I entered my cabin to find Jake lying in his bed with a full cup of water in his left hand, a pack of cards in the other.
‘’I hope you are not planning to drink that water in a hurry, we’re on duty now.’’
He replied, ‘’Oh, soz matey.’’ Jake was from Newcastle and he wasn’t too bright, but on the other hand he had eyes like a healthy hawk. If there was an ice berg five hundred yards away, he’d be the one who spotted it. He placed his cup of water on the bed-side unit. We left the cabin.
We walked out in to the deck A corridor which up the first set of stairs to the right, led up to the main deck. This was extremely convenient; on the other hand it would get rather chilly in the night.
We walked up the stairs to the main deck and we were stopped by the Watchman Manager who was the person who told us off when we put a foot wrong.
‘’You’re late!’’ He shouted.
‘’Sorry boss just getting there,’’ I replied. That always worked with him. As long as he knew that you were on the job, he wouldn’t mind.
We started walking along the main deck towards our ‘cubby’ as we called it. This was the thing we took watch from. It was just like an oversized bucket with just enough room to seat two people. And I mean it is a ridiculous squeeze. Jake didn’t help being my watch partner as he was six foot and four inches, and about as wide. There are two, so called, seats in there which were really bar stools with a cushion which looked battered, tatty and although they had been used for several years. To get to the ‘cubby’ we had to climb a ladder of about thirty foot. The steps on the ladder were metal and this really didn’t help when in the Atlantic, and the temperatures were below zero degrees. I went to go up but Jake intervened.
‘’You know which seat I like.’’ He stated.
‘’Only because you can sleep!’’ I replied.
So we started climbing up the ladder. When we eventually reached the top, Jake had huddled up in the corner looking all comfortable, but in the process left me with hardly any room. This was no change.
After watching for about an hour I felt rather cold. I decided to have a cigarette to try and put some warmth inside myself. I reached for the packet in my right pocket. It felt tattered and old. I usually possess a packet of cigarettes for a long period of time as I only smoke when on duty. I pulled one out for myself when I went to offer Jake one. He was asleep. This meant I either had to wake him or be on extra guard as there was only one of us. I didn’t wake him.
I gazed out dreamily into the deep, dark ocean. The ocean makes me feel relaxed and so I forget the cold. It makes me think that there is no-one out there in a thousand miles who holds any type of grudge, or are annoyed at me.
I looked round at Jake as he started snoring. I nudged him to stop and he just groaned and carried on. He has the sharpest eyes in Britain, but I thought to myself, they aren’t if he is asleep.
Jake had handed me a pack of cards before we left so I decided to play a game of solitaire, but it failed as the cards kept blowing away. I light up another cigarette. When I had finished smoking it I awoke Jake.
‘’I’m just going to get some drinks, stay awake until I come back o.k.?’’
‘’Yer all rite.’’ He replied sleepily.
I started climbing down the ladder and there was a forceful gust of wind. I felt my grasp slip, one hand come away from the step and I swung outwards. I managed to regain my grip with my left hand. I stabilized myself and carried on down. When I reached the bottom it only seemed like a matter of seconds before I was at the kitchen as I had been thinking of my close encounter with death.
‘’Two drinks please Jim!’’ I shouted across the kitchen.
‘’You on juty?’’
‘’Yes Jim.’’
‘’I’ll make it extra quick then!’’
The drinks were ready in a matter of seconds. I hurried back to Jake. When I had struggled up the ladder I noticed Jake had fallen asleep again.
‘’Jake your drink mate.’’
He gulped it down. I sipped mine at the same time as I took a glimpse out to sea. A feeling of horror rushed through my body as I was confronted with this mountain of ice. Two hundred foot, it was piercing the water. One hundred foot wide.
I sounded the alarm after staring for a matter of thirty seconds. Jake awoke petrified. I have never seen Jakes eyes as I saw them, I could visualise the fright and horror in his pupils. We rushed down the ladder; the word had spread in a matter of seconds. Horrified people were rushing around the deck like headless chickens. I thought to myself as u turned once again, all these innocent people-this ship! Was this ship going to sink on its maiden voyage-it couldn’t I thought whilst rushing to the captain. I gazed round at the berg once again ad it was gaining it was now one hundred metres away, I felt the sharp effort by the Titanic to turn away from the berg. I knew it would hit, it was too close now.
‘’Captain!’’ I shouted as I entered the room.
‘’I know, I know.’’ He replied softly.
‘’If this ship is to sink, then I’ll go with it!’’ I heard the pride in his voice. A true captain I thought to myself.
As I ran out to the main deck I felt a terrifying crunch, I knew we had hit. I felt the vibrations go through my whole body. I will never feel this ever, I thought. I looked around me. It was like hell. Children crying, their mothers also, the fathers reassuring them as he said goodbye and placed them into a life boat. I knew they would never see each other again as there where no-where near enough life-boats for everyone on this ship. I rushed to find Jake. Was he already on a lifeboat? I decided to run to the nearest lifeboat in my panic. I spotted Jake. I rushed to his boat. I clambered in. It was like running through Tokyo in rush hour. They immediately started lowering us.
After they had lowered us to the water we immediately started rowing away, if we didn’t we would get pulled under by the suction of the boat. I noticed people were jumping off the boat, killing themselves. They can’t have any family I thought.
‘’Jake, you o.k.?’’
‘’Bit cold but yer.’’
I had never seen Jake in this way. I could still see the fright in his eyes, his face was pale- not his usual cheery pink.
We had been out to sea for around an hour. The gigantic princess tilted vertically, stern in the air and bow deep in the water. The lights started to fade; they went out after a minute or so. I saw the Titanic begin to slowly melt into the grasp of this powerful ocean. Powerful enough to sink an unsinkable ship. Is there such thing, I thought to myself. An unsinkable ship?
And only then did it cross my mind. Had Jake been awake when I fetched the drinks, would his sharp eye sight have saved the Titanic?