Torpedo

It seemed to be taking forever for Robert to finish with the constable. After finishing her midday meal, Carrie went back out to the deck to stroll around and wait for him, but when he never showed up, she went back to their rooms to see if maybe he’d expected her to meet him there. She found them perfectly empty. With a sigh, she’d gone back up on the deck.
Judging by the position of the sun in the sky, she thought it had to be close to 2:00. A lot of people had gathered on the deck earlier to catch a glimpse of the coast of Ireland, but now, a lot of those people had meandered away. It seemed nothing exciting was going to happen that day after all. Soon enough, they’d all be in Liverpool. Then what? She’d spoken to Robert about his plans. He was going to go right back to New York. Would she see him again soon?
Her mind was on that when she heard a bit of a shout from further down the ship, and then a spray of water whipped up from below and the entire boat shook. Letting out a yelp of shock, Carrie grabbed the railing next to her with both hands. Just as the ship began to resettle in the water, she heard another sound from deep in the ship and then the deck beneath her feet rattled again.
Eyes wide with fear, Carrie tried to decipher what had just happened. It all seemed surreal. One moment, she was standing there thinking about her future. The next, the only thing keeping her from falling miles into the cold water of the sea was shaking underneath her like something awful had happened.
“Wh-what was that?” she asked aloud to no one. The other people on the deck all looked panicked and shocked as well. A few people who had been standing near the spray of water were wet.
Then, she heard a word she’d been praying no one would ever have to say while she was on the ship. “Torpedo!” one of the men who’d been standing just above where Carrie thought the ship had been struck shouted. “Those bloody Germans have torpedoed us! A passenger liner!”
“A torpedo?” Carrie couldn’t believe what she was hearing. All of this time, she’d brushed off the comments of other passengers who were afraid something of this nature might happen. Now, here they were in the midst of a tragedy–and she had no idea what to do.
Carrie’s feet stayed glued to the deck as the people around her began to panic. They screamed and ran in all different directions, many of them shouting the names of loved ones. Below her, Carrie could feel the promenade shaking and wondered if there was a fire somewhere deep in the ship, or if that was simply the collected fear of almost 2000 people reacting all at the same time to what would likely be the event that claimed many of their lives.
“Robert,” Carrie whispered. “Where the hell are you?” She continued to stand there on the deck with her hands wrapped around the railing, watching people flood by. Fathers ushered their families hurriedly toward the lifeboats. Stewards handed life jackets to anyone who didn’t have one. Since Carrie’s was tucked away safely in her room, she accepted one a man offered her and put it on, still not moving.
Ruth’s words tumbled through her mind. “Eighteen minutes,” she whispered. How long had it been? Not more than three or four. Still, her time was nearly a quarter gone, and she’d done absolutely nothing.
What would Robert want her to do in this situation? She vaguely recalled the conversation with him where he’d told her not to wait for him, to get on a lifeboat. She also remembered what Mr. Ashton had told everyone when he was in the middle of the Titanic sinking. He wanted everyone else on the lifeboats so he could take care of himself.
Carrie had a choice to make. She could start running around in circles like most of these other people were doing, shouting Robert’s name, looking for Jonathan, or she could get her butt on a lifeboat and get the hell out of there like both of them would want her to do.
“Damn it,” Carrie mumbled, looking around. While it seemed like a simple decision to make, it would have been even easier if Robert would materialize in front of her, and she could talk him into getting onto a lifeboat with her if there was space.
But that wasn’t happening, and since going down the stairs at this point was akin to running into a burning building, she decided to figure out how to get off the boat safely.
By now, the ship was listing badly. Carrie hadn’t noticed it while she was standing still, but with the first couple of steps she took, it was apparent that the boat was going down quickly. Yet, steam still poured from three of the stacks, propelling the Lusitania quickly through the water. There was no way they were going to be able to launch lifeboats at this speed. It wouldn’t be safe.
Needing to take action, Carrie ran down to where the lifeboats were being loaded. All of them were leaning out away from the ship, and she was sure the lifeboats on the other side would be swinging over the decks. How would they launch them that way?
Ruth’s gesture came to mind–the lifeboat spilling the people out everywhere. She ran over to where the closest lifeboat was being loaded and looked down. “We’re going too fast!” she muttered. Running over to the workers manning the lifeboat, she said, “It’s going to spill!”
“Get out of the way, lady,” one of the uniformed officers shouted at her. “We’ve gotta launch this boat. It’s full.”
“But it’s going to dump everyone into the water!” Carrie looked up and locked eyes with a nervous looking woman with her arms around two small children. “Hold onto the seat!” she shouted. “The seat! Hold onto it!”
The woman’s eyebrows furrowed just as the front of the lifeboat began to tip toward the water. Everyone inside screamed as the little boat quickly pitched forward. The men lowering her into the water shouted at one another, trying to lower both sides at the same time, but the speed of the passenger liner wouldn’t allow their corrections to help the poor people in the boat who were quickly dumped right into the cold sea–all except for the woman and her two children whose hands were wrapped around the bottom of their seat. Carrie watched as the mother let go with one hand and tossed the children behind the boat. It hit the water, tossing her out of the ship, but then, when it fell back to bob on the surface of the Irish Sea, the two children were still inside.
“No!” Carrie shouted, watching the spot where the woman had gone under. She leaned over the railing, praying she’d pop out of the water as so many others who’d fallen had done, but she couldn’t see her anywhere.
“Mama!” the two children shouted as other people who had tumbled out of the boat tried to crawl back inside. A few made it, but they were so cold from the freezing water, Carrie didn’t know what their chances were of actually surviving.
“The lights are out!” People began to scream as they ran by. “It’s pitch black down there!”
A lump formed in Carrie’s throat as she turned toward the closest stairwell. No one was coming out of there now. Where the hell were Robert and Jonathan?
“Miss, they’re loading more boats down there,” one of the crew members told her. “But Captain Turner has given orders for us not to launch anymore until the ship slows down. You should go down there, claim your spot.” He gave her a meek smile, one that told her he was trying to save her life even though he was fairly certain his was almost over.
With tears in her eyes, Carrie reached over and grabbed his arm. “Thank you. Best of luck to you.”’
He nodded solemnly, and she took off walking as quickly as she could toward where the next boats were being launched.
Walking uphill while leaning hard to her left side, it took her a few minutes to get there, but when she did, she’d arrived just in time to help an elderly woman into the boat. Her husband stood there, fretting over her. “What about you, Arthur?” she asked. “I don’t want to go on without you.”
“Someone has to tell the grandbabies Arthur Murphy died a brave soul,” he said with a chuckle that was meant to make his wife smile but only made her cry.
“It’s okay,” Carrie assured Mrs. Murphy. “There are other boats. Please, get in.”
“But I’m scared. The other boats fell,” the older woman pointed out. Someone behind them ran by screaming, and Carrie turned her head to see a woman who was so panicked she’d run right past the lifeboat.
“They’re going to wait until it’s safer,” Carrie assured her. Just behind them, she heard a crew member shouting to go ahead and lower the boat. She thought that went against the captain’s orders and didn’t appear to be too safe, but she was done trying to interject. “Come on.”
With that, Mrs. Murphy kissed Arthur goodbye and got into the boat.
“You can get in, too, Miss,” one of the workers told her.
Carrie looked behind her and saw that the lifeboat was almost to the water now with no incidents. It made her less afraid to get in. But then, the water wasn’t nearly as far away now as it had been only a few moments ago. How long had it been? Ten minutes? Was their time halfway up?
A scream erupted behind them. Carrie turned to see another lifeboat lowering right on top of the one that had just made it down. “Oh, my God!” She covered her mouth with both hands as the second boat fell right on top of the first one, sending that lifeboat under the water and crushing anyone who was aboard.
She turned to lock eyes with the crew member who had just told her to get in.
“We’ll… be more careful,” he said, but Carrie knew he couldn’t promise anything.
Taking a step back, Carrie looked around. They were beginning to load another boat not too far away, and most of the passengers on deck were still running around, screaming, looking for loved ones or just losing their minds such that they were not going to be able to navigate getting onto a lifeboat at all.
“I think I’ll catch the next one,” she told him. He shook his head but didn’t argue with her.
As soon as they began to lower the boat, Carrie moved on to the next one. She used the railing to move herself along, afraid she’d tumble over and into the water if she didn’t hold onto something. With every passing second, the ship was taking on more water. It wasn’t going to be long now until the entire floating monstrosity was lying at the bottom of the ocean.
“Come on, children!” a woman was saying as she herded a group of youngsters along. “Let’s get on this little boat where we’ll all be safe.”
“Mama! I’m slipping!” one of the little girls shouted.
Carrie let go of the railing and scooped her up. Her mother’s eyes widened. “Let’s go.” Carrie grabbed the hand of another child and walked with the mother to the lifeboat, knowing she’d make sure this family got aboard–even if she didn’t get on yet herself.
“Where are you Robert?” she muttered.
The mother climbed into the boat, and Carrie handed her the children. “Thank you so much.”
Carrie nodded. “Good luck to you.”
“Anyone else?” the officer in charge of the boat shouted.
Looking around, Carrie saw no one familiar to her. Was now her chance to keep her promise and get off the ship–or should she wait for Robert?