Ok so I decided to give you 2 chapters because I haven't updated for a couple of days and because I'm so kind.
Disclaimer: the same.
RMS Olympic, 20 September1911
The Olympic was travelling down the Solent, a strait which separates the Isle of Wight from the mainland of England, another ship HMS Hawke was also travelling alongside her. First Officer Murdoch and Second Officer Lightoller were attending to their rounds on the stern, they were both wearing their overcoats as it was raining, and it was their job to see how close the Hawke was getting to the stern. As the two ships sailed parallel to each other at around sixteen knots, Murdoch could see the bow of the Hawke reached somewhere in between Olympics' second and third funnel. As the Solent became narrower the HMS Hawke dropped back to allow Olympic to have more room to maneuver but as the propellers increased their speed the Hawke was pulled to port towards the Olympics stern and the two ships collided.
"Bloody hell" Lights swore as he tried to keep his balance. The collision had caused the ship to shake uncontrollably.
Murdoch looked over the railing to see that the Hawke's bow had pierced the Olympics stern. As the engines were stopped, the damage to the ship was assessed.
"Well, that has to be the shortest yet most exciting voyage in the history of voyages" Lights joked.
"Come on, let's go to the bridge" Murdoch said quickly before both men ran towards the bridge.
They met Chief Officer Wilde half way up the boat deck. "What's going on, Henry?" Murdoch asked.
"There's flooding in two of her watertight compartments but the ship should be able to stay afloat and get us back to Southampton under her own power but as a precaution we're going to have the passengers disembark at Osborne Bay to find different transport"
"The snobby gits in first class aren't going to like that" Lights laughed loudly causing Wilde to look at him displeasingly.
"Well I'm glad you find it funny, Mr Lightoller but perhaps you won't find it so funny when you have to stand at those gangplanks and apologise to those 'snobby gits' for any inconvenience this incident may have caused" Wilde said sternly as if he was telling off a child "Keep an eye on him, Will" Wilde ordered before walking off.
"Well excuse me for being born by the way" Lights said behind Wilde's back "You see? I told you he doesn't like me" Lights told Murdoch.
"He does like you, Lights. He just doesn't like you a lot"
"Was that meant to make me feel better? Because it didn't" Lights said before both men moved to the gangplanksas Olympic entered the Bay. "Thank God Jinks wasn't transferred to this ship otherwise we would have been all doomed" Lights joked causing Murdoch to laugh.
They stood either side of the gangplank as the first class passengers began to disembark. They all had sour looks on their faces which made both officers feel uneasy.
"Sorry for the inconvenience, Sir, Ma'am" Murdoch started as the passengers walked past him.
Lights could see none of the passengers were listening to either one of them, so he decided to have some fun "Sorry, it's his fault" Lights pointed at Murdoch which caused Murdoch to look at him. "Just can't get the staff these days, you look like you know all about that, Sir" Murdoch pushed his way through the passengers, grabbed Light's collar and pulled him away from the crowd.
"What the bloody hell are you doing?" Murdoch said sternly.
"Relax, William. None of them are listening, I could say 'I'm the queen of Zanzibar' and not one of them would raise their eyes at me" Lights laughed.
"Even so, if you carry on I'll tell Henry" Murdoch warned.
"What does that even mean, you'll tell Henry" Lights raised his eyebrow.
"I mean exactly what I said"
"You wouldn't dare" Lights said daringly.
"Try me" Murdoch smirked
"Stubborn git" Lights said through gritted teeth which caused Murdoch to smile and turn around to care for the rest of the passengers.
After the task was done, the two officer's walked back to the bridge.Once again meeting up with Wilde "Everything went well?"
"Good as gold" Murdoch reported.
"Really?" Wilde sounded surprised as he looked at Lights who just rolled his eyes. "Well we're going to be heading for Southampton soon, so go for a quick break then report back to the bridge"
Murdoch nodded appreciatively before pushing Lights towards the mess hall "Honestly, what is his problem?" Lights asked all of a sudden.
"What do you mean? He let us go for a break when he could have easily assigned us to some worthless task"
"It's the way he looked at me when you said everything went fine with the passengers, he was like in a state of shock" Lights complained as they entered the mess hall and got themselves a cup of tea.
"Can't say I blame him" Murdoch laughed as they sat at a table.
"See, why are you taking his side?" Lights asked defensively.
"I'm not taking anyone's side, Lights. Just take it easy, will you?"
"Fine, I'll drop it since you're too childish to do it yourself" Lights said, sipping his tea.
Murdoch shook his head and sighed, not wanting to get into an argument with Lights. "Do you feel that?" Murdoch asked.
"Feel what?"
"That list to starboard"
"Oh yeah. She's a tough old girl, isn't she?" Lights said rubbing the table as if the ship could feel him.
"Yes, I suppose that will encourage the newspapers even more that the Titanic will be 'unsinkable'" Murdoch laughed.
"Yeah, what a load of old nonsense" Light laughed, shaking his head. The two friends finished their cups of tea then headed back to the bridge.
Hoped you enjoyed the chapters. Cheerio.