Chapter 3

April 11, 1912

After Titanic make its final stop in Queenstown, it was smooth sailing to New York from there. The seas are calm, and the sun has begun to break in between the clouds, making it a picture perfect day for sailing, and the captain makes his way to the bridge. With arms outstretched, he says to Murdoch, with a smile and his eyes twinkling.

"Take her to sea, Mr. Murdoch. Let's stretch her legs".

"Yes sir." he says delightfully. He walks into the wheel room.

"All ahead, Mr. Moody" he says, and walks over to an engine order telegraph. Mr. Moody responds, "Very good, sir", then they both crank each telegraphs to Full Ahead.

Inside the engine room, the telegraph rings, indicating to the engineers below where the ship's speed needs to be. Chief Engineer Joseph Bell then acknowledges, by saying "All ahead full", then another man cranks the telegraph that it has been acknowledged, all while the men shout "All ahead full!" Meanwhile, the ship's builder, Thomas Andrews, carrying his plans, watches on, as the men scramble to adjust the valves. Throughout the engine room there's excited chatter going about as the men below increase the steam pressure, which is in turned used to spin the massive crankshaft for each of the twin reciprocating engines. There are two, massive four-cylinder reciprocating engines, including a turbine, that is used to turn the propellers. A gauge nearby tells the engineer where the present pressures are.

Meanwhile in the boiler room, Lead Stoker Frederick Barrett yells at the men they have full ahead and must shovel coal into the fires, even telling them to "Put their backs into it". It's a very hot and sweaty environment, as indicated by the men who are wiping sweat from their brows, before shoveling more coal into the fires. As steam pressure builds, so does the engine speed, thus turning the reciprocating engines even faster, and makes the propellers spin faster (with the exception of the middle; its turned by low speed turbine), and the ship cuts the ocean like a knife in butter.

The two young men emerged from their third class cabin and run towards the bow of the ship. Jack takes command of the bow, both looking down to the ocean below them. Jack excitedly points to Fabrizio a dolphin swimming near the ship's prow, after taking in some air. Meanwhile, back on the bridge, Murdoch informs Captain Smith they are at 21 knots. Captain Smith smiles, then watches the two young men at the bow, who are watching the dolphins jump in front of the ship.

An officer hands Smith a cup of tea, then proceeds to watch the excited men on the bow.

Down below, men are shoveling coal as fast as they can to keep up with the consumption of the coal into the furnaces, as the ship picks up steam. This in turn makes the engines spin faster. Back on deck Jack stands on the railing and grabs ahold of the foremast rigging. "Whoo!" He whoops, while Fabrizio points to the endless horizon, "I can see the Statue of Liberty already. Very small of course" using his fingers to pinch the size of the statue, as if really seeing New York from that distance. With the captain looking on, Jack yells at the top of his lungs "I'm the king of the world!" followed by whooping excitedly. This goes on for a few minutes. With outstretched arms, Jack throws his head back, obviously exhilarated by the ordeal.

In the ship's Palm Court, Bruce Ismay engages in the conversation, as Mr. Andrews just came back from the engine room.

"She is the largest, moving object ever made by the hand of man in all history. And out master shipbuilder, Mr. Andrews here, designed her from the keel plates up." He then indicated to the man to his right. Mr. Andrews, clearly trying to avoid the attention, says.

"Well, I may have knocked her together, but the idea was Mr. Ismay's. He envisioned a steamer so grand in scale, and so luxurious in its appointments, that it's supremacy would never be challenged. And here she is," He slaps the table. "Willed into solid reality."

...

Meanwhile, a few decks down, Jesse ponders over his Renault drawing as he lays on his bed. He could hear and feel the engines rumbling below as the ship began to pick up speed. Karl and the Finnish man talk amongst each other in their native language, and Eric ran off to play a round of poker in one of the third class muster room. With a pencil to his lip, Jesse looks closer at the drawing, as if he knew something was amiss, and he was right. Even though the drawing was dark, but there it was, bright as day in his drawing. There was a cylinder-looking device, in the back of the engine, to which Jesse didn't notice while poking in the engine bay. He decided to go back to the cargo hold. But who should he go with? He didn't want to bother Karl, and Eric had gone off to gamble again. He decided to go all the way to the poop deck to take a breather, and possibly bring someone down with him, to help him start the elegant car. He told Karl he was leaving the room, then closed the door gently. He knew he had quite a ways to walk to the stern section, and he was totally unfamiliar with this section of the ship. Clutching his sketch pad in front of him, Jesse smiled nervously as other third-class passengers stare at him with awe, as he passed by their rooms, while others scoffed as he made his way past. As he walked, Jesse saw that passengers were beginning to settle in their new rooms, their different voices filled the corridor as he passed by each of the rooms. He made his way to a staircase, to a longer corridor. He saw a sign overhead.

SCOTLAND ROAD

With the ship as massive as it is, Jesse decided to follow the corridor, not before noting where he came from. He saw a fire ax and a bullhorn located near the entrance to the stairs, which he used as a reference when he came back down. He pushed his hair away from his eyes, then turned toward the longest corridor, assuming it took him to the stern section, but not before other passengers took in the beautiful sight of the young man.

In the dining room, Eric and three other men are in a serious game of poker. A man picks up a glass and takes a sip of the beer, while another puffs smoke, adding to the already smoky air. Around the gambling men there were families, of various backgrounds, sitting in long benches, talking and laughing. Little children run around, and one chases a rat among the passengers.

In front of the men are piles of money and some jewelry, even a meal ticket. People gather around them, seeing who would have the winning hand. "Hit me" Eric says, as he slips a card to the deck. He takes a sip of his beer as he places another card in his hand. Jack and Fabrizio walk by, acknowledging Eric, who does the same before returning to his game. Eric leans back in his chair, wipes his face with his free hand, and exhales.

"What have you got?" Eric asks.

"Nothing!"

"I fold."

The last man puts his cards down, then puffs out a smoke, before revealing a four-of-a-kind. He dips his cigarette into a makeshift ash container, then sits back as if he already won the game. Eric breathes again, takes another sip of his beer, and places his hand on the table. The three men are shocked. One of them spills his beer, another drops his cigarette from his mouth before it burns his trousers and his leg. Eric grabs his cards in time before the man fell backwards and almost knocks over the table, spilling one of the beers. The whole room erupts in laughter and cheers as Eric claims his winnings.

Just like being back at that pub again, and I'm only five minutes away from being left behind. he thought. Even this time Jack and Fabrizio laughed along with the crowd before heading to the stern area of the ship, clearly proud of Eric. Eric finishes with his stash before finishing his beer and leaving to go back to his cabin, all the while not noticing Jesse, as he was surrounded by little children. One of the child wanted a piggyback ride from the young man, who was tugging incessantly at the young man's trouser leg. Jesse looked down, while the child held his arms out.

"Ay. The lad has such a way with children, yes?" A woman with thick Irish accent asks her friend, as the kid wraps his arms around Jesse's neck, and his legs around his chest.

"Ya, ya." She agreed, then winks at Jesse. Meanwhile, a little girl was sitting on a bench, with her parents. She was drawing in Jesse's sketchpad, as he was giving the kid a piggyback ride throughout the crowded galley. A rat scurried by, followed by a little child chasing after, nearly tripping Jesse, but he quickly gained his balance, while the child laughed gleefully, and still hanging onto Jesse.

Jack watched from a distance at the handsome young man, as he returned the child to his parents, after a close call of them nearly falling over. He had seen that handsome young man before. Meanwhile, Fabrizio was trying his best to engage in a conversation with a young Norwegian girl, with little success. Jack told Fabrizio he'd be right back, mainly to see if he can talk to, and possibly befriend, this handsome young man.

"Chi è quello?" (who's that) Fabrizio looked in Jack's direction, to the man.

"I don't know, but I've seen him back at the docks at Southampton." Jack patted his Italian friend on his back, before leaving. Fabrizio decided to tag along as well.

Lui è bello (he's beautiful) Fabrizio thought, and he soon found himself looking at this young man more than Jack was.

Jesse ran his hand through his thick hair as he pushed it from his eyes, then he smiled at the young mother, who blushed at the sight of Jesse. Jack couldn't believe how beautiful the young man looked; perfect smile, perfectly trimmed hair, even if it was long for the times, compared to his shaggy hair. Those dark eyes...Jack shook his head. Fabrizio smiled at Jack, who was awed by the handsome young man, then turned to look at him as well.

What the hell am I thinking? He thought, as he brushed his own hair, nearly mimicking the man, then watches once more. He watched as the handsome young man was about to leave the galley when he was stopped by a little girl, whom Jack had recognized, as she gently tugged at his shirt.

Jesse looked down at the little girl, then brushed his hair from his eyes as he gave her a smile. He bent down, and hugged the little girl, as she returned him his sketchbook.

"What do you say, Cora?" Her father asked.

"Thank you, Uncle Jesse."

"You're most certainly welcome, mi'lady." Jesse hugs her once more, then lightly taps her nose, before she ran back to her parents, then they disappeared from the galley, while Cora locks eyes with Jesse, before they disappeared. Jack watches as the young man looks on, then slowly standing back up, once more brushing his dark hair from his eyes, before strolling through the crowded galley, as women and even some men looked on at this third class man among them. A teenaged girl ran up to Jesse, who removed her hair clip, and helped Jesse straighten and smooth his soft-looking hair, then clipped it in place. Jack knew the girl was clearly nervous as she was helping the young man fix his hair, then gave him an awkward hug. Jack had a sudden impulse to befriend the man even more, as he tried to follow him, and Fabrizio also followed

Unbeknownst to Jesse, he was being followed, as he made his way through the crowded corridors, then made a left. Both Jack and Fabrizio also turned left, but they suddenly lost the young man through the crowded corridors.