An hour had passed since Captain Drake retired to bed, and the sea was still exceptionally calm. At around 11:30, Marlon relieved Siebold to take over the bridge watch. Siebold went to his cabin to retire, still hoping there was nothing to worry about. Meanwhile, two sailors named Falkner and Orson were keeping watch at the Crow's Nest. Faulkner stood on the right side of the Crow's Nest while Orson stood on the left. Both were rubbing their arms and shivering, having been keeping watch for a few hours or so.
"Ugh, it's so freaking cold," Orson complained. "What I wouldn't give for an extra coat or a heater installed on this bloody station. Could do with some binoculars too. I can't see jack."
"Ah, we don't need any binoculars. I can smell ice when it is near," Falkner claimed.
"What? Rubbish," Orson said.
"Well, I can. Alright? You just wait. If there's a berg as much as 12 ft tall, I'll detect it, no sweat," Falkner said.
Orsen scoffed and rolled his eyes before going back to looking out. Shortly afterward, they heard two stewards exiting the ship's cargo hold from its entrance to the forward deck. They looked down to find the stewards searching the area thoroughly. The stewards looked at each other, silently agreeing that what they were looking for wasn't there with annoyed looks. One of them saw Marlon looking out from the balcony up on Boat Deck and walked in his direction.
"Excuse me, sir, have you seen a man and a woman come out here from the cargo hold?!" he called out.
"No. I've only been watching for the past few minutes and haven't seen anyone but you down there!" Marlon replied.
The stewards frowned, thinking the people they were after were long gone. They took the stairs to D Deck, hoping they might be lucky there. Falkner and Orson looked at each other and shrugged, figuring it was nothing serious. They went back to keeping a lookout until they heard the door to the cargo hold opening again a couple of minutes later. A man with raven hair peaked out to make sure the coast was clear before he came out with a woman with honey-blonde hair, hand in hand. The pair laughed as they walked to the forward deck, pleased with their handiwork in avoiding their pursuers. The laughter died down when the woman turned to her husband with a coquettish look, and he took the invitation to lock lips with her.
Unbeknownst to them, Marlon was still up on the balcony next to the bridge. The first officer smirked as he watched the couple make out. He figured they were who the stewards were looking for and knew passengers were not allowed in the cargo hold, but Marlon might've decided to let the young pair have their fun so long as they didn't cause serious trouble. Up in the Crow's Nest, Falkner looked down to find the couple kissing. He nudged Orson with his elbow and gestured to him to have a look. Orson looked down, then he and Falkner looked at each other, smirking and nodding.
"Lucky fellow down there. Ain't he?" Falkner said.
"Yeah, reckon they're a lot warmer than we are," Orson said.
"Well, if that's what it takes to get warm, I'd rather not try it here if it's all the same to you," Falkner said, pushing Orson away.
The two men chuckled as they went back to looking ahead. For about half a minute or so, they didn't see anything. Then Falkner's face slowly fell as he saw a black shape covering the stars shining above the flat ocean. Falkner and Orson looked at the mysterious object perplexed until its shape became more apparent, and their faces grew pale.
It's unconfirmed, but most say the iceberg was about 50 to 100 feet high from the waterline and four times the maximum length. If this is accurate, this would've made the iceberg more than four times Titanic's length in breadth and roughly so tall that its tip reached past the Boat Deck. Either way, it was the largest iceberg Falkner, and Orson had ever seen, and the ship was heading straight toward it at 25 miles per hour.
Falkner swore under his breath and rang the bell above him and Orson as loud as possible. Ash and Serena broke their kiss and looked up at the Crow's Nest. Marlon also looked up at the Crow's Nest and then looked ahead. He could barely see anything beyond the bow, but he did see enough of the iceberg's silhouette to be afraid of what it was. Falkner grabbed the telephone that was a direct line to the wheelhouse. The phone on the other line rang for several seconds, making Falkner anxious until Cress entered the bridge and answered the phone while holding his cup of tea.
"Is there anyone there?!" Falkner shouted.
"Yes. What do you see?" Cress asked.
"Iceberg right ahead!" Falkner screamed.
Cress's eyes widened, and his pupils shrank to the size of grains of salt. He dropped his tea and raced to the door, banging it open and catching Marlon's attention.
"Iceberg right ahead!" he screamed.
Marlon's heart sank, and he turned to the wheelhouse.
"Hard to starboard!" he shouted.
"Hard to starboard!" Cress shouted to Kanoa.
Immediately, Kanoa turned the wheel left as fast as he could. Marlon and Cress raced to the Engine Order Telegraphs, ordering the people in the engine room to go full astern. Marlon then pressed a button on the wall, and alarm lights flashed in all six boiler rooms, signaling the firemen to close the dampers. Kanoa turned until the wheel reached its limit of turning the rudder.
"Hard over, sir!" he shouted.
Marlon and Cress turned from Kanoa to the bow, seeing the ship get closer to the iceberg. The crew in the engine room let out steam from the engines, causing the propellers to stop until the chief engineer ordered them to engage reversing engines. With a pull of a lever, Titanic's two massive engines suddenly stopped, and the second one's pillars began pumping backward, causing only the ship's right propeller to spin. By now, Ash, Serena, and the sailors on the forward deck had spotted the iceberg.
"Is it hard over?!" Marlon asked.
"Yes, sir! I've already said! Hard over!" Kanoa replied.
Marlon clenched on the balcony's wooden railing, growing tenser by the minute. He, Cress, and Kanoa did not know if the engineers and firemen had done their part, and the ship showed no sign of diverting from the iceberg's path. The right propeller began spinning at full speed, and the nose of the ship was slowly turning left. Marlon and Cress felt a moment of hope until they realized the ship was still very close to the iceberg's path. A sailor standing close to the bow ran in panic as Titanic hit the massive iceberg.
The floor above Ash, Serena, and the sailors on the forward deck shook. Steel plates on Titanic's side bent under the pressure of dense ice like wet cardboard. Falkner and Orson backed to the wall of the Crow's Nest as it shook. Ash and Serena backed away as chunks of the iceberg broke off and landed on the forward deck, narrowly missing two sailors.
"Hard to port!" Marlon yelled.
Kanoa turned the wheel right until the rudder had fully turned in the opposite direction. Titanic had fully rotated from the iceberg, but not before the iceberg had created a long slash between the third cargo compartment and Boiler Room 6. Marlon ran to the wheelhouse and turned the switch to activate the watertight doors. Firemen and their supervisors raced to the watertight doors as water filled Boiler Room 6. Those who couldn't get to the doors before they closed shut went up the emergency ladders.
Marlon looked up at the watertight door indicator panel above the switch and waited until all 12 lights on the panel illuminated, signaling that all doors were closed. Ash, Serena, and the other outside passengers went over to the ledge to look at the iceberg as Titanic sailed away. Falkner eased up until Orson grabbed him by his coat and pulled him toward him, looking daggers.
"Smell ice, can you, you bleeding jackass?" Orson rebuked.
"Hey, we warned them before the ship crashed into it, so it's fine," Falkner claimed. "It probably just gave her a little scratch. A close shave is all."
Orson scoffed and let go of Falkner's coat, turning away from him. Back in the wheelhouse, Marlon was sweating as he processed what happened. Cress stood beside the first officer, waiting for him to say something. Kanoa stared ahead in shock, struggling to keep his grip on the wheel.
"N-note the time and put it in the log, Cress," Marlon said.
Criss nodded, and he looked at the clock hanging on the wall before leaving to write on the log. The wheelhouse's back door opened, and Captain Drake entered, not wearing his jacket or hat. He scanned the wheelhouse, seeing his men shaken.
"What was that, Mr. Marlon?" Captain Drake asked.
"An…an iceberg, sir," Marlon said. "I put a hard to starboard and ran the engines full astern, but it was too close. I tried to port 'round it, but she hit."
"Have you closed the watertight doors?" Captain Drake asked.
"Yes, sir," Marlon said.
"All stop then," Captain Drake ordered.
Marlon nodded, and he and Cress used the Engine Order Telegraphs to tell the engineers to stop the engines. Captain Drake walked on deck until he was at the starboard side bridge wing, leaning to find any visible damage. He then looked down from the balcony to see the pieces of ice lying on the forward deck. Marlon walked over to the captain, having finished making the order.
"Find the carpenter. Get him to sound the ship and have someone bring Mr. Durbin to the bridge," Captain Drake ordered.
"Yes, sir," Marlon said.
The first officer rushed back inside, hoping to find Timothy and the ship's carpenter, Officer Booker, quickly. Captain Drake returned to his quarters to get his jacket and hat. As he passed by the wheelhouse, he noticed Kanoa and Cress were still trembling. Their captain showed no sign of fear, and yet Captain Drake couldn't deny how unsettling the rumbling was.
