by Marie Silk
The frightful scene went black as Nellie felt a warm hand cover her eyes. She could hear words being said into her ear, but she did not know what they were or what they meant. She did not feel like she was in her body, but rather high above the ship, watching the sinking from the sky.
“You’re safe, you will see your family soon,” Henry was saying. “You will be alright. We will reach land in no time. We are safe, and everything will be alright.”
But he had spoken too soon. Before their lifeboat could be fully lowered into the water, it flipped to one side, sending its occupants in a free-fall into the sea. Nellie could feel herself falling through air, then falling through water, down, down, down. The cold water felt like needles pushing into her skin from all sides. She had no control over her body, tossing this way and that. The buoyancy of the lifebelt floated her to the surface where she gasped for air and swallowed water, gasping and choking at the same time. She watched in terror as the lifeboat sank, its former occupants scattered across the water.
“Nellie!” a voice echoed across the water, ringing in her ears as if it were only in her mind. “Nellie!”
She was able to turn her head enough to see Henry swimming toward her. Nellie’s teeth were chattering and she did not speak as she remained in the stillness of shock. Her arms and legs were ice cold.
“There is another lifeboat just this way,” Henry cried. “They have enough room for us if we hurry! Kick your legs behind you and follow me!”
Nellie obeyed as best she could, but her dress became heavy over her legs and Nellie was aware that kicking was doing no good at all. Henry pulled her through the water so that they could get closer to the new lifeboat. Debris from the ship along with floating bodies with vacant eyes surrounded them on all sides. Henry wished that he could spare Nellie the sight of the corpses, but was relegated only with telling her that they were almost to the lifeboat. By the time they finally reached the boat, it was clearly full.
“No more! We are full!” a man shouted from the boat. Henry looked on in dismay.
“It is Lord Caswell’s son!” cried a woman’s voice. “We have room for one more, surely!”
“I don’t care whose son he is, if we get any more in here, we will go over!” another man argued.
“We cannot leave them here to die,” shrieked a high woman’s voice.
Henry spoke up from the water. “Here, take her!” he said about Nellie. “She will not weigh you down!”
Before anyone could argue, some people were already pulling Nellie into the boat. Others were looking across the way and screaming at the site of another lifeboat tipping when it tried to pull a person from the water. A man reached for Henry’s hand and grabbed it tightly. “You better get on now before anyone notices!”
But Henry released the man’s hand. He could see that the lifeboat was beyond capacity, and he was not going to be the one to send it into the sea. “Get to shore!” he demanded, swimming away and trying to stay afloat in the water. “Don’t take anyone else on! Nellie, I will get on the next boat!”
The man who tried to help Henry gave him a mournful look. There were no other lifeboats near, and everyone knew it. Nellie could feel a dry jacket being placed around her shoulders as she sat shivering in her seat. The ladies were trying to comfort her with encouraging words. Nellie continued to shake with cold, watching the hundreds of lifeless bodies floating in the sea, and feeling as if she were one of them. One thing was certain to those who claimed the safety of the lifeboat—that the glorious Lusitania, their luxurious hotel for the last seven days, was now nowhere to be seen.
Chapter 6
There was a knock at the door of Lucy Whitmore’s home in St. John’s Wood. Julia answered promptly. “Good evening, Captain Perry,” Julia said downcast, almost in a whisper.
“Then Lucy has heard the news,” Captain Perry surmised.
Julia nodded. “Her ladyship is unable to receive visitors at this time.”
“I understand, and I wish to help. Please tell her that I am here, Julia,” he pleaded.
Julia allowed him to step into the entryway while she went upstairs to see her Mistress. Lucy was in her nightclothes in bed, holding a handkerchief to her face when Julia entered. “Captain Perry has come to see you, Madam.”
“Frederick is here?” Lucy asked tearfully. “I cannot even stand up to greet him. My niece is almost certainly dead!” Julia nodded and returned downstairs to inform Captain Perry.
“Please, take me to her,” Frederick insisted.
Julia looked aghast at the suggestion. “Her ladyship is beside herself with grief and remains in her bed. So you see, it would be impossible for you to see her now.”
“It is a matter of life and death. I have come to be of service, not to be entertained. Lucy need not leave her bed. Just take me to her.”
Julia was hesitant but finally led him up the staircase. “I will go in first to tell her that you have come up,” explained Julia. Frederick nodded. Then Julia exited the room and opened the door wide. “She is ready to see you.”
Frederick walked into the dark room which was only lit by the glow from the fireplace. He could hear Lucy whimpering on the bed. He pulled up a chair to sit next to her. “I am terribly sorry, Lucy,” he said.
“So am I,” Lucy cried softly. “What a horrid thing to have happened to such an innocent girl!”
“Yes, it is horrid,” Frederick agreed. “Have you heard—for certain—about your niece?”
Lucy shook her head. “I have not. I can only wait and hope to hear that she is soon on her way.”
“I see,” Frederick said. “I have come to offer my services. The rescue boats are running from Queenstown in Ireland. I will go there directly to look for your niece and her companion. When I find them, I will bring them here as soon as possible.”
Lucy looked hopeful. “You would do this for us?”
“Of course I will. I do not wish to give false hope, but there are many survivors. Your niece may be one of them.”
Lucy sniffled into her handkerchief. “We can only hope. But all of those poor people! The Germans are hideous for doing such evil!”
Frederick nodded. “We can talk about that later. For now, I must be leaving for Ireland. Do you have a photograph of your niece in case—in case I require it?”
“Yes, of course. Julia, please provide Captain Perry with Nellie’s photograph,” Lucy instructed.
Julia had been observing and listening from the doorway. “Yes, Madam.”
“Her name is Penelope Whitmore, but she likes to be called ‘Nellie’. She is twenty years of age, very fair, with light golden hair,” Lucy explained.
“I will do what I can,” Frederick promised, and was soon on his way to Queenstown with the photograph.
Rescue vessels reached the shores of Queenstown throughout the night. Henry Caswell was aboard one of them. There were many injured that Henry and the other able-bodied survivors attended to as best they could. When their rescue vessel pulled up to the harbor, the captain told them not to disembark until he had cleared it with the local authorities. Arguments broke out that some of the passengers needed medical attention and should not wait any longer to leave the boat, but the captain stood his ground. As soon as he was out of sight, the men on the ship tried to lower the gangplank so they could debark while a man on the dockside tried to stop them.
“You have three seconds to get out of the way,” shouted one of the survivors. The men were able to finally lower the gangplank, and Henry and the others collected the injured to take them to the hospital. The lifeboats had not yet arrived in Queenstown. Henry hoped that Nellie was still in one of them.
The hospital was already full that night, with survivors being admitted with each new rescue boat. When Henry was walking out of the hospital, he brushed by one of the patients laid out on a cot and immediately felt a hand pulling on his arm. He turned around to see a woman with a bloodied shoulder lying down, looking frantically into his eyes. “Sa
ve me, Doctor!” she whispered hoarsely. Henry tried to ignore the chills that ran over his body, causing his hair to stand on end, and worked quickly to stop the bleeding from the woman’s shoulder. After completing a bandage the best he could, one of the hospital staff spoke to him from behind. “Are you a doctor?”
“No,” Henry replied. “But I want to stay and help, if it’s alright.”
“We need all the help we can get,” the doctor answered gratefully. “You can clean and bind the wounds of those who are still arriving.”
Henry set to work at the hospital, carefully overseeing the arrival of each new face throughout the night. Among those who came into the hospital, there was no sight of his aunt or uncle. At last he saw a familiar face, a pretty young girl with blonde hair whose hand he held that very afternoon. She was either asleep or unconscious, but to Henry’s relief she was not injured. The hospital and hotels were filling quickly, and Nellie was carried away to a house nearby to stay overnight. Henry continued to help at the hospital, confident that his friend was in good hands.
When Nellie opened her eyes the next day, she looked around her in confusion. Everything about the room she lay in was unfamiliar. The room was dark and plain. There was nothing to decorate the walls, but Nellie was grateful for the warm fire which kept her from freezing. She recognized her dress and stockings hanging by the fireplace. She then looked down at herself and realized she was not wearing her own clothes.
“You’re awake,” said a woman’s voice in a heavy Irish accent. “Want breakfast?”
Nellie turned her head groggily to see a woman sitting in a chair beside the bed. “Where am I?”
“Ireland,” the woman responded. “The ship you came on was sunk by those Germans. Were you traveling with family, Dearie?”
“No…I was alone…” Nellie replied sleepily.
“Thank goodness for that. Hardly anyone survived. They’ve been pulling bodies from the sea all night.”
Nellie felt her throat tighten up and tears fill her eyes. The woman looked at her sympathetically. “Oh I’m sorry, Dearie. I didn’t mean to upset you. Sometimes I speak more than I should. What’s your name?”
“Nellie Whitmore.”
“Welcome to my home, Miss Whitmore. I dressed you in my daughter’s clothes. You’re about the same size, you see. Her dress is not so fine as yours. I’ve never seen clothes so fine in all my life. They are hanging there by the fire to dry, you see?”
“Thank you, Madam,” Nellie told the woman.
The woman laughed. “I’ve never been called Madam in all my life. You must be delirious. Are ya hungry?”
“No, no thank you. But where is everyone from the ship?”
The woman shrugged. “Some here, some there. The hospitals and hotels are packed full. That’s why they brought you here. No more room anywhere else.”
“I must send word to my aunt in London that I am alright. She must be worried for me.”
“But you’ll be standing in line at the telegraph office all day,” the woman said.
Nellie tried to sit up but suddenly felt the room rocking back and forth, just as the ship had felt on the sea. She was overcome with dizziness and closed her eyes.
“Don’t try to get up now, Dearie. You can stay here for as long as you need, while you recover.”
“Thank you,” Nellie replied. She was going to say more, but was soon drifting back to sleep, dreaming that she was still aboard the Lusitania with Henry and Priscilla, as if nothing terrible had ever happened.
Captain Frederick Perry had driven through the night and boarded a ferry to reach Queenstown by the next afternoon. The city was a harrowing site as soldiers dug mass graves and forlorn passengers wandered the streets to identify their loved ones. Frederick felt his stomach sinking, but was determined to search for Nellie among the living before he searched among the dead. He went to the hospital and began to look over the people lying in makeshift cots and beds. Most of them appeared to be older than thirty years of age. After searching throughout the afternoon and inquiring of the staff with no progress, he turned to leave the hospital.
“Captain Perry?” said a voice from behind him. He turned to see who addressed him.
“Henry,” he reacted in surprise. “I never expected to find you here. Were you aboard the Lusitania?”
“Yes, Captain,” Henry answered. “As you can see, we had a dreadful time.”
“Indeed,” replied Frederick. “Have you been injured?”
“No, I have been helping with the wounded here. How long have you been in Queenstown?”
“I arrived just this afternoon. I am helping someone—a friend of mine—who had a relative aboard,” Frederick explained.
Henry hung his head. “I hope you may return to your friend with good news, Captain. I am afraid that many did not survive.”
Frederick nodded. “Were you traveling with family?”
“With my aunt and uncle. I have not seen them among the survivors, and it is presumed that all of the lifeboats have arrived by now.”
“I am sorry, Henry. Truly. I wish you safe travels back to your family. I must continue on my search for this young lady,” Frederick said, holding the photograph in his hand. “I don’t suppose you have seen her here in the hospital? Penelope Whitmore is the name.”
Henry felt his heart pound when he saw the photo. “Nellie,” he said quietly. “She is not in the hospital, but you will be glad to hear that I have seen her alive with my own eyes. She was moved to a local house.” He described to the captain how to get to the house where Nellie was taken.
Frederick breathed in relief. “Thank you, Henry. You have eased my search and my conscience. Her aunt will be overjoyed. Do you wish to ride back with us? Your mother and father must be sick with worry.”
“I will stay to help until I am no longer needed,” replied Henry. “Captain, will you see to it that my mother receives word of my well-being? They have already notified my father by telephone, but I would not wish for my mother to worry a minute longer than she already is.”
“I will see to it, Henry. Goodbye.”
Frederick arrived at the house that Henry told him about. An older lady answered the door. “Yes?”
“Good evening. I have been told that my friend’s niece is staying here,” he began, showing the photograph to the woman. “A Miss Whitmore.”
“That’s her, alright,” the woman said. “Come in and sit while I fetch her.” The woman disappeared down a dark hallway and Frederick waited in the sitting room.
Nellie was lying by the fire, watching the flames, when the woman walked into the small room. “A gentleman is here for you,” the woman told Nellie. “Says he knows you.”
Nellie held her breath and felt her heart race. She rose quickly and followed the woman to the sitting room, expecting to see Henry waiting there for her. Instead it was a man she had never seen before. She looked between the man and the woman in confusion.
“Good evening, Miss Whitmore. I am Captain Perry, here on behalf of your Aunt Lucinda.”
“You know Aunt Lucy?” Nellie questioned.
“We are old friends,” Frederick replied. “She gave me this photograph so that I may search for you among the survivors. Have you escaped without injury?”
Nellie did not know how to answer. Her mind was in a haze of confusion. Her eyes were injured by the sight of death, her heart injured by the pain of grief. “I am well in body, Captain,” she finally replied.
“And…your traveling companion?” Frederick asked carefully.
Nellie realized that her aunt must have told him about Abigail. “My companion elected to stay behind in America.”
“I see,” Frederick replied. “Then I believe I should return you to your aunt without delay.”
Nellie turned toward the woman. “Thank you for your kindness. I will change into my clothes now so I may leave with Captain Perry.”
“Oh Dearie, your clothes won’t be dry yet. There’s so much material
and so heavy. It will take another day or two by the fire.”
Nellie nodded. “Might I borrow these clothes for now? I will post them to your house as soon as I am able.”
“No need for all that,” the woman replied. “The clothes are yours to keep. My daughter won’t mind.”
“Thank you, Madam,” Nellie replied. “Perhaps your daughter would not mind keeping my dress in exchange.”
The woman’s eyes lit up. “Oh Dearie, she’s never had anything so fine in all her life! It’s not an even exchange. But if you insist…she’ll be surprised when she comes home!”
Nellie smiled. It was the first time that she felt her face form a smile since she was last speaking with Henry. The smile felt foreign against her cheeks and a betrayal to her heart. She pushed dreadful thoughts to the back of her mind and replied to the woman. “Then it is settled. Thank you again.” She then turned to Frederick. “Captain Perry, I am ready to go to my aunt’s house now.”
They took a ferry to the British mainland where Frederick had left his car, then began the long drive to London. Nellie did not say anything after they left the Irish woman’s house, and Frederick did not expect her to. Nellie fell asleep in the car and did not wake again until they arrived at Lucy Whitmore’s residence.
“Nellie! Oh, thank God you found her!” shrieked Lucy. “Come in, Nellie, Dear. Whose clothes are you wearing? Oh nevermind. I am so glad to you see you!”
Frederick led Nellie through the door. She walked slowly and stared blankly until she arrived to the guest room. She immediately lay on the bed and closed her eyes. Lucy looked at Frederick worriedly. “What is wrong with her? Was she injured?” she asked him.
“She has endured considerable grief,” Frederick answered, shaking his head. “Queenstown was hell on earth. I am glad you did not have to see any of it.”
“You did not find her companion?” Lucy whispered.
“Nellie said her companion stayed in America,” Frederick replied.
“Thank Heavens,” said Lucy. “I’ve been beside myself with worry. Were Nellie’s suitcases recovered?”
