They gathered by the hundreds early in the morning, men, women, children, young and old, they gathered. The crowd assembled watching rockets in the sky, seeing lights in the distance and many wondered, why? Why are we here? Surely we need not be here, not now, not us and the way we are dressed, completely inappropriate, no need at all to be dressed this way, and now they waited. Most had no idea of what would come, they had no idea they were standing on the edge of history, most were standing on the edge of eternity.

The crowd included people of prestige and those who worked with their hands, millionaires and paupers stood side by side, both equal now, money no longer had value, something that had not yet become apparent. Only a very few people knew, Mr. Andrews was probably the first to know, he told Mr. Smith and Mr. Ismay. I am sure the gravity of the situation was gravely clear to all three men immediately. They knew the numbers did not add up, this was something that must have been in the back of everyone's mind that morning.

Still the question in most minds was why are we standing here? There had been a "noise" earlier, a small shudder felt by those who were awake, surely this could not cause all this excitement, or could it? There really did not seem to be a problem, at least to those gathered on the boat deck, maybe 1,000 or more standing there. There were 2,000 more still below deck waiting to go up and growing more impatient as the minuets ticked by.

Anders and Alfrida Andersson were among those waiting below, they were traveling with their five children, all who were below the age of 11. The youngest was two year old Ellis Anna Marie, the baby of the family. Her siblings, four year old Sigvard Harold Elias, six year old Ebba Iris Alfrida, nine year old Ingeborg Constanzia and eleven year old Sigrid Elisabeth would help watch out for her as there was no way she could understand what was happening. They could barely understand themselves, perhaps all they knew was that something was wrong, maybe from the look on the faces of their parents. What could the father tell his family to comfort them at this time, did he know what was about to happen?

As time passed it became clear to all on board that their ship was going to sink. Lifeboats were being launched, but even this was at first done in a nonchalant fashion, some were told they would just move away from the ship until the problem had been repaired, this may have been said as a comfort to those in the boats to keep them from panicking. Mr. Hartley's band provided music to those who cared to hear it, it may also have been a way for the bandsmen to keep their minds off their situation as well.

How many people knew? When did they know? All they had to do was look at the few lifeboats and do a little simple math in their head. One could look around at the faces of the thousands of people all brought together on one ship and realize that by the first light of the day at least half of them would be dead. Some probably thought that rescue would soon arrive, after all this was modern times, ships had communication with other ships and one of them would soon appear alongside and they would be removed in an orderly fashion. The ship seen on the horizon for example, must already be underway to their rescue, it would not take long for that ship to arrive.

As mothers and their children were placed in the lifeboats, the fathers stayed on deck, they assured weeping wives and children that they would be along in another lifeboat later and not to worry, all the time knowing they would never see them again. Were the words even spoken or did it take only a look for her to know that he would not make it. Can a man look into the eyes of his children and tell them it is the last time they shall ever meet? Some wives refused to leave their husbands, both staying behind to face their fate together.

As the ship slowly sank and the boats were all gone those left on board finally realized without a doubt that they were facing their doom, nobody was going to arrive in time to save them and they would not last long in the freezing water, most if not all of them would die. What were they thinking, how did they feel and how did those in the lifeboats feel knowing they would be the only ones to survive. What would become of them, they had no communication with the outside world, they were just adrift in the middle of the ocean watching as their loved ones went down right in front of their eyes. By now even the older children knew there was no saving those on board.

We know what happened to these in the lifeboats, and we know some of the details of what happened on board after the boats had gone, but we don't know everything. One of the stories of that night we don't know is that of the Andersson family, what happened to them? Did they make it up on deck only to find the boats gone or did they remain below, perhaps in their cabin holding one another. All seven of them perished and their bodies were never recovered, every member of Mr. Hartley's band also died along with Mr. Andrews and Mr. Smith the captain. With them over 1,500 others died in the freezing waters of the North Atlantic on that terrible day, April 15, 1912.

© 2008 Michael W. Pocock
MaritimeQuest.com