Titanic (41 page)
Authors: Deborah Hopkinson
Special thanks also to Bill Wormstedt, author of many articles on the
Titanic
, for reading the manuscript and to Bill, as well as Tad Fitch and George Behe, for allowing us to include their chart “
Titanic
Lifeboats, Launch Times Re-Examined.” For this book, Lester Mitcham graciously created a special version of a table that appeared in his fascinating paper “The Statistics of the Disaster.” All of this original research is an inspiration to young historians.
It was a delight to correspond with such generous and patient experts. It’s not surprising that researchers like these gentlemen spend a lot of time helping others learn about the
Titanic
. And it would be hard to underestimate the time, energy, and commitment that has gone into making the
Encyclopedia Titanica
website and message board, founded by Philip Hind in 1996, such an amazing resource. An example of historical thinking in action, the community is also a model for civil discourse on the Internet. I’m grateful for all the help I have received.
I am extraordinarily lucky to have wonderful friends and family who listened to my stories of lifeboats and ice warnings, including Janice Fairbrother and Bonnie Johnson, Michele Hill, Vicki Hemphill, Ellie Thomas, Nick Toth, Maya Abels, Sara Wright, Sheridan Mosher, Deborah Correa, Eric Sawyer, Kristin Hill, Bill Carrick, and many more. I’m grateful to my wonderful colleagues and friends at Pacific Northwest College of Art, especially the Advancement team: Deniz Conger, Lisa Degrace, Heather Hale, Aidan Krainock, Mariely Lemagne, Melinda Stoops, and Alisha Sullivan. I can’t think of anyone I’d rather do the hard work of philanthropy with, day after day. Thanks also to PNCA’s leadership: Tom Manley, Nancy Barrows, Greg Ware, and Melissa McClure. I’m grateful to Jacob Krieger for reading a draft of the manuscript and making comments. Writers don’t get much social life. But I’d like to thank Cyndi for tea and conversation, and my Clubsport friends, especially Trisha, Roxanne, Gail, Jo, Kathy, and Loren, among others, for just being there on those early Saturday mornings.
And lastly, to Andy, Rebekah, and Dimitri, I love you. You put up with me taking over the kitchen table, piling research books everywhere, and rambling on about watertight doors and poor Mr. Andrews. And while I sometimes stirred to throw the ball for Kona, move Sophie off my lap, or, while we still had her, give our sweet Pea a treat, I certainly didn’t do much cooking. Thank you for everything. If I were balancing all night on the upturned bottom of Collapsible B, I can’t think of anyone else I’d want with me.
— Deborah Hopkinson, January 2012
Deborah Hopkinson
is the author of many award-winning books, including
Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt
, winner of the 1994 International Reading Association Award;
A Band of Angels
, an ALA Notable title that also won the Golden Kite Award and a Jane Addams Award Honor;
Under the Quilt of Night
, winner of the Washington State Book Award;
Bluebird Summer
, a Golden Kite Award Honor Book;
Girl Wonder
, winner of the Great Lakes Book Award and a 2004 Jane Addams Award Honor;
Apples to Oregon
, which won the Golden Kite Award;
Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek
;
Sky Boys: How They Built the Empire State Building
;
A Boy Called Dickens
; and
Annie and Helen
, among many other picture and chapter books.
Deborah’s nonfiction works for older readers include
Up Before Daybreak:
Cotton and People in America
, which won a Carter G. Woodson Honor Award, an
Shutting out the Sky: Life in the Tenements of New York, 1880–1924
, which was an NCTE Orbis Pictus Award Honor Book, a Jane Addams Peace Award Honor Book, an IRA Teachers’ Choice, and a James Madison Award Honor Book.
Deborah received a bachelor’s degree in English at the University of Massachusetts and holds a master’s degree in Asian Studies from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She lives near Portland, Oregon, where she serves as Vice President for Advancement for the Pacific Northwest College of Art.
Copyright © 2012 by Deborah Hopkinson
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.,
Publishers since 1920.
SCHOLASTIC, SCHOLASTIC PRESS, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hopkinson, Deborah.
Titanic : voices from the disaster / Deborah Hopkinson. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-545-11674-9
1. Titanic (Steamship)—Juvenile literature. 2. Shipwrecks—North Atlantic Ocean—Juvenile literature. I. Title.
G530.T6H66 2012
910.9163’4—dc22
2011006695
The display type was set in Bureau Eagle.
Book design by Phil Falco
First edition, March 2012
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER TWO — A Floating Palace
CHAPTER THREE — A Peaceful Sunday
CHAPTER FOUR — “Iceberg right ahead.”
CHAPTER SIX — In the Radio Room: “It’s a CQD OM.”
CHAPTER SEVEN — A Light in the Distance
CHAPTER EIGHT — Women and Children First
CHAPTER ELEVEN — “She’s Gone.”
CHAPTER TWELVE — A Long, Cold Night
CHAPTER THIRTEEN — Rescue at Dawn
CHAPTER FOURTEEN — Aftermath: The End of All Hope
EPILOGUE — Discovering the Titanic
SURVIVOR LETTERS FROM THE CARPATHIA
BE A TITANIC RESEARCHER: FIND OUT MORE
FROM THE BRITISH WRECK COMMISSIONER’S FINAL REPORT, 1912
TITANIC: THE LIFEBOAT LAUNCHING SEQUENCE REEXAMINED