Titanic: An Amourshipping Story

Chapter 21

Marlon, Siebold, and their remaining crewmen were on edge as they worked to get the last two boats off the roof. Both groups set up oars for make-shift ramps as three men on each side slid Collapsible A and B off the roof. Around 90 people gathered around the officer's quarters. 50 people waited to board Collapsible A, and 40, including Gary and Goh, waited to get on Collapsible B.

Collapsible A slid off the roof first, breaking the oars and sliding down the deck by a couple of inches. The crew on the port side were less fortunate. They pushed Collapsible B, making it flip off the roof, with 2-3 sailors falling onto the deck. The raft landed upside down, pinning one of the sailors.

As Siebold and his men tried to flip Collapsible B, Gary and Goh rushed to the other side, hoping the crew there had better luck. When they arrived, the crew had tied the raft to the davits. One of the sailors saw the water getting closer to reaching the boat deck, and his face grew pale.

"Sir, there's no time. Let's load the boat and let it drift off!" he shouted.

"No, we have time to prepare and lower the boat," Marlon said. "Get the women and children on board."

"Sir, there's no children and hardly any women left," a second sailor said.

Marlon looked behind him to find only a few women among the dozens of people waiting to get on. He knew there was not enough room for everyone, and he needed a couple of crew members to command the boat.

"Fine. Load the boat with as many people as possible," he ordered.

The sailors nodded, and after connecting the falls to the boat, they began letting people in. Gary and Goh tried to push their way through as the crowd tried to get on the boat, with the crew only allowing a couple of people in at a time. But just as Gary and Goh got closer, someone in between them shoved them with such force that they nearly lost their balance.

"Out of my way, you vermin!"

Gary and Goh regained their balance and saw Mivashkama ramming his way to the lifeboat. They tried to catch up, but several people passed them, making it harder to squeeze their way through. Gary could see Mivashkama ordering a sailor to let him pass, and the sailor fearfully complied.

"First class gentleman, my bum," Gary said. "Probably will try to push us out when we get on the boat."

"If he does, we'll show him how his status doesn't mean jack right now," Goh said.

Gary grinned, liking his friend's thinking. Unfortunately, time didn't let them get the chance. Just as roughly 25-45 people got it into the boat, Titanic took a sudden dip as it returned to an even keel, causing water to begin rushing the deck. Passengers screamed as the sudden rush of water under the boat caused it to tip with the fall ropes still attached to it.

On the port side, Collapsible B was still upside down and began floating off the ship with about 12 people on board, including Siebold. They began helping aboard as many as possible until around 30-32 people occupied the lifeboat. At that point, they started pushing others away.

"There's no time to lower!" Marlon shouted. "Cut those falls! Cut them! Cut them if you have to!"

"We need knives!" a sailor shouted.

Gary looked at the sturdy robes attached to the boat, and he took out his pocket knife from his pants pocket. He turned to Goh, who took out his knife and nodded to his companion. They opened their knives, held on to the blades with their teeth, jumped on opposite sides of the boat, Goh on the left, Gary on the right, and began cutting the ropes. A couple of other third class men joined in with their knives. The boat tilted at a 90-degree angle, and three-quarters of the people on the boat fell off, leaving about 14 people left, including Mivashkama. A few sailors got into the water and tried pushing the boat away from the water, but it was still tilted, and water was getting in it.