load the next boat.

  Helen Monypenny, who screamed she would not get aboard the lifeboat, interrupted them. Sallie and Richard Beckwith, her mother and stepfather, struggled to calm her, but she was terrified to get into such a small boat. The big fish could swallow it whole.

  “I am not about to get into the tiny boat, not with creatures and that big fish just waiting to gobble us up. I will not,” she screamed.

  “Helen, please, this is embarrassing,” Sallie Beckwith whispered.

  “So is your marriage to a man a decade younger than yourself,” Helen hissed back.

  Every eye was on Helen because of her outburst. Everyone stared, jaws dropping with alarm.

  In a second, they would all panic and jump off the boat since many of the men were already saying the lifeboats looked unsafe. With the cold, it was safer to stay upon the ship, they said.

  “A fish?” Ismay asked.

  “Let us finish and lower the boat,” called Lowe.

  If Murdoch had thought twice about allowing men aboard, he now ground his teeth and made a choice, “Go aboard, Mr. Beckwith…Mr. Behr. Anyone else? Go aboard, please.”

  Karl Behr saw that Helen would not go without him. He looked to Howard who nodded his head, “Go with her, Behr. We will all be along soon on the other lifeboats,” Howard said.

  Helen gasped, stopping her tantrum of fear. She cocked her head and opened her mouth, but closed it at once. Her shock went deep.

  She and Karl knew there would be no more lifeboats later and that most men might be left behind. They knew what fearsome creatures were filling the ship.

  Karl gripped Helen’s hand, “Howard, it has been an honor, Sir.”

  “Godspeed, Mr. Behr and Miss Monypenny. It was a fine adventure and testament to your fortitude. Keep your spirits,” Howard called.

  Murdoch seized the moment and ordered Third Officer Pitman aboard and motioned for the boat to be lowered as no others came forward. He feared that either the stewards were not bringing people to the boat decks or that the passengers were refusing to board. The boat lowered with starts and stops since the pulleys were covered in fresh paint.

  There came a terrible jerk and jolt.

  “Lower away,” Bruce Ismay called.

  Lowe lost his temper, “Would you get the hell out of my way, and stop shouting? If I lower them fast, I will tip the boat and drown the lot of them. Let me do my job, will you?”

  Ismay walked away, his head down.

  The boat was quite a ways below when Henry and Isaac Fraunthal ran towards Murdoch,

  “Wait for us.”

  Isaac had dreamed, not two nights before, that the ship hit something and sank. He told his brother, Henry, and the two men spoke of the awful nightmare, not worried, but in passing. However, as soon as they heard the ship had hit something, they felt the dream was coming true. Neither man had any doubt that the Titanic was going down.

  “They’ve already gone….” Murdoch reached for the men, but they jumped madly, crushing one of the female passengers and almost tossing everyone into the sea.

  Murdoch walked slowly after Lowe to look down, fearing the boat had turned over, and found everyone, in the lifeboat, huddled about one of the women. One of the men called up that the woman was unconscious, and before she had fainted, she clasped her ribs, crying out that they were broken.

  “But it is okay,” the man called again, “we have a doctor aboard. Mr. Fraunthal is here.”Murdoch and Howard traded glances and sighed.

  Chapter six: Going on 1:00 and No Help in Sight…

  The water reached the bow where the name of the ship was painted; D Deck, where everyone had gathered, was flooded towards the bow, and C Deck began to flood.

  In some places, water fell in streams into rooms and halls from above even as water rose from below.

  Howard walked over to see what happened with Lightoller and those boats. Lightoller and Officer Wilde took the Captain’s orders to mean women and children only, so he motioned for only the women to climb aboard and to be quick about it.

  “Hitchens and Fleet will be in charge. Mr. Leenie will help. Please help, Mr. Leenie, if you will.” Lightoller pushed the coal stoker to the boat.

  “Row and watch out for the ladies.”

  “Now stop arguing and go, Maggie, Dear,” William Stead urged.

  “I cannot leave you all behind. We’ve work to do,” Maggie Brown protested. You need my help…to…well…we are a team.”

  Stead nodded, “And we will get the job done. You have work here on this boat. Keep everyone safe; you know what I mean. Watch for signs.”

  “The yellowy mist,” Howard mouthed to her.

  She nodded back at them but was ready to protest again when Stead motioned for a crewman to help him. The crewman picked Maggie Brown up off her feet and put her into the boat.

  She took a second to smile at the men who had become her friends, before comforting the other women, making sure they were bundled up and calm; she realized that she did have a job to do aboard the lifeboat.

  Hudson Allison was immediately concerned when he found out the ship had hit an iceberg and escorted his family up to the boat deck. His wife, Bessie, fretted because they could not find the nurse or their youngest child, Trevor, who was less than a year old.

  “I will find them and take them aboard a lifeboat myself. Do not worry, Bessie. You and Loraine stay here bundled up, and we’ll meet up soon.” Loraine was not quite three.”

  Maggie Brown patted Bessie’s arm and tickled the little girl.

  Quigg Baxter brought his mother up in his arms as she had a nerve affliction and put her into a seat next to his sister and Mrs. Brown, who tucked blankets around everyone. He blew kisses to them and backed away from the boat. His mother and sister protested, crying and saying they could not go without him.

  “Women and children first. The rest of us will be along soon,” Quigg said.

  His mother said they would wait and made a move to get out of the boat. Quigg shook his head, “Now follow the rules. I will not be but a few minutes behind you. I have one other passenger to bring to the lifeboat. Let me get her now.” He left, returning in a second with his secret girlfriend, Antonia, who was in a nightgown and fur coat.

  “Who is this?” Quigg’s mother asked.

  “You can meet properly in the boat. I fear you will have the time.”

  He had her sit with his family, quickly introducing them. At least the shock of meeting her kept
his mother and sister from trying to leave the ship again. The shock that she was a cabernet singer he had met and that he had sneaked aboard might keep them lively until rescued.

  “Take my brandy,” he told his mother.

  “I have told you before about that drinking.”

  “Etes vous bien, Ma’am? Au revoir, bon espoir vous autres,” he said. He might love the liquor and drink a little too much, but he wasn’t a fool and knew he was doomed and wouldn’t make it off the ship alive. He could get a drink below and thought he might get good and drunk. Mr. Lightoller’s eyes were too fierce and too sad for him to believe anything else except that they were doomed.

  Bessie Allison asked again what the man next to her said.

  “I said I saw your husband on the other side of the ship getting aboard a lifeboat. They are still loading.”

  “Hold up, Sir,” said Bessie as she stood, holding her daughter, “I want to join my husband and son.” Mr. Lightoller helped her out of the boat.

  “I need another man to row. Who has experience with boats?” Lightoller asked. He looked at Quigg, but Quigg shook his head.

  It was really too late since the boat was gone, already lowered down the side. Murphy cut his eyes to Howard and Stead, but they stepped back, shaking their heads.

  “I do,” said Mr. Peuchen. He was part of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club. As the boat was lowered, he proved himself sea-worthy by sliding down a rope into the boat. He was more than fifty years old and had to lower himself hand over hand for twenty-five feet. Many clapped and cheered as he made his way to a set of oars.

  “He is loading just women and children? Does he not realize we’re going down and that the men left behind will surely drown?” Howard asked Stead as they walked back to the other side.

  “Ahhh, there are two sides about it. Mr. Lightoller is following strict orders and thinks he will save all the women and children, at least of first class, and many of second. No one is concerned about the poor third class but a few of us.”

  “Those poor men and women.”

  “Mr. Murdoch saw few women lining up; they aren’t scared yet, so he is loading all he can. Did you see he let ten of the firemen board? Good man. And look there, more crewmen than passengers. He is trying to load them full, but there’s no one waiting….”

  “It is good the firemen made it up here and were not attacked.”

  “Maybe they were and only the ten made it,” Stead pointed out. “If the passengers only knew the terrible creatures we have seen and that there are not enough boats….” “They would rush the boats, over-fill them, and all would end up in the ice water. I cannot tell you what is best, my boy,” Stead sighed, “but let us find our other friends and see if we can help get more people up here. If the first class refuses to come, then let us bring the second and third to the boats, eh?”

  The Strauses walked away from the boat deck, prompting Howard to ask why they had not boarded a lifeboat after having come up.

  Ida Straus smiled gently, “I refused to board without my husband; we have lived a long life together, and if we go, it shall be together.”

  “Come to this side. Mr. Murdoch will allow you both to board,” Howard said. He knew Murdoch would not deny Mr. Strauss.

  Isador Straus shook his head, “I am almost seventy years old. That is very old, and I cannot take the place of a young person. I cannot take a privilege that is not afforded to those of lesser class passage. That would be wrong.” He suddenly winked, “but we sent our maid to safety. Mrs. Bird shall be safe.”

  “It’s an honor having made your acquaintance, Sir and Ma’am,” Howard told them, “God speed.”

  The older couple strolled about the deck as if they were out for a late-night walk. They held hands. Howard burned that image into his brain: the sight of an old couple, still in love and determined to be together, even in death. There was something very powerful there.

  They heard screaming. Both men ran back to Lightoller, wondering how many times they would run abeam the boat. The situation was curious. Because the ship was listing a great deal, the port side had a three-foot space between the lifeboat and the side of the ship. To board, each had to get over the gap.

  Men held women and swung them out across the gap to land in the little boat, but the women, to their credit, were brushing themselves off and were finding seats as quickly as possible.

  A year-old-baby was tossed to his mother and then his two-month-old sister was tossed. The mother was from third class, but her husband felt the collision and got them dressed and to the lifeboats as quickly as possible. They had not faced the flooding or the monsters. He waved goodbye to his family.

  Husbands waved to their wives, saying aloud they would be along soon, but whispered to one another that at least they would be gentlemen and go down with the ship. Each would make jest and say, “After you,” as they stepped back after tucking women into blankets and saying good-bye.

  Wives cried for their husbands, claiming the crewmen were crude and did not know what they were doing; they resented the presence of those men over that of their husbands. Single men escorted single women to the boat.

  One of the French women missed her footing and fell into the gap between the boat and the ship. Women aboard the boat screamed; the French woman shrieked and grabbed for the gunwale. As she struggled to get her footing and hang on, she felt a slender tentacle slide about her ankle and tug.

  “Help me,” she cried, “I’ve something grabbing me.” She let loose with peels of screams as the terrible tentacle’s ooze burned through her stockings and into her flesh. As it slithered from a broken porthole, it tried to pull her away from the boat, but the other women yanked and dragged at her arms. She could no longer hold on.

  At that time, an Armenian man, in a panic about the ship listing so badly, ran and jumped into the boat; it almost caused the French woman to lose hold of the gunwale. His actions, however, embolden a Japanese gentleman who followed, leaping into the boat. He knew he had disgraced his family and country by escaping with women, but he was terrified of the icy water.

  His leap caused the French woman to kick out to find a foothold, and the tentacle pulled away from her frantic kicking. The women yanked her arms and pulled her into the boat.

  No one saw the tentacle and thought it had been an errant rope that had caused a burn on her ankle. Comforting her, they almost tossed the Armenian man and Japanese man over the side into the sea, but did not, as they were distracted by the lowering of the boat.

  Howard and William Stead, watching from above, caught sight of the tentacle for a split second and were horrified that it had almost stolen the women. Not only would she have lost her life, but also the occupants of the boat would have panicked and caused it to turn over.

  They watched and saw Jeremiah Burke as he took a small bottle from his trousers’ pocket and poured the holy water upon the deck; it could not hurt. In his other hand, he had a little note he had written:

  3/14/1912

  From Titanic,

  Goodbye all:

  Burke of Glanmire,

  Co, Queensland

  He slipped the paper into the bottle, sealed it and, leaning over the railing, tossed it into the water. His home was half a sea away.

  He did not survive, but the little bottle made its way back to his homeland over the course of a year and washed ashore in Ireland, not many miles from his own home. A coachman who was walking his dog found the bottle, and it was returned to Jeremiah’s mother who confirmed the bottle was the one she gave him and the handwriting was his.

  His mother died shortly after reading his note, and no one ever understood how the message found its way home.

  Daniels, John, Jenny and Peter Cavendar, and the Perry brothers ran up to the pair to tell them that the lounges on D deck were full of men smoking cigars and having drinks, couples putting off the climb up to the boat deck, and some who refused to get aboard lifeboats. They had been trying to get everyone to come up and get i
nto a boat.

  “But they…some anyway, are beginning to get worried and there is almost an upcoming panic,” Peter said.

  Howard shared what they had seen: the mystery ghost ship full of demon-like creatures and the tentacles that had grabbed the French woman and almost pulled her away. They also explained that the injured were loaded onto boats and that Karl, Helen, and Maggie were away, safely

  They walked to the other side to watch.

  “Are we loading here? Sorry. Berk Pickard, Sirs, Ma’am,” a man walked over and introduced himself.

  “Where did you come from?” Daniels asked, as the man was wet and shivering.

  “F deck,” he said, his voice shaking as his eyes shifted.

  “F? Why it’s flooded and full of…um…things…um….” Pickard sighed, “Oh Sir, I am so glad you understand. Most would think I was mad if I told them the half of what I saw. Yes, it is flooded now. I felt the collision and came up to see.

  When I tried to go back and get my belongings, the steward whispered that it was flooding and they were about to lock the gates and to hurry back. I did but…there were things, Sir.”

  “Things, yes,” Stead agreed

  “I would describe them as something like house cats, but they had terrible claws, no tails, and no fur and were unusually thin. In places, I swear I could see bones with no flesh. And they hissed at me. I ran.”

  “That was smart,” John said.

  “I am no coward, but those things….”

  “You did the right thing,” Howard said.

  “I made my way to E and, well, it’s flooded now as well. I am afraid everyone is lost as there were no people in sight on F or E.I heard a most terrible sound: sliding, slippery, and thumping. I admit it almost scared me unto death and as I said, I am no coward. I didn’t look to see what could be making such noise but it sounded large, and in my head I heard the most horrid sounds.”