Titanic Voyage from Drumshee
Chapter Five
They left Corofin very early on Tuesday morning. They would spend Tuesday
night in Limerick, and Wednesday night in Cork with Lady Victoria's sister and
then they would get on the Titanic at eleven o'clock on Thursday morning. Robert
had a little notebook which his grandfather had given him where he had promised
to write down every thing which happened on the ship and to draw pictures of
everything which he saw. Already on the first page he had written, in large
childish letters:
'April 11th 1912. We boarded the Titanic at 11.00.'
'I bet it will be late and then you will have to rub that out,' sniffed
Tabitha when she saw it, but even she was wildly excited by the idea of the
journey and she was pleasanter than usual to Robert.
Kitty, too, was glowing with excitement. Underneath her neat uniform and her
brand-new travelling cape, she wore her gold necklace, hidden safely under her
dress. Best of all, in her box, was the beautiful pink velvet dress which had
been found in the chimney cupboard at Drumshee.
'It does have a stain on the side, it could have been white wine,' Lady
Victoria had said. 'It also looks much more worn than the others, so I think, my
dear, that I will give it to you. I would like to give you a little present as
you have been so good with the children. You are so clever with your needle that
you can alter it and make a nice party dress for yourself, to wear when you are
older.'
Kitty smiled to herself when she thought of it. She thought that she probably
wouldn't wait before she was too much older in order to wear the dress. John,
who was also going to America, had told her that there would be great parties
going on every night on the ship and she planned to go any evening that Lady
Victoria could look after the children. The dress was almost a perfect fit. The
skirt was much too wide for modern day fashions so she had taken out a big panel
on either side and now it looked like new: elegant and graceful.
Queenstown was a pretty town, all full of gaily painted houses clustered
around the harbour. As soon as they drove down to the quayside they could see
the Titanic. Even though it was anchored two miles out, the ship still looked
enormous.
'They say that it is more like a floating hotel than a ship,' said Lady
Victoria, sounding almost as excited as the children.
'How are we going to get out there?' shrieked Robert, bouncing up and down on
the soft leather seats of the Daimler.
'You'll have to swim,' said Tabitha.
'Don't be silly, dear,' said her aunt. 'And don't tease your brother. Look,
Robert, there is the tender. We will all go out on that. The Titanic is too big
to come any closer.'
Tabitha was stiff with apprehension as they climbed into the tender, but
Robert, as usual wearing his sailor suit with its whistle around his neck,
jumped in as if he were as used to the sea as any of the seamen. Several of the
passengers smiled at him. Kitty kept an eye on Tabitha. Her face had gone very
white as soon as the boat cast off and there were little drops of perspiration
on her forehead.
'Come to the front of the boat with me, Miss Tabitha,' she said. 'The wind on
your face will make you feel better.'
'You mean bows, Kitty, not the front,' shouted Robert as they moved up
the front. 'This is the stern and that is the bows, up there.'
Everyone smiled and one of the seamen laughed out loud.
'Show-off,' said Tabitha with an attempt at her usual snappy tones, but her
heart wasn't in it.'
She's going to be sick in a minute, thought Kitty and frantically searched
her mind for something to distract the little girl.
'What sort of a fur wrap would you like for the doll, Miss Tabitha,' she said
hurriedly. 'Have a look at the ladies here and tell me which one you would like
the best.'
'I think, really, that she needs a fur coat,' said Tabitha seriously, a
little tinge of colour creeping back into her cheeks. 'It gets very cold at sea.
I'm really shivering now and I've got my warmest coat on.'
'I'll try to make her a fur coat,' promised Kitty, groaning a little inwardly
as she thought of stitching the stiff skins.
'And a muff, to keep her hands warm?'
'And a muff.'
Tabitha herself had a white fur muff, slung around her neck with a cord of
dark green which matched her green wool coat. Inside the muff her hands were
still cold, though, Kitty noticed, as the icy little fingers gripped hers.
'I wonder will your aunt allow you to look at the ladies all dressed up for a
ball in the evening?' she asked. 'If she would, you could choose the fashion
that you liked for the doll's ball-gown. We'll make it out of that pink velvet
which the dressmaker gave us.'
'Stop calling her the doll,' said Tabitha, petulantly. 'Call her
Mary.'
'Well, you see I'm never sure whether to call her Mary, or Queen Mary,'
confessed Kitty. Or even Miss Mary, she thought to herself.
'Let's call her Queen Mary, then,' said Tabitha. 'No, Princess Mary sounds
nicer. Queens are old. We'll call her Princess Mary. I wish I had her with me
now.'
'I'll unpack her as soon as you are in your cabin,' promised Kitty.
When they reached the Titanic, Tabitha looked quite frightened. The huge ship
towered above the tender. Kitty had read that it was as tall as an eleven storey
building, but it was only when she was right underneath it and looking up that
she fully realised how big it was. She caught her breath with excitement. She
would never forget this trip, she thought as they walked up the gang plank and
into the ship and followed the steward upstairs to the first class cabins.
'How lovely to have a lift,' said Lady Victoria. 'Imagine, a ship with a
lift, Robert. You must tell your Grandpa all about that.'
'I hope we have a porthole in our cabin,' said Robert. 'That's a window,
Kitty,' he added kindly.
The children's cabin opened out of their aunt's. It had two berths in it and
a cupboard for their clothes and it did have a small porthole looking out on to
the sea. It was as pretty as a bedroom, but Tabitha and Robert were the most
interested in the porthole. There was a short vicious struggle between them as
to who should have the bed underneath it.
'I think that Miss Tabitha is the eldest so she should have it,' declared
Kitty and then felt rather ashamed. Really Robert would value it more as he was
so interested in the sea and in ships. I mustn't give in to her all the time,
because I am afraid of her making a fuss, she thought.
'.....for the first night,' she finished. 'And then Master Robert will have
it for the second night and then you'll swap again. It will be much more fun
than going to bed in the same place every night.'
Quickly she unpacked the rest of their clothes, gave Tabitha Princess Mary
and Robert his yacht and then went through the open door between the two cabins
to see if Lady Victoria needed any help.
Lady Victoria had a most magnificent cabin. Kitty smiled to herself when she
remembered the horror of the filthy ship which had brought her from Liverpool to
Cork and of that nightmare journey. This cabin had a four poster bed, a dressing
table, an electric heater, a marble bathroom between the two cabins and a couple
of luxurious armchairs. One of the stewardesses was unpacking her Ladyship's
clothes and folding them and putting them into drawers or hanging them in the
large wardrobe. Lady Victoria smiled when she saw Kitty.
'If you've finished the children's unpacking,' she said kindly. 'You may go
and find your own cabin and do your own unpacking. Wait. I'll ring for a steward
and get him to show you the way and carry your box down.'
The steward was a friendly fellow. He told Kitty that he was from Southampton
and that he had only been working on the Titanic for a few days.
'I've never seen a ship like her,' he said. 'The money they must have spent
on her. They've even got real coal fires in some of the saloons and lounges and
sitting rooms. Real fires! I ask you! What a silly waste of money when every
room has got electric heaters. Let's go down the grand staircase. That's the
maids' and valets' dining room down here; that's where you'll go for your meals.
Your cabin is in third class. A bit mean, that, isn't it?'
'I suppose it would have cost more money for me to go first-class, though,'
pointed out Kitty.
'That's true,' admitted the steward. 'Some of those first class passengers
are paying as much as £850 for their passage. Can you imagine! £850! You could
buy a big house for that kind of money. The third class fare is only £36.'
'£36 seems like a lot of money to me,' said Kitty. It's like a year's wages
for someone of my age.'
The third class cabin was fine, thought Kitty. It was neat and clean and
comfortable. There were four berths, there. The other three were occupied by a
widow and her two daughters, one about sixteen and one of Kitty's age.
'My other three daughters are out in America, already,' the woman told Kitty.
'They're good girls. They all saved their wages and sent the money for me and
the youngest two to come and join them.'
Kitty hung up her clothes and showed them the pink velvet dress which Lady
Fitzgerald had given her.
'Oh, that's lovely, you can wear that at the ceili to-night,' said the eldest
daughter.
'What's a ceili?' asked Kitty.
'Oh, it's a dance, jigs and reels and all sorts of music. It's great fun.
You'll enjoy it. We'll look after you. Will you come?'
'I will if Lady Fitzgerald allows me,' promised Kitty.
Luckily Her Ladyship was quite tired after the long journey from County Clare
to Cork harbour, and the sea air was making her sleepy. Even luckier, Tabitha
and Robert were exhausted after an afternoon of wildly running around and around
the ship and their eyes were shut as soon as their heads touched their pillows.
Kitty promised to be up early in the morning and was graciously given the
evening off.
Twice she got lost on her way to her cabin, but there was always some
pleasantly mannered steward or stewardess at hand to help and she arrived back
in good time. She hoped that she had not eaten too much to enjoy the dancing.
I've never in my life seen so much food as on that table, she thought. If that's
what the maids and valets get, goodness only knows what the menu in first class
was like.
The widow and her youngest daughter had already left for the party, but the
elder girl, Joan, was still curling her hair.
'Oh, I'm so glad that you're still here,' said Kitty. 'I don't know where the
party is, or any thing about it. I keep getting lost.'
'I'll wait for you,' said Joan, good-naturedly. 'Are you really wearing that
dress? It looks too good for a ceili.'
'Well, it's the only thing I've got,' said Kitty. 'Except for this, I've only
got my uniforms and an old skirt and blouse.'
'You'll be the belle of the ball,' said Joan with good-natured envy. 'That
gilt necklace looks shiny enough to be real gold. I suppose it is the light in
here.'
'I suppose so,' said Kitty, struggling into the tightly cut bodice of the
dress. 'Now I'll just brush my hair and then I'll be ready.'
'You've got a lovely shine to your hair. Pity it doesn't curl, but you can
always do that when you are older.'
'Let's go,' said Kitty, giving a satisfied glance at herself in the mirror.
She was quite happy with her hair. She had no intention of frizzing it up and
spoiling its glossy smoothness.
Patrick McMahon had taught his daughter all the Irish dances so she was able
to do a jig and take part in the reel as well as anyone who had been born and
brought up in Ireland.
'You're a great dancer,' said John, as he swung her around and around. 'It's
a pity that we didn't know each other back home. My father plays the fiddle and
my two brothers play the tin whistle and we have ceilis going on nearly every
night of the week. Still, there'll be plenty of dancing on the Titanic and who
knows, you might be able to come up to Boston for a few days and stay with my
sister. She says that there's great craic goes on there. The place is full of
Irish.'
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