The Titanic was all lit up like something out of a fairy tale, and I could hear lovely music coming from the first-class deck. For a minute I thought I had already died and gone to Heaven. But a ferocious slap of water from a cold wave brought me back to reality. I looked back up at the ship, this time letting my eyes wander along its length and down to F deck. There were no lights down there and I couldn’t see much in the darkness, but I could hear sounds that I couldn’t make out at first. I strained my ears and realized I was hearing screams and splashes as people leaped off the deck and hit the water. It sounded as if the screams were coming from Hell itself.

It was then I lost all control, and panic took hold of me. I stood up and screamed, keening and wringing my hands like the old women at funerals in Donegal. The devil squeezed my chest until I could no longer breathe. I heard the banshee, the spirit of death, calling my name. I had no choice; it was time. I climbed up on the seat and waited for God or the devil to take me. A young woman, wearing a mauve shawl, threw her arms around me, trying to haul me back down into the boat. But as we struggled, a rogue wave washed over us, breaking her hold on me, and I fell into the freezing water. As I floated there, looking up at the stars, a violent pain in the back of my head blinded me, and the world turned black.

Delia

Delia

The lifeboat shunted unsteadily, scraping the side of the ship as the seamen loosened the ropes. It rocked from side to side until we landed with a thud in the oil-black, freezing water. The women in the boat screamed and wailed. A lady next to me holding two infants fainted, her head lolling on my shoulder. I wedged my satchel between my knees and took the wailing children into my arms. Their little bodies were warm against mine, and I soothed them as best I could while they looked up at me with dark, luminous eyes. But as the seamen began rowing, the freezing air cut through us like a knife, and I began to shiver along with the babies. I thought of Nora. I fervently hoped she had made it into a lifeboat. Even if she had, she must be terrified. I bowed my head and said a prayer for her. Eventually, the babies stopped crying, and I handed them back to their mother, who had recovered from her faint.