April 12
Atlantic Ocean
On my morning rounds after the watch I was endlessly thinking "What's going on?". At 7 am the passengers were still asleep. Only the kitchen staff and stewards were preparing for breakfast. Every morning and every evening everything were the same on my rounds: hot and dusty boiler room, public areas silent in the early morning… everything seems to be quiet.
On B-Deck promenade I see Chief Electrician Peter Sloan, smoking and very confused.
When he saw me, he rubbed his face with his hands.
"Good morning, Peter!"
We shake hands.
"I'm not sure it's good, Henry. Not for electricity"
"We have problems?"
"Even don't know how to explain. I 've never seen anything like this. The voltage is more than it should be. Even more than can produce our dynamo".
"How long?"
"Today is the second day"
"It can't be, Peter. The dynamo machine converts mechanical impulses into electricity. Right?"
"Absolutely. Titanic has 30-kilowatt dynamo machine for 100 volts DC."
"What if I tell you, Henry, that we already have 200?"
"Impossible. No one can get more energy than was produced by generator"
"But we got. And electrical department can't find the reason."
"Like we have some unknown energy source?"
"And generator capacity" Nodded Sloan
"Have you discussed it with captain?" I asked.
"Not yet. Don't want to sound crazy"
"It would be better don't make noise now. Anyway, electricity is working. Just keep me updated. I will come to electric department in the late afternoon to see"
"Ok, Henry. Maybe something wrong with the scale. We will check again meanwhile"
I left Peter and on my way to the officers' quarters I met telegraphist Jack Phillips talking to the captain. Both were discussing something.
"Oh. Here is Henry" said captain Smith "Maybe he knows"
"What should I know, sir" I went up to them.
"Something wrong with radio air, " said Phillips
"What exactly, Jack?"
"It's strange but seems like something is blocking our signals."
"Transmission or receiving?"
"Both, "
I was terribly shocked. Problems with electricity did not bode well. In our history Titanic didn't have any. Jack described something very similar to electronic jamming. I'm sure that he even doesn't know these words. But I know. That's enough. It looks like someone or something really doesn't want our arriving to New York. Just one question. Where did the systems of electronic warfare come from in 1912?
"Any ideas, Henry, what's going on?" asked captain Smith.
"Yes. I have one idea…" Before I could finish my sentence, I heard the ringing of the telephone on the bridge.
The call was from a crow's nest. Lowe picked up the phone. Then he turned around to look at the window. And turned as white as a sheet.
"Right ahead!"
We all looked ahead. There were huge black clouds ahead. A strong storm with a thunderstorm was approaching the ship.
"General alarm on the ship!" Smith screamed "Batten down all the hatches and portholes! Get all people off the decks!"
Orders began to be carried out immediately. Boxhall ran to the stewards, Lowe to the engine room, Lightoller, Murdoch and seamen went to check if the lifeboats are securely tied. Moody stayed by the phones.
A loud alarm sounded throughout the Titanic.
Smith whispered.
"Henry, I've been going at sea for three decades, but I've never seen anything like it."
"It's like a huge nothing." I agreed.
Forty minutes later we entered this blackness.
It immediately became dark. As if the curtain had dropped. Electricity turned off, but the liner kept moving. Luckily everyone on deck put on lifejackets.
Titanic dived with its bow into a giant wave. I thought we won't emerge. However, forecastle of the ship again appeared on the surface. And the water flooded the entire boat deck and the bridge. We barely kept our feet after such powerful strike. From time to time our bow dived into huge waves.
Charles and William ran into the wheelhouse.
"Lads, we lost two lifeboats" said Murdoch panting heavily.
"Any other damages?" asked captain.
"No, sir".
Lord, this has never happened in our history. What have I done? There were not enough boats, and now there are even fewer of them.
Lightning sparkled every five minutes. Thomas Andrews came to the bridge.
"So, friends, will we survive?" asked shipbuilder.
"Definitely" I answered reluctantly "Great test of sustainability, right, Mr. Andrews?"
"On Henry, more like a crash test".
The storm intensifies. The deck no longer just jumps under our feet, it dances.
It begins to stir me up. Lightoller is looking at me incredulously at me, as if suspecting that I first see a storm in the ocean.
Suddenly, a giant wave collapses onto the ship, passes the entire front and beats with force in the windows. Everyone is holding their breath.
"Now the glass will be knocked out" I'm saying quietly.
"It will withstand" Andrews assures me "We checked the force of impact in Belfast".
An hour later, our compass and clock began to spin furiously. Nevertheless, the captain and officers did not lose their self -control. We continued to move through the storm.
Two hours later, it ended. The sky became clear again, and the waves disappeared as suddenly as they appeared. Electricity appeared again, the telegraph started working, and the voltage of the generators returned to normal.
What did it all mean?
I left the bridge to go to bed in my cabin. There's not so much time before my afternoon watch.
Before falling asleep, I thought it would be good to go to see Dorothy. Find out how she and her mother feel after the storm.
I was asleep. And I had a dream. My father on the set of the movie Titanic stands next to the director and holding in his hand a small thing. I can't see what it is.
I only hear my father says "Bought in Liverpool. His descendant sold this to me".
"This is not good. Memory cannot be traded. You must return this relic to the Henry Wilde's family. To those members who will never sell it".
"Come on, James. They don't know what is memory".
I see I see the pocket watch in my father's hands and wake up.