The Titanic. They called it the unsinkable ship. They couldn't be more wrong. It was sinkable. It sank.
I was there on the ship during that terrible disaster. It would have been comic if it weren't so tragic, an unsinkable ship that sank.
It all started down at the dock, I suppose that the best place to begin isn't it, at the start.
"Stop messing around, I watched you put the tickets in your coat pocket" Anya told her husband, Gary.
"Yes but was it this coat, I can't find them." He replied
"You only have one coat!"
"Found them," He cried. "Here you go he said," Handing then to the porter
"Two adults and two children" The porter said to them. "This all seems to be in order, you can go on now"
The four of them walked up the gangplank and on to the ship, Anya and Gary Ylönen with their twin children Reese and Kia.
The S. was a magnificent ship; its sheer size alone was something to be marveled at. Anya recalled someone saying to her that the Titanic was the largest moving object ever built by human hands. She looked up at the four funnels with their red brickwork with grey tips, already smoke was pouring out of them.
They walked across the deck and down into the main part of the ship, then following signs towards the steerage sleeping areas to drop of their luggage.
As there were four of them they had one small room to themselves instead of sharing like they would have had they been alone. The room was bare except for two identical bunk-beds.
"I want the top bunk" Gary cried out, running into the room and putting the bags down.
"Fine" Anya told him, laughing at his childish behavior.
As Anya listened, she herd people outside of the room talking about the first-class section of the ship, apparently they had multiple rooms for each person and they were all decorated as fancy as a hotel with carved wooden panels and expensive paintings hung everywhere and they had carpeted floors. She looked around the bare grey walls until her eyes drifted to the uncovered floorboards under foot. Anya suddenly wished she had done better in life and was in one of the luxurious suites upstairs instead of in this cold, dark tiny room.
"I'm going out on the deck to get some fresh air, okay," Anya told Gary
"Fine by me" He replied
"I wasn't asking you I was telling you alright," She said back to him with a smile and a cheeky glint in her eyes as she walked out.
Gary just smiled to himself; she was always saying sarcastic things like that.
Anya walked along the corridor, peering out of the darkness at the bare plasterboards
"No expenses spared here," she said to her self whilst grinning. All of a sudden she felt a jolt, she realized that it could only have been the ship setting sail
"Bon Voyage" She whispered. Grinning gain.
As Anya moved upwards though the ship she noticed that it became more and more expensive looking, what the people outside her room were saying was true. As she reached the first class section she stopped and looked around, awed by what she saw, each section of the wall had either a magnificent painting on it or was a delicately carved, detailed wooden panel. The few areas that were bare were newly painted a crisp white. She looked around at the people and saw that their clothing was even more stunning that the decorations, the men were wearing smart new morning suits and the women in expensive looking dresses coved with jewelry enough to match the crown jewels!
Anya walked out on to the deck and the first thing she noticed was a broken spinning top, abandoned by some child, Anya picked it up and quickly pocketed it, she thought that Gary might be able o fix it, it would keep the children entertained on this long voyage.
She continued to walk across the deck until she reached the point at the front of the ship, she peered over the edge and watched the ships point cutting though the waves as if they were only air, with seemingly no effort, she admired it sheer power, and as she stood there a wave a relief washed over her, at last she was getting away from England, away from that, "fuss" of her family not approving of Gary. At last she was going to get away and start an new life with him, and their children, that was all she had ever wanted, As she stood there, there was no way she could have know what horrors where to be bestowed upon her, there was no way she could have know how her dream was to be taken from her again, she if she had, she would have thrown herself over the edge of the ship rather than face what she was to be put though.
The rest of the day slipped by in a flash, the four of them stayed out on the deck playing games, only returning down to the bottom of the ship for mealtimes.
There was a party after dinner was finished and every steerage passenger attended, the richer people were too proud to come down. Anya, Gary, Kia, and Reese danced until after midnight, only stopping when the random musicians stopped due to tiredness. After the party the four of them returned to their cabin, still laughing as they climbed into bed.
It was on the third night when everything stated to go wrong, Anya and Gary had just carried the children back to the cabin after the had both fallen asleep, they were only six and were not used to late nights. They had put them both to bed and were about to head back to that nights party when the felt a tremendous shudder,
"What the heck was that?" Gary cried.
"Don't ask me" Anya replied
They both stood there for a minute, holding on to the bunk-beds in case it happened again. When it became clear that there would be no repeat performance, they walked out of the cabin and returned to the party.
After the shudder, the party was less lively and everyone seemed very tense, there was fewer people dancing and very few of the musicians continued to play.
After about half an hour people started to notice a trickle of water running across the floor, one by one, everyone stopped what they were doing and started to stare at his trickle of water. As they watched the trickle became a small stream, running across the floor, more and more water came and the stream flowed more strongly. Someone screamed, and hell broke lose.
The scream had released everyone from the spell the water had put on them, people were running round like headless chickens, screaming, panicking. Anya looked round at them, she felt like she was fixed to the spot, unable to move, she stared at everyone yet didn't realize what was happening until Gary grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the room then down the corridor toward their cabin, he ran in and picked up Reese and handed him to Anya then went back and got Kia, then they all started running up towards the deck.
All the way they saw people in various stages of panic and distress, old men jumping around, rich women worrying that their new dresses might be ruined by the water, children screaming with excitement, not quite understanding what was happening, They just ran passed them all and headed upwards, they reached the deck and saw a lifeboat about to be lowered, they ran towards it and almost reached it when a crewman stopped them,
"Women and children only he said," He said
Gary turned to Anya
"Go take the children, don't let anything happen to them, make sure that they are safe, do it, do it for me"
Anya didn't say anything, she just nodded. Gary bent down to Reese and Kia and gave them both a hug.
"Go with Mummy, everything is going to be okay, don't be scared"
Anya noticed a tear in the corner of his eye, she stepped onto the boat and Gary lifted the children in after her. As the boat was being lowered into the water she waved goodbye to him, as he waved back he smiled at her, and unable to keep it back he mouthed to her.
"It'll be okay"
She smiled back at him, as their eyes met they somehow knew they would never see each other again.
As the lifeboat got further away from the titanic Gary's figure became blurred into the mass of people still on the boat, frantically trying to get off, yet Anya somehow knew that he was still watching to see that they got away safely.
Anya was to wrapped up in her misery to notice the cold she took of her jacket and wrapped it around the children who lay asleep side by side at her feet. After what seemed hours she looked up at the Titanic, it was tipped up on end, almost vertical, suddenly there was an almighty thundering crack and half the boat fell back down towards the water, it had snapped clean in half!
Anya watched as the lights flicked and eventually went out in both parts of the ship, three of the ships four funnels had already been detached from the ship and had sank, the fourth was half under the water and was sinking rapidly.
One half of the ship was half underneath the water, Anya watched it until it had completely submerged into the seas dark and murky depths, she then turned to look at the other half, it was stood on end and was slowly sinking down, Anya saw people hanging of the sides of the ship and some of them were falling off. She felt like she was watching a silent movie, she knew the people falling off must have been screaming but she could not hear them at all.
The rest of the ship sank and the whole lifeboat watched in silence, all in respect, many of them like Anya still had friends and family on the ship when it went down. She hoped desperately that Gary had got off before the ship had gone down but she knew in her heart that he hadn't.
Suddenly, as if a blanket had been lifted of her she felt how cold it was, she lay down next to her children and went tried to go to sleep, hoping that when she awoke she would find it had all been horrible nightmare, knowing that it wouldn't happen. She closed her eyes and drifted off, the gentle rocking of the boat soothing her.
While she was asleep she dreamed of Gary, she dreamt that he had asked her to make on last promise to him. Make sure that Reese and Kia were okay, make sure that nothing happened to them. Promise that they would all make it though.
When Anya awoke, it was daylight, she found that someone had draped a coat over her during the night and she was glad of the warmth. The first thing she noticed was a ship sailing towards them, she looked down towards her children and began to shake Reese awake gently, as he came round he said
"Where's Dad, Mum?"
"He's…. not here yet" she told him fighting back tears.
Anya lent over Reese and started to shake Kia but she wouldn't wake, Anya rolled her over and looked into her face, it was chalk white. The cold had got her in the night, she was dead.
Anya thought, it's bad enough when someone who has had the best part of their life dies, but child, just six, it shouldn't be possible. Anya just felt numb. She couldn't feel her body, all the emotions that had been running though her had just been cut off, she couldn't speak, cry or do anything. She had lost her husband and her daughter and this terrible ordeal was still not over. She sat in silence not noticing anything.
The next time she became aware of anything was when she was aboard the Carpathia, It was the ship she had seen in the distance whilst in the lifeboat. The ship had thrown down a rope ladder and those who were able helped these who were not climb up to safety. The young helped the old, the men helped the children, everyone just wanted to up away from the water.
As Anya stood by the railings on the deck of the Carpathia she looked out over where the Titanic had sank, the water was the graves of Gary and Kia. She half wished she hadn't survived, she had broken that promise she had made to Gary, that she would make sure the children where okay. Anya looked down to Reese who was holding her hand, there was no way she could leave him now, he had no one else.
"Its just me and you now" She said to him.
That all happened about ten years ago. At first I wrote this for Reese, he wanted to know what had happened to his father and sister. But then I thought that others might want to know what happened on that fateful first and last voyage of the Titanic. The death it caused to so many of its passengers, and the suffering of it's few survivors.
1500 people were on the ship. 20 lifeboats, some only half-full of people were sent out. 1 lifeboat returned to get people out of the water. Only 6 returned to safety.
The broken spinning top I found whilst on board the Titanic, I still have it. I keep it as what you might call a souvenir.
You never get over losing loved ones is such a tragic way. The memories still haunt me, but it makes you appreciate life more. Most people take it for granted that they are still here, I could never do that now. I'm glad that I got a chance to see my son grow up, but I still long for the day that I am back with Gary and Kia.