Lifeboat 14

“Eva, Eva, darling wake up.” My mother awoke me with a startling voice. From the looks in her eyes, I could tell something was wrong. But what? Perhaps it was morning already and we had to go to breakfast, but it seemed much too dark in the room and I was much too tired. She began to dress me hastily into my Monday dress and my white strapped sandals. Gazing to the left I saw my father gathering his belongings into a cluster and then shoving as much as he could into his suitcase.
“What’s wrong mother? Why did you wake me up so early? And why are you in such a hurry father?” I asked.
“It’s ok sweetie, everything will be alright.” But her voice and eyes said otherwise.
Then I remembered the night before when my mother had refused to go to bed because she had a bad feeling the something horrible was going to happen. (“Miss Eva Miriam Hart” 1) I didn’t want to believe it, but it was possible that something bad had happened.
As my mother, father, and I left the room, I noticed that hardly any other people were out of there cabins, most of the lights were still off. But the people that were following us had worrisome looks of confusion and fear. I had no idea where we were going and I didn’t bother to ask because I knew my parents had too much on their minds to worry about me, so I just followed them. We walked through the boat deck and stopped because it seemed like a lot of people were there. My ankles trembled as the frigid wind invaded my warmth and left behind millions of goose bumps. My father wrapped me up in a fuzzy wool blanket to keep me warm but it still didn’t compare to the warmth I had had earlier in my bed. Glancing around, everyone was silent, knowing something was wrong but not exactly sure what. (Hart, Eva) Father went over to the captain and asked,” What’s wrong sir? Are we going to get off the boat or stay? What’s this all about?”

The captain responded confidently,” We are going to load lifeboats but you’ll be back on board by breakfast.” (Hart, Eva) With that, father nodded slightly and returned to us.


A crew member in a black suit neared us and said “Ladies, Lifeboat 14 please. Follow me.”

We followed him to the edge of the deck. Mother was helped into the lifeboat first, one that already had at least 20 women and children in it. Barely any men were loaded so the deck was full of them. Father lifted me up, gave me a kiss, and placed me gently into mother’s arms. He said,” Hold mummy’s hand and be a good little girl.” (“Miss Eva Miriam Hart” 1)

“Father, why aren’t you loading?” I asked.

“Honey, daddy can’t come on the boat but I’ll see you in New York. Love you.” Father said as comforting as possible but there was a slight crack in his voice and I knew that I most likely wouldn’t see him soon.


Huddling up next to my mother, I waved goodbye to my father and a tear trickled down my cheek. I wiped it away quickly to prevent it from freezing. Then I realized how packed the lifeboat actually was. At the boat deck it seemed quite large but now I felt like an ant next to an elephant. The wind was frigid and I struggled to get comfortable as I was squished between a rather large lady’s dress and mother. Our lifeboat was paddled out to a cluster of other lifeboats in the middle of the ocean.

“Ok, you two over here please. And you ma’am into lifeboat six please.” A crew member directed firmly.

I then realized he had pointed to mother and was not in the mood to argue. I wanted to blurt out “No you can’t go!” but not one word came out of my mouth. Mother stood up slowly and gave me a kiss goodbye.

“ I will meet you later darling, I promise. Listen to the captains orders and everything will be alright.” Mother said and carefully was transferred from lifeboat 14 to lifeboat 6.

Looking back to see the boat we just left, my heart skipped a beat, it was slightly tilted. In the distance, I heard horrifying screams and the loud pounding of people running on the decks. Dreadful cries filled the air as people fell off the ship, I tried to cover my ears.(Hart, Eva) Now, the ship was hundreds of feet into the air and halfway under water at the same time. It was getting darker by the seconds as the ship plummeted down and the light of the night disappeared. Then….”SNAP”, the top of the Titanic broke off and crashed into the deadly cold water.



We sat there still, in complete darkness and complete silence. (“Miss Eva Miriam Hart” 1) It felt like the whole sun had burned out and we were left there with nothing. All was gone- my father, all the passengers, all my stuff, and the Titanic. I tried to close my eyes, “It must be a dream, it has to be…” I tried to convince myself. But it had happened; all there was left to do was wait. Wait for light, wait for passing ships; wait for a rescue that I wasn’t even sure was coming. I lie down.


My eyes opened slightly to the faint crying next that I think came from beside me. A lady, I think, was in tears and they poured all over me. They were cold and I was getting wet but I tried not to react rudely.

“Miss, are you alright?” I asked as politely as possible.

“I…..ummm…I just….my husband…and…”she choked on her tears. “My b-baby….she was left on…the ship,” she cried for the longest time.

“I’m very sorry ma’am. I understand how you feel and I’m sure its dreadful.” I snuffled a tear. “My father was on the ship too……”Stopping there I took in what had actually happened I would never see my father again and he was gone. Holding back the tears, I sat still listening to the only sound in the night, the crying of the woman beside me.


My toes struggled to keep warm; it felt as if all the heat was being drawn out. The deadly winds rushed over my ankles and I tried to hide them under the bench. Being squeezed between two ladies wasn’t comfortable but it did keep the rest of my body mostly warm. There is no use in trying to fall asleep, I thought to myself, because there are too many things on my mind. The only way I would fall asleep was if by accident.


After what felt like a week, there was finally a small glimpse of sunlight so the day was nearing. In the horizon I saw a faint outline but didn’t believe it was a ship. Last night, there were a ton of false alarms that were just people lighting stuff in their pockets to see anything they could.(Hart, Eva) But it wasn’t just I that saw the light, people started to believe that it was a ship. One woman whispered, “A ship, look!”


After about 1 hour, a ship (I heard was called the Carpathia) neared us. It opened a huge hatch on the side of it and threw down an old rope ladder. The ladies next to me followed the orders of a sailor at the end of the lifeboat and started climbing up the rope.(Hart, Eva) Even though the sailor was holding the rope tightly it still swayed and I could tell that people were hesitant about climbing it. I got in the line to go up the rope when a short and round man grasped my arm and told me that I wouldn’t go up that way. He led me to many other children and they were all just as frightened and confused as I was. Grabbing children 1 by 1 he put them into brown sacks and placed 5 at a time into fishing net and they were hauled up. Not wanting to go in, I waited at the end of the line until he finally got to me. I climbed in and he tied the sack tightly over me. I struggled to breathe while my heart bet a million pounds a second. I couldn’t see at all so all I felt was going up. When will it stop? Am I there yet? I asked myself. I felt the pull slow down and I landed hard on a floor that was sturdy unlike the lifeboat. When they opened the sack it took my eyes a few moments to adjust to the lights after being in pitch black for so long. Getting up, I wobbled a little but once I was calm I couldn’t see my mother anywhere.

Women roamed the ships with lost looks on their faces, looking for their loved ones that obviously hadn’t made it.(Hart, Eva)

“Eva, Eva!!!!” A voice of relief that I recognized called my name.

My mother ran up to me and gave me a huge bear hug. It felt so good to be back in her arms.

“Oh, I’m so glad to see you! Are you alright? Are you cold, hot, hurt?” My mother blurted out questions like an out of control vending machine.

“Yes, mum. I’m fine. I’m very tired though. Where’s father?” It came back to me right after I asked the question. He was dead.

“Umm….he’s passed away darling but everything will be ok and he is in a better place now. I promise.” Her voice slipped out at the last minute and she couldn’t hold her tears any longer and neither could I. I didn’t respond, I only leaned into her chest and cried. We stood there for a while just thinking and crying and letting it all sink in. Next to us was a couch, we lied down on it and fell asleep in each other’s arms.
Works Cited

•
Hart, Eva. Personal Interview.

18 September 2013
•
(2008) “Miss Eva Miriam Hart.” Encyclopedia Titanica.




2008.
•
Thomas Jr., Robert McG. “Eva Hart, 91, a last survivor

Survivor with memory of Titanic, dies.” The New

York Times. 23 September 2013