Titanic 2012 (inspector alastair ransom) Read online

  He looked from one face to another for any sign, any clue whatsoever, a shade darker in the eyes, perhaps a passing shadow across the brow, some nervous twitch or other that a demonic entity could not control—a clue being broadcast by the host in a last ditch effort to have even a semblance of humanity, a sign of choice, of will power.

  He studied Mendenhall’s frown—a perpetual one to be sure. Could it be a sign? A mere frown? Were there any photos wherein Mendenhall’s face was lit up with a smile?

  He studied Bowman’s dark features and thought his eyes somewhat jaundiced, but when the man’s head turned, David realized it was only a light shaft from one of the open doors hitting the diver’s face.

  David then studied Lena Gambio’s softer features. She looked the picture of an Italian mother of three who ought to be home with her kids instead of here, he thought, then recalled her tough exterior and decided that if she had any kids, they likely could use time away from her. She looked harmless to the tenth degree but she played the role of the grungiest and toughest among the divers. As with most of the divers, David knew next to nothing of her personal life—just as Swigart and Forbes had planned things. And yet, Kelly had a dossier on him.

  He turned his attention on Steve Jens, who’d seemed as gung-ho to dive as Bowman and David, but for the moment he’d gone sullen, dejected, an unhappy man indeed. Again no outward sign of being some sort of demonic vessel. Just wholly upset with the onboard deaths of two men—an all too familiar human response. Or was it more to do with fear? Fear of being next?

  Then too David must consider the silent, self-effacing seventh diver, the backup in the event anything should happen to any of the rest, waiting in the wings in vulture fashion—Kyle Fiske; what sort of emotion should he be exhibiting? It seemed he had remained damned cool, perhaps too cool in the face of two murders aboard.What emotions ought to be playing out like a film across Kyle’s square-jawed face? David didn’t know.

  In fact, all he knew for certain was that all the divers seemed and appeared to be all too human! Each one filled with emotions boiling over. Swigart was angriest of all, and he shouted now from the lectern beside Forbes, “We’re not going to let some psycho running loose on this ship deter us from our mission, ladies and gentlemen. It has become apparent to Dr. Entebbe, Captain Forbes, and me that someone has gotten aboard who wants this mission scuttled and scrapped.”

  Swigart stopped speaking to coldly stare around the room as if his gaze might be a laser detector that would surely fall on the culprit. It instead fell on David. “Someone with a political agenda so filled with hatred of our plans to plunder Titanic of her riches that he… or she… is willing to kill for this misguided purpose. Whoever you are… what ever your purpose, you will pay dearly!”

  “We refuse to take our orders from some home-grown terrorist,” Forbes forcefully added. “And make no bones about it, these horrible murders—these are acts of terrorism designed to turn us back to port, designed to leave the ghosts of Titanic in peace”

  “Imagine it!” Craig Powers erupted. “Murder aboard Scorpio—two crew members lose their lives while in search of a ghost ship in a watery grave.” His hands and arms went up as if he were writing headlines in the air.

  “Fanatics don’t have to make sense, but we suspect that this one is fanatical about Titanic,” added Swigart, “for a belief in Bob Ballard’s desire to keep Titanic untouched by further exploration except by remote submersible and photos.”

  “We’ll have this person in custody before we make port in Woods Hole,” added Forbes, a hand upraised, clenching his fist as if grabbing an invisible person by the throat. “Be assured of that. We’re going to comb through everyone’s background. If we find anything that has you stumping for Ballard’s views, you can figure on the ship’s brig for the duration.”

  For ninety nine percent of those present and hearing this, it seemed a most logical explanation; there must be a logical explanation. While they had no idea the method of murder or what could cause human bodies to shrivel into dehydrated mummies, the idea of terrorism had been ingrained in them for their entire lives thanks to 9/11 and 2012 doomsday prophecies.

  Yes, this was plausible; it made all the sense in the world. Some horrid person or terrorist with a chemistry set had gone about the business of terrorizing every man and woman aboard Scorpio until the traditionally superstitious among the crew might be willing to take up arms, mutiny, take charge of the ship, and turn her toward home.

  After all, they were planning to desecrate a graveyard.

  People had in the past concocted lesser reasons for murder and mayhem—even mass murder. Now this made good sense; something tangible after the seemingly supernatural Alandale-Ford business.

  This theory assuaged the mind so that all aboard could somehow sleep tonight. David sarcastically informed himself of these ‘truths’. The entire ship and crew might be destroyed… might all be blown to Kingdom Come if indeed there was a terrorist plot afoot but at least this was an enemy they knew and understood, a tantalizing one at that considering the alternative.

  Indeed, David thought, the enemy one knows is easier to combat than the unknown. Who had concocted the reasoning for such a theory of someone aboard who’d not stop at murder to preserve the ‘graves’ of those with Titanic where she lay? Had it been Swigart? Forbes? Entebbe perhaps? Who had first put forth this story?

  David’s gaze returned to Kelly.

  He stared long and hard, trying to see beyond the beauty… to see into her psyche and soul, but again he realized that such insight was impossible.

  Suppose her entire story of her ancestry was a concocted lie to cover another lie. That she had actually come aboard Scorpio with the express purpose of sabotaging the mission; suppose she was the Ballard fanatic and disciple? Suppose the story of Ransom and the young surgeons was all an elaborate concoction? What kind of fool did this make David Ingles?

  Pull one string and it all begins to unravel, he told himself now, and she played me like a violin. Fool, he quietly admonished himself for believing a word of any of it.

  Fiction.

  The whole of it, damned fiction.

  Swigart dismissed them all, confining them to their quarters until such time as he called for the dive, a decision he would continue to discuss with Captain Forbes. Everyone went to their quarters, all but David’s roommate who was asked to hold back, Swigart needing him for what Lou jokingly called a “dirty job”.

  Again David found himself in his cramped quarters alone with his thoughts. In order to reinforce his conclusion that the whole of Kelly Irvin’s claims and those of her ancestor aboard Titanic was a hoax perpetuated on him alone, David dug out and lifted his Kindle reader and thanks to Whispernet, in a matter of milliseconds, he brought up his copy of a compendium on the history of that night—Fate of The Titanic by Joseph Kilborn.

  David toggled to the pages he had bookmarked, opening the electronic book up to a section on the exact timeline that Kilborn had worked out for that night, and so now he read the comforting facts:

  1:30 PM: Starboard anchor raised for the last time, and Titanic departs on her first Trans-Atlantic crossing for New York. Estimated total number of passengers on board: 2227. (Exact total unknown due to discrepancies in passenger/crew lists.)

  April 11 to 12: Titanic covers 386 miles in fine, calm, clear weather.

  April 12 & 13: Titanic covers 519 miles. Fine weather continues. Various ice warnings received—not uncommon for April crossings.

  April 13, 10:30 PM: Heavy ice pack warning signaled by passing Rappahannock, which has sustained damage coming through the ice field.

  April 14, Sunday: 9:00 AM: Titanic picks up wireless message from Caronia warning of field ice and icebergs in 42ºN, from 49º to 51ºW.

  10:30 AM: Divine service held in first-class dining saloon.

  David stopped in his reading to contemplate what might be meant by Divine. Might the food be ‘divine’ or the chef’s name Divine? A famous f
ellow of his day? Or a typo so often found in published books now; rather than Divine, might it be Dine or Dinning? He decided it unimportant and read on:

  11:40 AM: Dutch liner Noordam reports "much ice" in about the same position as the California had reported.

  Noon: As usual, the ship's officers gather on the wing of the navigating bridge to calculate daily position with sextants: "Since noon Saturday, 546 miles."

  1:42 PM: Iceberg warning received via the Baltic and "large quantities of field ice" in latitude 41º 51'N, longitude 49º 52' W about 250 miles ahead of Titanic. Message delivered to Captain Smith. Smith later gives it to J. Bruce Ismay, who puts it in his pocket.

  1:45 PM: "Large iceberg" warning received via Marconi wireless from German liner Amerika (41º 27' N, 50º 8' W). Message not sent to the bridge, deemed repetitious.

  5:30 to 7:30 PM: Air temperature drops ten degrees to 33ºF.

  5:50 PM: Captain Smith slightly alters ship's course south and west of normal course— possibly as a precaution to avoid ice. However, no one knows what is in his mind at this point.

  6:00 PM: Second Officer Lightoller relieves Chief Officer Wilde on the bridge.

  7:15 PM: First Officer Murdoch orders forward forecastle hatch closed to stop the glow from inside interfering with crow's nest watch above. Mystery as to why it was open in the first place.

  7:30 PM: Three more intercepted warning messages concerning large icebergs ahead from the Californian (42º 3' N, 49º 9' W). Message delivered to bridge. Captain attending dinner party below. Ice now only 50 miles ahead.

  8:40 PM: Lightoller gives order to look after ship's fresh water supply, as outside seawater is now close to freezing.

  8:55 PM: Captain Smith excuses himself from dinner party, goes directly to bridge, and discusses calm and clear weather conditions with Lightoller, as well as visibility of icebergs at night.

  9:20 PM: Captain Smith retires for the night with the order to rouse him "if it becomes at all doubtful… "

  9:30 PM: Lightoller sends message to crow's nest to watch carefully for icebergs until morning.

  9:40 PM: Heavy ice pack and iceberg warning received from the Mesaba (lat. 42º N to 41º 25' N, long. 49º W to 50º 30' W). Message overlooked. Wireless operators busy with passenger wireless traffic, as passengers find the new mode of communication an entertainment. Altogether the day's six ice warnings show a huge field of ice some 78 miles long directly ahead.

  10:00 PM: Lightoller is relieved on bridge by First Officer Murdoch. Lookouts in crow's nest relieved. Warning to watch for icebergs passed between the watches. Temperature is 32º F, sky cloudless, air clear.

  10:30 PM: Sea temperature down to 31º F.

  10:55 PM: Some 10 to 19 miles north of Titanic, the Californian is stopped in ice field, and sends out warnings to all ships in area. When the Californian's wireless operator calls up Titanic, his ice warning is interrupted by a blunt "Keep out! Shut up! You're jamming my signal. I'm working Cape Race." The Californian's sole operator listens in to Titanic's wireless traffic and then at 11:30 turns off his set and retires for the night, as is the custom.

  11:30 PM: Lookouts Fleet and Lee in crow's nest note slight haze appearing directly ahead of Titanic. Lee claims hatchway with light again causing visibility problems. Neither man has binoculars and are told all binoculars had been accidentally left on ferry at Cherbourg and not loaded.

  11:40 PM: Titanic moving at 20½ knots. Suddenly, lookouts see iceberg dead ahead about 500 yards away and towering some 55-60 feet above the water. They immediately sound the warning bell with three sharp rings and telephone down to the bridge: "Iceberg dead ahead." Sixth Officer Moody on bridge acknowledges warning, relays message to Murdoch who instinctively calls "hard-a-starboard" to helmsman and orders engine room to stop engines and then full astern.

  Murdoch then activates lever to close watertight doors below the waterline. Helmsman spins wheel as far as it will go. After several seconds Titanic begins to veer to port, but the iceberg strikes starboard bow side and brushes along the side of the ship and passes by into the night. The impact, although jarring to the crew down in the forward area, is not noticed by many of the passengers.

  Thirty-seven seconds have elapsed from sighting to collision.

  11:50 PM: During first ten minutes after impact, water rises 14 feet above the keel, forward. First five compartments begin to take on water. Boiler room No. 6, five feet above keel, is flooded in eight feet of water.

  12:00 AM: Mailroom, 24 feet above keel, begins taking enough water to float mail bags. Captain Smith, now on the bridge, gets reports of water pouring into number 1, 2, and 3 holds, and boiler room No. 6. Following this, he takes his own rapid tour to inspect the damage alongside Titanic’s architect, Thomas Andrews. On seeing the worst of it, Smith asks Andrews for his assessment.

  Andrews calculates the ship can only remain afloat from one to two-and-a-half hours. This is based on the mathematical certainty that if more than four holds are flooded, once a compartment fills with water, the water will spill into the next compartment and so on. Titanic's bow begins to sink. The ship is doomed.

  Captain Smith orders CQD distress call for assistance sent out over ship's wireless. Titanic's estimated position: 41º 46' N, 50º 14' W. Boilers shut down and relief pipes against funnels blow off huge noisy clouds of steam.

  April 15, Monday: 12:05 AM: Squash court, 32 feet above keel is awash. Orders are given to uncover the lifeboats and to get the passengers and crew ready on deck. Only enough room in the lifeboats for 1,178 of the estimated 2,227 on board if every boat is filled to capacity.

  12:10 to 1:50 AM: Several crew members on the Californian, some 10 to 19 miles away, see lights of a steamer. A number of attempts to make contact with the ship with Morse lamp fail. Rockets are observed, but as they appear so low over the ship's deck, and make no sound, they do not seem like distress rockets, and no great concern is taken. Distance between ships seems to increase until they are out of sight of each other.

  12:15 to 2:17 AM: Numerous ships hear Titanic's distress signals, including her sister ship the Olympic, some 500 miles away. Several ships, including Mount Temple (49 miles away), Frankfort (153 miles), Burma (70 miles), Baltic (253 miles), Virginian (170), and Carpathia (58 miles) prepare at various times to come to assist.

  12:15 AM: Band begins to play lively ragtime tunes in first-class lounge on A Deck, later moving up to Boat Deck near port entrance to Grand Staircase.

  12:20 to 12:25 AM: Order given to start loading lifeboats with women and children first.

  12:25 AM: The Carpathia, southeast some 58 miles, receives distress call and immediately heads full speed to rescue.

  12:45 AM: The first lifeboat, starboard No. 7, is safely lowered away. It can carry 65 people, but leaves with 28 aboard. First distress rocket fired. Eight rockets will be fired altogether. Fourth Officer Boxhall observes vessel approaching Titanic but it then disappears, despite attempts to contact her with Morse lamp. Boat No. 4 begins loading between 12:30 and 12:45.

  12:55 AM: First port-side boat No. 6 lowered with only 28 aboard, including Molly Brown and Major Peuchen. Starboard No. 5 is lowered. Owner, J. Bruce Ismay is chastised by Fifth Officer Lowe for interfering with his command. (41 aboard - room for another 24.)

  1:00 AM: Starboard boat No. 3 is lowered with only 32 aboard including 11 crewmembers.

  1:10 AM: Starboard No. 5 is lowered (capacity 40) with only 12 aboard, including Sir Cosmo and Lady Duff Gordon, and seven crewmen. Port-side No. 8 loaded and lowered carrying only 39 people. It is steered in the water by the Countess of Rothes.

  1:15 AM: Water reaches Titanic's name on the bow and she now lists to port. The tilt of the deck grows steeper. Boats now begin to be more fully loaded.

  1:20 AM: Starboard No. 9 leaves with some 56 people aboard. Titanic has now developed a noticeable list to starboard.

  1:25 AM: Port-side boat No. 12 is lowered with 40 women and children on board. Two seamen are put in charge of th
is boat. After Titanic sinks, this boat is tied together with boats 4, 10, 14 and collapsible D. Later on survivors are moved from boat 14 to the other boats by Fifth Officer Lowe so he can return to pick up swimming passengers. Boat 12 is subsequently overloaded with 70 passengers, many rescued from collapsible D.

  1:30 AM: Signs of panic begin to appear among some passengers on the ship. As port-side boat 14 is lowered with 60 people, including Fifth Officer Lowe, railing passengers appear ready to jump into the already full boat. Shouting warnings, Lowe fires shots into the air to fend off panicked men. Titanic's distress calls now near desperation. "We are sinking fast" and "Women and children in boats. Cannot last much longer"

  1:35 AM: Port-side No. 16 is lowered with over 50 people. Starboard boat No. 13 leaves with 64 people, mostly second and third-class women and children. Starboard boat No. 15 is lowered 30 seconds later with 70 aboard and barely avoids collision with boat 13 as it is lowered on top of No. 13. The latter pulls away in the water in the nick of time.

  1:40 AM: Most of the forward boats are now away, and passengers who remain aboard Titanic begin to move to the stern area. Ismay leaves on collapsible C (39 aboard), the last starboard-side boat launched. The forward Well Deck is awash.

  As with every time that David read this stark account of how quickly Titanic went down, he was left with questions—questions without answer, as in how could they have truly left port for New York without binoculars for the men in the crow’s nest and the bridge? Suppose someone intentionally opened that hatchway to obscure their view. Why hadn’t Captain Smith, an experienced sea captain with no mishaps on his record, heeded all the warnings? What if Murdoch hadn't attempted veering off but rather allowed Titanic to make a direct hit as experts now believed that a seasoned seaman would prefer damage to the bow to damage to her sides.