I wrote this several years ago for my AS English Coursework. Hope you like it!

Murdoch's Thoughts

Ada'll be asleep now thought First Officer William Murdoch as he looked out over the vast darkness ahead. Five days and it feels like a lifetime since I held her. A door suddenly banged open below, shaking Murdoch from his thoughts of his beloved wife. A pair of young lovers spilled out of the door laughing in each others arms. They spoke for a moment then kissed passionately, causing Murdoch to chuckle to himself and look away, giving them a bit of privacy.

He glanced into the wheel house at Quartermaster Hitchens, who had a steady hand on the wheel and was staring ahead. Seeing that all was well, Murdoch turned back to the bow and rubbed his gloved hands together to warm them, sincerely wishing he was in the warm chartroom with Fourth Officer Joseph Boxhall.

Something suddenly caught his eye and caused his hands to still and his brow to crease in concentration. He leant forward slightly to get a better look at whatever he was seeing, and not for the first time that trip, he found himself cursing and wishing for those damn binoculars he and his old friend Second Officer Charles "Lights" Lightoller had been talking about less than two hours earlier.

All of a sudden the bell in the crows nest rang three times. Damn, thought Murdoch, danger ahead. Almost immediately, the telephone to the crows nest rang and along with it came the sound of footsteps. The ringing stopped and instead came the voice of young Sixth Officer James Moody. "Yes, what do you see?" a pause and then a calm "thank you", hurried footsteps and then a bellowed "Iceberg right ahead."

Immediately, Murdoch bellowed back the order "Hard astarboard" even as he was running past the startled Moody and towards the engine telegraphs to give the order for "full speed astern". He ran back to the Bridge, past the scared Moody and Hitchens. He watched the iceberg loom ever closer, willing the ship to turn out of the 'bergs path, all the while muttering under his breath "come on, come on, turn." At last, after what seemed like an eternity, the ship began to turn. It would be close but they could make it, couldn't they? No such luck. They had been too close. Feeling the impact, Murdoch turned back to Moody who was in the doorway of the wheel house and called "Hard to port". It took a few seconds but it worked. The grinding and shaking had stopped.

Murdoch ran past Moody again. This time to close the watertight doors that were meant to keep the ship afloat in an event such as this. Having done this, he turned back to Moody who was as white as a sheet and looked to be as terrified as he himself was. In a shaky voice, he instructed the young man to "note the time and enter it into the log", all the while silently berating himself, Will you fool, you've just run the biggest ship in history into an iceberg! Suddenly Captain Smith appeared with Boxhall just behind him, and asked for a report.

Twenty minutes later, Murdoch, Smith, Thomas Andrews, the ships builder, John Hutchinson, the ships carpenter and Bruce Ismay, the ships owner, crowded into the chartroom. Ismay and the two officers listened as Andrews and Hutchinson explained that the ship was going to sink. Having heard his worst fears, Smith turned to his First Officer and asked how many people were aboard. "2206 souls aboard, sir" came the quiet reply. "And room for only half that number" Smith added just as quietly. My God, thought Murdoch, what have I done?