An Unsinkable Love

chapter 10


As far as Malcolm could see, people crammed the deck.

Fights were breaking out near the few remaining lifeboats as men tried to get aboard, only to be fought back by crew. A shot rang out from farther down the ship. Women screamed and passengers dropped to the deck or ducked. Malcolm felt the boy beside him quiver with fear.

"Do you see any of your family?" he asked.

The boy stood on tiptoe and looked around. "No sir."

Malcolm led him over to a metal staircase climbing to the roof of the bridge and urged him up a few steps. "Try again."

The boy stared out over the sea of heads. He raised his arm and pointed at a nearly full lifeboat. "There! My mam and Lucy. In the boat!"

Malcolm hustled him down to the deck and shoved his way toward the lifeboat. Rough hands tried to grab him and curses rang through the air. He felt a blow to his back that almost brought him to his knees, but he caught his balance and struggled forward. They burst through the crowd and were brought up short by a row of white-clad crewmen.

"Here, now, whot'cha think you're doin'?" one asked.

"The boy—his mother and sister are on that boat." He pointed to the woman who stood and screamed, "Oliver!"

Others in the boat tried to push her back to her seat as the boat swung wildly.

"Oi, Jack, help the bloke in." Another crewman stepped forward and started to hand Oliver into the boat.

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An Unsinkable Love

by Terri Benson

Malcolm felt a surge behind him. He half turned and saw a gang of men make a rush for the boat. Not only did they outnumber the crew but they were armed with broken pieces of furniture they wielded like clubs. Quickly sizing up the situation, Malcolm waded in and downed an attacker with a strong right hook, relieving him of his club. He swung the ornate chair leg fiercely, felling aggressors indiscriminately.

The crewmen followed his lead. The mob's enthusiasm faded in the face of a determined counterattack and they backed off. The bloodied crewmen closed ranks and, duty-bound, steadfastly continued to load the boat. As it lowered, a man broke from the crowd and ran to the rail. He leaped, landing on top of several women. There was a sickening thunk as his head struck the far side, and Malcolm knew from the angle of his neck he was dead. As soon as the boat hit the water, the two crewmen sorted him out from the frightened but uninjured women and pitched his body overboard.

With the boat gone, the crowd moved forward down the deck, searching for the next boat with room for more passengers. Malcolm stood at the now empty rail and gazed down. The smell of salt drifted in the air, mingling with oil and sweat and blood. The moon reflected off the stygian water, broken by several bobbing boats and, in the distance, glittering black mountains of ice. He frowned as he realized several vessels held far less than their capacity, and one contained only a dozen crewmen, a male passenger and a heavy-set woman. As he observed the listing deck, he saw people jump from the rails en masse, like lemmings. They tumbled on top of each other, hitting the water from great 91

An Unsinkable Love

by Terri Benson

distances. He flinched at the loud splats as they struck. Most floated back to the surface face down. The few who survived attempted to swim for the boats, but either the boats moved away or the swimmers became too exhausted in the frigid water and slipped down into the black void.

He felt a presence at his shoulder and turned to see John Astor, a whirl of aromatic smoke from his cigar wreathing his head. The older man mopped his brow with a silk handkerchief, a slight tremor in his hand the only outward sign of emotion. "My God, what a mess. When you're ready, Malcolm my boy, we're in the smoking lounge. No use standing out here in the cold. We've a bottle or two and some cards." As Mr. Astor turned away, Malcolm asked, "Have you seen Eldon, sir?"

"Why, no. Not since early this evening." Mr. Astor continued on his way as if he were out for an evening stroll.

Malcolm wandered down the deck toward the stern, shaking his head at the number of people who still milled around, hoping to get into a boat. Clearly there were not enough seats. He paused next to an older crewman who stood watching, tears welling in his eyes.

"Why don't you send these people over to the boats on the other side? There isn't enough room on these for even half of them."

"The other boats are of no use. The ship is listing and we can't launch them. It doesn't matter much anyway. There aren't enough boats for everyone. Not even close."

"Not enough boats? How can that be?"

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An Unsinkable Love

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"They don't need enough boats, you see. Them's the rules.

Besides, the mucky-mucks who design them don't want to spoil the pretty ship by having all those lifeboats getting in the way of the passengers. The great Titanic wasn't supposed to sink, you know." A tear rolled down his face. "It wasn't supposed to sink." With a sniff, he turned and shuffled slowly away from the crowd.

Malcolm staggered as the deck tilted, wending his way down the boat deck promenade toward the noticeably less occupied stern. There were no lifeboats left on the davits at this end. He almost tripped over a body tangled in the supports of the railing. It was a senior crewman. Malcolm looked closely and realized the man sported a neat bullet hole in the center of his forehead—a victim of the hysteria of the desperate passengers, no doubt.

A few people hurried down the staircase to A Deck and he saw more groups on the deck below making their way to the stern. A loose hatchway in the metal wall behind him clanged and drew Malcolm's attention to a dark corner. The dusky shadows were oddly shaped and he stepped closer. With a start, he realized the shapes were two prone bodies. Both were men, lying face up on the deck. Their heads were haloed by inky pools. He knelt next to one, realizing it was one of Eldon's card-playing cronies named Peterson. The man's eyes were open, staring, frost already coating them. The other, smaller, man was a stranger. He wore the White Star uniform. Malcolm started to stand but saw a tear slip from the crewman's eye and roll into his ear. He crawled over to the slight figure.

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An Unsinkable Love

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"I'll get help," Malcolm said, as he laid his hand on the man's chest. Though tears continued to leak from the crewman's eyes, he didn't make a sound or move a muscle, except for an almost imperceptible rise and fall of his chest.

Malcolm recognized the dark halo as a puddle of blood, the unmistakable metallic odor pungent in the air. He picked up the injured man's hand. It was cold and flaccid.

Malcolm carefully reached behind the man's neck at the base of his head. He jerked his hand back when he felt a mass of soft, slimy tissue and small, hard bits. He leaned over and checked Peterson for a pulse, quickly confirming he was dead. By rolling the body over, he saw a large gash in the back of his head. The bloody gray mass and chips of bone brought a rush of bile to Malcolm's throat. Someone had violently attacked the two from behind, leaving them for dead.

He moved back to the crewman. "I'm afraid to move you by myself. I'll get help and we'll get you on a boat." The man made no reply or movement and Malcolm wondered if he were paralyzed.

He turned and raced down the listing deck toward the bow but pulled up short when he noticed there were no more lifeboats hanging from the davits. He pounded the railing in despair as he wracked his brain for a plan to get the injured man off the boat to safety.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a few crewmen forging their way toward him through the mass of people crowding the railings. They turned and clattered up the staircase to the flat deck over the bridge. Malcolm watched as 94

An Unsinkable Love

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they pulled a large canvas off a bulge on the roof. A grinding distracted him, and several deck chairs slid across the deck to pile up at the rail, knocking passengers off their feet. The list was becoming severe. He looked up at the crewmen, realizing they must have a plan to work so diligently under the circumstances. He leaped up the steps two at a time, propelling himself with the railings. As the oiled canvas slipped aside, he stared at the deflated form for a moment before realizing it was an Englehardt collapsible lifeboat, which he'd read about in one of the innumerable articles printed about the ship before the sailing. This might be his last chance to get the injured man off the ship.

"What can I do to help?" he asked.

"Get that canvas out of the way while we pull the blocks."

As he wadded the stiff material into a bundle and pushed it off to the side he noticed there was no davit to lower the boat. "How do we get it down?"

"With ropes, unless you'd like to wait until it floats off?"

Malcolm shook his head, managing a grin at the sarcasm.

He saw the nearly thirty-foot-long lifeboat would be too heavy for the three of them alone. He quickly descended and rounded up a half dozen stout men from a group who stood quietly at the back of the crowd. They appeared to have accepted their fate but, faced with a positive activity, were eager to help. The men were assigned to ropes by the lead crewman and took up their places as he directed them to lower the boat down the stair railing. Malcolm and two men were sent down below to keep the bow from slipping off the rails. It was slow work as the ship's list increased by the 95

An Unsinkable Love

by Terri Benson

minute and the bow began to drop alarmingly as well. The crowd of passengers milled around on the boat deck, becoming more agitated. A few took an interest in what Malcolm and the others were doing.

"Hey, there's another boat! Them fellers found a boat!

They're trying to get away with it!" Malcolm turned and saw a weasely faced man working to drum up a fight. He succeeded too, as several more men joined him and viewed the boat with covetous eyes.

"Look out!" Malcolm yelled as the mob surged forward.

This time there were far more attackers and the three men at the bottom of the stairs were quickly overwhelmed. Malcolm battled fiercely, but knew they were losing ground. He sensed movement coming at him from the right, but only managed to turn a fraction before everything went dark.

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An Unsinkable Love

by Terri Benson