Titanic Surviors Account
10TH April 1912
My name is Elizabeth, Elizabeth Livingston and I was onboard the "Unsinkable Ship". I was only six at the time but I can remember it as if it was only yesterday. I was in first class with my parents. I made it to the other side of the Atlantic, but they didn't. My father told me about the wonders of America, how they had moving pictures and flying boats. He would make his millions there, he said. That's what really helped me choose to leave. When he told us that we would be onboard the "Unsinkable Ship" my mother gasped. That one word won her over in a flash. She was certain that we would be safe. How wrong she was…..
We boarded the ship first, as first class passengers were thought to be more important for some ridiculous reason. I saw the third class people forced back to wait their turn. I looked back and saw a third class girl around my age. Her scarlet, tattered coat stood out from the grey weathered clothes worn by other lower class people. We caught each other's eye and waved. My father saw this and pulled me inside. "How dare you make eye contact with a third class person!" he shouted into my ear.
We were escorted to our room, right away. We started to walk down the hallways. It was white with golden embellishments on the skirting boards and ceiling. Photographs and paintings also filled the walls, mainly of the Titanic being built, blueprints and photographs of the Captain and crew. The ship went on for miles. I couldn't believe all that took only three years. I saw other first class gentlemen and women being shown to their rooms. They looked very arrogant and snooty, shouting at the crew about it being too crowded or noisy. I could faintly hear the third class people shouting and calling for each other. My father murmured something under his breath as he heard them.
I gasped as we stepped into our room. It was like our manor house back in Berkshire, but on a ship! My room was attached to my parent's room for obvious reasons. There was a lovely view of the ocean from the seated area. The room was fairly big, and very traditional with ornaments anywhere possible. I automatically felt at home. My father left my mother and me straight away to join the other men in the smoking room. When the ship actually set sail I could hear the cheers from the port. My mother at that point took me upstairs to the promenade so I could see everyone at the harbour, and watch the boat finally set off.
At dinner my family and I all sat together. The Jacobean Room was a lengthy room with about half a dozen crystal chandeliers and golden rimmed curtains. There were thirteen courses in total, all freshly caught ingredients from the Atlantic. My favourite was the dessert, a creamy rice pudding. The meal seemed to last forever, just as you thought it had ended another course came out. It was fairly loud in the hall. The sound seemed to echo, projecting every laugh and whisper all over the whole room. My parents left me to go to the ballroom as I watched the magician perform to me and other first class children. The performance was held in the stage area in the ballroom. Other upper class gentlemen and women came to join us as they were fascinated by the magic performed. They were baffled. Less and less people were dancing to the live band, as more gathered around the magician. As the performance ended my family and I went to the promenade deck. We saw the last of the sun set and the North Star began to glimmer. I didn't make it to my cabin room as I fell asleep while we were up in the promenade.
The days seemed to rush by, on the Titanic. My parents had several meals with the Captain while I played with other upper class children. I made several friends, those nights. I still keep in contact with the few who managed to survive the sinking. The cruise at that point had been so much fun.
It was 14th April 1912, the waters were calm and the sky was clear. My family and I woke, as we had normally had done, mid morning. We had breakfast with other first class passengers, once again at the normal time. My father and mother were in the smoking room discussing our future in America, while I was in my bedroom, dressing for bed. It was around 11:30 when I felt a halt. My mother did say I should never leave my room, but I was so scared. I ran out of the room, but everyone and everything looked so calm and normal. It was as if nothing happened at all. I ran around looking for someone I knew, anyone. I managed to find one of the older girls I was playing with earlier. Cathy was about five years older than me with bright red curly hair. She was the leader of us girls. She explained to me that the she and the other girls were going to the deck to find out what the sudden jolt was. I told her to wait as I sprinted to my room to grab my outdoor clothes. I had my fur coat and thick boots on. As we got to the deck we saw it. An iceberg had hit the hull of the ship.
We saw the lower class men throwing around bits of ice that had fallen from the mammoth iceberg. No one seemed slightly worried that it had hit the ship. It hadn't come across their mind that it could have caused a vast amount of damage. But that's all I thought about. So many questions went over my mind…."Will the ship sink?" or "I am safe?" . I began to ask Cathy some questions but she just ignored me. She threw some snow at me and then a big snow fight began. We had so much fun I totally forgot about the iceberg. A steward came and found the girls and me and escorted us back to our parents. I said "Goodbye" to the girls, oblivious that I would never see them again. My parents then lectured me on how I shouldn't disobey their rules. At each and every point I tried to make them aware of this iceberg, but Father just talked over me. I was sent back to my room and I was made to promise that I would stay in bed. I just couldn't ignore this iceberg. So, I sat in the seating area and tried to look out of the window to assure myself. I finally tried to go to sleep. But every time I closed my eyes I thought of the possibilities that could occur.
I managed to sleep for only twenty minutes when I heard a bang on the door. It was a steward. "Wake up little Miss, put on your life jackets and find I'll locate your parents" he said to me in a calm cockney accent. Seconds later my parents came through the door.
"Elizabeth, collect your belongings, and put them in your suitcase dear." My mother exclaimed.
"Okay, Mother. Why?" I enquired.
"Oh, just a little test, to check if we are aware of what we need to do in certain events" She murmured. I could sense a sort of fear in her voice. It was very uneven.
"Do as your Mother says Elizabeth. Now." My Father ordered me.
I was shaking as I was packing, hearing calls and shouts for loved ones and stewards ordering people to the deck. I was muttering to myself, how my parents should have listened to me and how I was right, making sure that they dare not hear me. I could help but feel frightened and panicky. My mother was constantly dropping things; I could see her hand shaking with terror. My father pulled her outside and talked to her. I couldn't hear much, but I could hear my name being mentioned and Mother crying. I started to cry too. I felt to blame, because of mother's crying, even though it couldn't be my fault. She came in wiped her tears and became her normal authoritative self. She helped me pack my final things and we left the room.
We came out to the grand staircase, and saw that we were alone. No one was there except us. We heard footsteps and calls from above, so we headed to the deck. I began to totter down the hallways, dragging my suitcase behind me. Mother and Father didn't seem too keen to get to the deck, talking their time, admiring the décor. I pulled on mothers dress persistently, desperate for her to move even slightly faster. "Mother, Father, please we need to go faster. The ship is going to sink" I pleaded.
"Elizabeth, don't be so foolish. This ship is unsinkable, Thomas Andrew said so himself!" Father explained to me.
I looked at him solemnly, but he turned to Mother and heavily laughed with her. We turned the corner meters away from the deck and saw a grave looking steward. "What are you doing still down here? You should have been on the lifeboats thirty minutes ago!" The steward exclaimed over the cries of children and women as they scrambled onto the lifeboats. I managed to distinguish a lifeboat through the sea of people. I ran towards the life boat, shouting at Mother, "There's a lifeboat, Mother!" Suddenly, I felt a forceful jerk on my collar. I looked up to see a fearful face staring down at me, and it was at that moment that I realised that my feet were no longer touching the ground. I was being lifted onto a lifeboat, without notice. I tried to shout to my parents but they could not hear my hoarse voice over the hysterical cries of desperate women and children. As the boat was lowered on to the choppy ocean it suddenly hit me that I would never see either of my parents again.
Carpathia arrived with tearful crew, heaving alive and dead passengers onto the now very crowded boat. I looked over the barriers of the boat to see a red scarlet coat floating delicately on the surface of the sea. As we pulled into the New York harbor, I realised that from this point I would have to start my new life as an orphan not knowing whether my beloved parents had survived that fateful day on the Unsinkable Titanic.