The Lifeboat: A Novel Read Free Page B

touched her shoulder, but the gesture seemed only to upset her further, so I took my hand away and listened to the soothing music of the water against the sides of the boat. Mrs. Grant made her way between the thwarts, trying as best she could to console the most stricken until Mr. Hardie cautioned her to sit still and told us we would be wise to make ourselves comfortable and get some rest, which we did as well as we could, leaning against each other and offering or asking for reassurance according to our needs and abilities. Against all odds, most of us managed to sleep.

Day Two
     
    BY THE TIME we awoke on the morning of the second day, Mr. Hardie had worked out a duty roster, which included turns at the oars for the strongest. Mrs. Grant and all of the men except for the frail Mr. Turner were seated by the boat’s eight oarlocks and took turns passing the four oars back and forth whenever Mr. Hardie called on them to row. He took some time gauging the breeze and the current, and I heard him remark to one of the men sitting near him that use of the oars would compensate for drift, for our best bet was to stay in the vicinity of the wreck. The rest of us took turns with the bailers. We were floating very low in the water, and even though there was little wind to speak of, every so often a swell splashed over the railing, which Mr. Hardie called a gunwale, so that our clothing and the blankets that were part of the boat’s little store of emergency supplies were in constant danger of getting wet. It was worst for those who sat in the ends of the boat or on the two long seats that ran lengthwise on either side. They formed a wall of protection for the rest of us, who were lucky enough to occupy the thwarts that spanned the breadth of the boat between them.
    After passing out a ration of hardtack and water, Mr. Hardie bade us arrange the canvas boat cover and blankets in the crease formed by the forward part of the boat in such a way that the canvas protected the blankets from any water that might pool in the bottom of the boat as well as from spray that splashed in over the rail. He declared that the women could take turns resting there, three at a time, for a period not to exceed two hours. Because there were thirty-one women—if you counted little Charles—it worked out that we each were entitled to one turn per day in what was immediately dubbed the dormitory. The extra time would be given over to any of the men who desired it.
    Once this was accomplished, Mr. Hardie charged the oarsmen with keeping the other lifeboats in sight as far as was possible. I gave myself the task of helping them, so I spent the day squinting into the distance, using my hands to shield my eyes against the blinding sparkle of the sun on the sea. In this way I felt I was contributing to the welfare of the people in our boat. Mr. Nilsson, who said he had worked for a shipping company and who seemed a stickler on points of organization, asked Mr. Hardie how long our supply of food would last, but Mr. Hardie put him off, saying food would not be an issue unless we were not rescued, which he fully expected we would be. For the most part, there was little conversation, and I could tell by the blank stares and enlarged pupils of many of the women that they were suffering from shock. At that point I knew only two of my fellow passengers by name. Colonel Marsh, a large, distinguished gentleman whose wife had died some years before, had sat at the captain’s table with Henry and me, and I had often seen Mrs. Forester, a silent woman with wary eyes, trailing about the Empress Alexandra with a book or knitting in her hand. The Colonel nodded efficiently in my direction, but when I aimed a smile of recognition at Mrs. Forester, she looked away.
    For the rest of the morning and into the afternoon, we gazed out over the water for signs of a passing ship, while Mr. Hardie alternated between stoic silence and eruptions filled with geographical facts and lore