Heart of Disaster_A Titanic Novel of love and loss by Rachel Wesson

Author:Rachel Wesson [Wesson, Rachel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-03-17T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 34

Kate couldn’t reply. She pulled Cathy closer to her and together they shivered and prayed with the others around them in the boat. A shout from the officer stopped the boat being lowered. The reason became obvious very quickly. Two women who turned out to be sisters were pushed into the boat, protesting loudly they wanted to stay with their younger brother.

“Our Mammy will never forgive us if we leave the ship with him on it. You have to let him on or let us back onto the ship.” One of the sisters protested as the other tried to get back out of the boat.

“Shut up and sit down.”

Stunned to be spoken to so rudely, the women sat down and started crying. Kate wanted to comfort them, but she couldn’t think of what to say. The officer ordered the boat to be lowered. Kate prayed hard, although the sea was calm around them, she didn’t feel safe in such a tiny boat. She wished she could have stayed on the Titanic.

She wondered if Cathy felt the same, but before she got a chance to speak, a loud splash was heard off the side of the boat.

“Oh, Mary mother of god, Alice that’s Bernard in the water,” one of the women said as she rushed toward the side of the boat nearest the jumper. “He’s our baby brother.”

A crewmember shouted at her. “Sit down or you will capsize us.”

Kate watched the other crewmember. He took up an oar. Thinking he was going to help the drowning man, she sighed with relief. Instead he started beating the swimmer about the head.

“Let him in,” Kate shouted. The seaman paid her no notice. The sister who had spotted him stood up and made for the seaman. Kate watched incredulously as the sister threw the man to the bottom of the boat and sat on him. She saw the woman hit the crew member with her hands.

She realized the other woman known as Alice was trying to haul the drowning man over the side. Leaving Cathy, she leaned over to help Alice.

A crewmember helped them. “I’m in charge of this boat.” The man used his oar to help drag the drowning man on board.

“What’s your name,” Kate asked the crew member.

“Quartermaster Perkis, miss. You best try to wake him up. Sleeping after freezing in the water is a bad idea.”

Kate looked at the saved man. He smiled before passing out, probably from the cold. Kate couldn’t do anything more so returned to her seat beside Cathy. The two of them watched as the two sisters got the man sitting between them and chafed his hands and face until he woke up.

“Thank you.” His weak voice was barely discernable. He closed his eyes again. Kate wondered if the man would survive. Someone handed the small family a blanket.

“Why couldn’t that have been Seamus?” Cathy moaned to her side.

Kate didn’t reply. She couldn’t blame Cathy. Kate wished it had been Daniel who had thought to jump.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.