A Night to Remember

A Night to Remember



Year:
1958
1,969 Views

Mrs. Margaret 'Molly' Brown:
[looks around Lifeboat 6 as it's being lowered] Hey, we've only got one sailor with us. That's not enough to manage this boat.

[Calls up to the Boat Deck as other women look around and confirm her observation]

Mrs. Margaret 'Molly' Brown:
Hold it there.

Second Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller:
[to seamen at falls] Stop lowering.

[Calls down to the boat]

Second Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller:
What's the matter?

Mrs. Margaret 'Molly' Brown:
Hey son. We only got one sailor in this boat!

Second Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller:
[Looks around Boat Deck for any available seamen] Are there any spare hands here?

Maj. Arthur Peuchen:
[Looks around, notices there are no seamen around, and steps forward] I'll go, if you like.

Second Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller:
Are you a sailor?

Maj. Arthur Peuchen:
I'm a yachtsman.

Second Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller:
[Indicates lowering ropes for the boat] If you're seaman enough to slip down that lifeline, you can go.

[Yells down to boat]

Second Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller:
Below.

Hitchens:
Sir.

Second Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller:
Let's have that line.

[the lifeline is swung towards the side of the ship. Lightoller grabs it after a couple of tries and holds it for Peuchen]

Second Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller:
Right. Good luck.

[Peuchen grabs the line and swings out over the edge. Lightoller watches as he lowers himself down the rope and safely into the boat. Once he's in safely, Lightoller addresses the seamen at the falls]

Second Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller:
Lower away together.

Andrews:
[Andrews is looking at the ship's blueprints as he describes the damage to the Captain] Here's the position: we have water in the forepeak; numbers 1 and 2 holds; the mailroom; and boiler rooms 6 and 5. That means a gash 300 feet long, from there to there...

[indicates gash with a pencil on the blueprint]

Andrews:
Below the waterline. Do you agree?

Captain Edward J. Smith:
Yes. Well?

Andrews:
The pumps are keeping the water down in this boiler room, Number 5, but the first five compartments are flooding.

Captain Edward J. Smith:
Well, what's the answer?

Andrews:
She's going to sink, Captain.

Captain Edward J. Smith:
But... She can't sink. She's unsinkable.

Andrews:
She can't float. Look... she can float with any three of her first five compartments flooded. She could even float with four of them gone. But she can't float with ALL of the first five full up.

Captain Edward J. Smith:
Yes, but...

Andrews:
[cuts him off] These watertight bulkheads here only go as high as E Deck. The weight of the water in the bow is going to pull her down by the head. So, you're going to get the fifth compartment overflowing into the sixth... the sixth into the seventh... and so on, as she gets lower. It's a mathematical certainty. With that amount of underwater damage she can't stay afloat.

Captain Edward J. Smith:
How long will she last?

Andrews:
[starts doing figures on a scratch pad] Just trying to work that out, now. As far as I can see, she made 14 feet of water in the first ten minutes after the collision. That's not very fast. She should live... another... hour and a half. Yes. About that, I should think.

Captain Edward J. Smith:
There must be no panic.

Andrews:
No.

Captain Edward J. Smith:
You'll be careful of what you say to the passengers.

Andrews:
Of course... How many people are there on board?

Captain Edward J. Smith:
2,200, or more. And room in the boats for...? How many?

Andrews:
1,200.

Captain Edward J. Smith:
I don't think the Board of Trade regulations ever visualized this situation. Do you?

Col. Archibald Gracie:
[looks at rockets being fired by the Carpathia as he and Lightoller sit in the stern of a lifeboat] Will that be the Carpathia?

Second Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller:
[silently nods in the affirmative]

Col. Archibald Gracie:
Aren't you glad to see her?

Second Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller:
Yes I'm glad. But then, *I'm* still *alive*.

Col. Archibald Gracie:
If only she'd been nearer.

Second Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller:
There are quite a lot of "ifs" about it; aren't there, Colonel?

[turns and shouts to another lifeboat they're towing]

Second Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller:
Keep up, quartermaster. Keep that line slack.

[turns to address Colonel Gracie again]

Second Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller:
If we'd been steaming a few knots slower, or if we'd sighted that berg a few seconds earlier, we might not even have struck. If we'd been carrying enough lifeboats for the size of the ship instead of just enough to meet the regulations, things would have been different again, wouldn't they?

Col. Archibald Gracie:
Maybe. But *you* have nothing to reproach yourself with. You've done all any man could and more. You're not...

[stops himself]

Col. Archibald Gracie:
I was about to say, you're not *God*, Mister Lightoller.

Second Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller:
*No* seaman ever thinks he is! I've been at sea since I was a *boy*. I've been in sail. I've even been *shipwrecked* before. I *know* what the sea can *do*! But, *this* is different-!

Col. Archibald Gracie:
Because we hit an iceberg?

Second Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller:
No- Because we were so *sure*! Because even though it's *happened*, it's *still* unbelieveable! I don't think *I'll* ever feel *sure* again, about *anything*!


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