I was there when the RMS Titanic was in the process of sinking. There were a lot of anguished screams onboard. Mothers were running with children, and most unfortunately, there weren’t enough lifeboats for everyone. There were 2223 passengers on board, with over 1517 dying. It was such an unfortunate disaster. It all had started out so well, no one could have possibly thought a disaster like this could have ever taken place…
Wednesday, 10th April 1912, the Titanic set sail from Southampton, and planned to sail to New York. I was a third class passenger, meaning that I was first to board. The first and second classes came within an hour. It seemed ages until we were ready to start the voyage. The departure finally began at 9:30am. Only about an hour later, the Titanic narrowly avoided a near collision with SS City of New York. This scared everybody, but it was just the starting point of the ordeal that they would soon face…
The Titanic continued to sail steadily through the difficult rivers of Southampton and Solent. The weather was clear, cold and overcast and soon took a turn for the worst. The Titanic received signals from other ships of large blocks of ice in the area. But Captain Smith decided that nothing could happen to the ship, and he didn’t do anything about it. Instead ignored the pleas of other passengers to take actions and precautions. That was could possibly be the worst decision he ever made…
At around 11:40 pm, the lookout Frederick Fleet spotted an enormous iceberg directly in front of their path and immediately notified the captain. Officer William Murdoch commanded the ship to be steered around the iceberg, and ordered the engines to be put in reverse but by then it was too late because then disaster struck…
The Titanic crashed into the iceberg, smashing the watertight compartments, and soon created a numerous amount of holes below the waterline. But by then everybody knew that they were doomed because the ship had already started to sink bow-first. The Titanic began to get steeper and steeper into the water…
The crew onboard the Titanic had not been well prepared for such an emergency. There were only enough lifeboats for half the passengers on board. Unfortunately only one-third of passengers were able to make it onto a lifeboat. The mother and children were first to leave, with first and second class passengers next. Third-class passengers, such as myself, were left to fight for our lives…
I remember the water closing up my escape. I remember struggling to get out. I remember seeing so many people dying, drowning and screaming. I remember struggling to stop myself from drowning. I remember someone pulling me onto a lifeboat, telling me that I would be okay. Then everything went black…
By some miracle, I was still alive. Exhausted, weary and utterly worn out, but alive. I could scarcely remember what had happened. The disaster had scared everybody. Nobody had expected the Titanic to sink. I guess it just goes to show that an event as tragic as that can happen, when your least expecting it. Anytime. Anywhere.
Thushani