Cherbourg 10 April, 1912

Evening

At sunset, the forts of the harbor appeared, and now just one of the sights of the Normandy coast. In 1944 one of the most important battles of the Second World War will take place - the landing of the allied troops.

For the first time I watch a ship drop a real anchor. Huge chains begin to move, the hull begins to vibrate. I looked down but didn't see anything. It would be interesting to see how the anchor sinks to the bottom.

The city itself is not visible from our board. We are far away. The Titanic is too big to go straight to the pier without running aground.

Tender Traffic with mail and luggage on board was coming to us. Another one with passengers should come after him. Everything goes according to plan. There are no history changes yet.

We know from Cameron's movie that a woman named Margaret Brown, whom history will call "the unsinkable Molly Brown", boarded at Cherbourg. With her a crowd of other famous moneybags. That's all the facts I know about Cherbourg.

Alas, I did not happen to meet a brave unsinkable woman at the entrance. The Chief Purser Hugh McElroy took over the first-class passengers welcoming.

A little later tender called "Nomadic" arrived. A small steamboat that has survived until 21st century. It was mothballed and exhibited in Belfast.

Deftly docking to our monster, Nomadic began transferring passengers. From the height of the boat deck, at dusk, I could not see anything.

Luggage will be loaded for at least two hours. I'm cold, I want to sleep and I don't understand what I'm doing here. The joy of the novelty of Southampton was replaced by confusion in the first port. What to do next? Where to run? A whole night of reflection ahead.

It was getting dark fast. The captain came to the bridge to receive reports from officers about readiness for sailing to the next port. The holds were filled to overflowing with mail and luggage. 274 passengers boarded, 24 disembarked.

The loading went without incidents. With the appearance of the first stars in the sky, Titanic weighed anchor, heading for the last European port - Irish Queenstown.

Newly arrived passengers were accommodated in their cabins, explored the liner, admiring the unprecedented luxury and beauty. Dinner took more time than usual. I managed to make an evening round, check the cleaning of the decks, exchanged a few words along the way with the chief steward, and the passengers were just leaving the restaurants to listen to music. I madly wanted to see the legendary orchestra play, but the desire to sleep was stronger. The melodies merged for me into a set of incomprehensible sounds, and I hurried upstairs to the officers' quarters to rest for a couple of hours before the night watch.

Going back to the bridge, I saw her…Young girl with big beautiful eyes. I looked at her and walked on without saying a word. Only in sweety movies love from the first sight exists.

- Isn't he handsome, Dorothy?

I barely heard the second older woman asked Dorothy.

This Dorothy and the woman with her...these are people from another world. A world where teens have no need to drop out of the school to earn a living. No need for them to wait a month for a salary, be afraid to lose their job. There are many things in their world that are never done.

For people like Dorothy, people like Henry Wilde were only nameless silhouettes in uniform.