April 20, 1912
Afternoon
New York
Passengers boarding has begun. It looked like a performance of a travelling circus that would have decided to perform a concert right on the pier.
I have never seen so many strange people at once in one place.
Charles and I took up our post on the forecastle. I looked at the beautiful city view of New York, periodically giving commands to the sailors, and Charles climbed over the rails and looked at something enthusiastically below on the pier.
"Henry, come here!" Choking with laughter, Lightoller called out to me.
Perhaps worth a look. If Charles finds something funny, it's doubly funny.
The spectacle really deserved attention. A buxom lady in a luxurious white dress, adorned with rhinestones, making her look like a cloud. A huge ruffled hat completed the look. And the main thing in it was even not the image of a walking mushroom.
The cloud looking woman vigorously quarreled with the man accompanying her, apparently her husband, along the way giving instructions about her chests.
"What exactly does she want from that unfortunate man in the hat? He has the look of someone sentenced to the gallows." I asked.
"Judging by the phrase "you are a petty skunk, dear ex-husband," she wants to shame him about the fact that he gives not enough money to support their daughter, he wants her to leave as soon as possible. The girl is their daughter." Charles laughed.
"Not pretty for my taste."
"For mine too. Though she's probably rich."
"I sympathize with her future husband. With such a mother-in-law, I could not stand it even if they bought me the whole shipping company."
The divorcee enters a new phase of hysteria, starting to throw hatboxes at her husband with a cry of "go away, bloodsucker", plus, falling, one of the chests opens from which mountains of underwear of the most frivolous colors and frivolous style fall out; colorful boas; unthinkable fishnet stockings. The porter stared open-mouthed at the ladies' treasures.
"Tasteless underwear" I say authoritatively.
"Looks like a brothel prop" Lights supported me.
"Do you go to brothels, Charles?"
"Let the first to throw a stone at me is a sailor who has not been in brothels." the second mate answered evasively.
The brawler madam has finally disappeared from our sight. And then, as they say in bad novels, I saw Her. Exquisitely elegantly dressed woman with a beautiful posture, a look full of self-confidence and an awareness of superiority over everything around, which occurs only in the wives of presidents or members of royal families. Sophia Loren and Madonna rolled into one.
"Such a goddess travels without a husband. I got a chance to arrange my family life."
"Let me have a look" Lightoller looked through binoculars "I'll upset you, Henry. There are millions of dollars, kinship with the royal family of Germany. And she has an influential husband. I know her. She is a baroness and lives in Munich. Traveled on the Oceanic a couple of times. She didn't even look at the staff. Call me crazy, but I'm afraid of her. There is something otherworldly about this woman. As if she lives for more than one hundred years."
"Charles, you've read too many Dracula books."
"She's a vampire, I tell you for sure. You think vampires drink blood, sleep in coffins, and are afraid of daylight? They don't give themselves away. And they are not afraid of the cross."
"Please stop, my binocular lenses are fogged up from laughter."
"You can laugh all you want. And she will carry out her black rituals. At her house, probably the portraits rotate their eyes at night."
By noon, everyone was on the ship, the Titanic's equipment was checked, the steam sensors in the boilers showed the right values, the pilot went on board. Everything is ready to sail.
Giant mooring ropes were untied from the pier, handed over to tugboats. The liner twitched and slowly began to move away from the mooring wall stern forward. Let's go home!
We leaving the Hudson. Finally, I trying to better keep in mind New York in 1912. Everything is unusual: there is no Empire State Building, new mirror skyscrapers. All piers are active, and in the 21st century almost all of them have been dismantled. The rest were converted for entertainment purposes.
I liked New York here much less than what I saw in 2022, but much more than Liverpool and Southampton. In this city, the future is felt in everything: in giant multi-storey buildings, public transport, a huge number of cars on the streets. Finally, in the very rhythm of life. People here are not burdened with prejudice. They look to the future while we in England dig into the past.
I would rather get out of the muddy Hudson. I never liked that dirty green puddle called a river. Already passed Ellis Island. Behind it appeared the Statue of Liberty, looking at me with silent contempt.
The familiar feeling of working machines inspires confidence. Here I am where I belong.
The pilot boarded the Ambrose Lightship just as he had boarded us three days before.
Open ocean ahead of us. For the next seven days we will see no newspapers, no news. Our only connection to the outside world will be the telegraph.
Now the story has changed. I no longer know what dangers may lie or wait for us on the way back.
Taking a deep breath of the fresh breeze, I went to dinner. My watch is in forty minutes.