A Night to Remember: Chapters 9–10

Rostron — a stickler for discipline even when half-asleep — wondered what the ship was coming to, with people dashing in this way.

Rostron — a stickler for discipline even when half-asleep — wondered what the ship was coming to, with people dashing in this way.

But before he could reprimand them, Dean blurted the news.

Then he called the ship’s surgeon, Dr. McGhee: collect all the restoratives and stimulants on the ship...set up first-aid stations in each dining saloon...put the Hungarian doctor in charge of Third Class...the Italian doctor in Second...McGhee himself in First.

Then he called the ship’s surgeon, Dr. McGhee: collect all the restoratives and stimulants on the ship...set up first-aid stations in each dining saloon...put the Hungarian doctor in charge of Third Class...the Italian doctor in Second...McGhee himself in First.

Finally, another barrage of orders for Chief Steward Harry Hughes: call out every man...prepare coffee for all hands...have soup, coffee, tea, brandy and whisky ready for survivors...pile blankets at every gangway...convert smoking room, lounge and library into dormitories for the rescued...group all the Carpathia's steerage passengers together, use the space saved for the Titanic’s steerage.

Rostron started up his engines, began to maneuver the Carpathia to starboard so as to pick up the lifeboat on his port side, which was leeward.

Rostron started up his engines, began to maneuver the Carpathia to starboard so as to pick up the lifeboat on his port side, which was leeward.

The floe was studded here and there with other big bergs that rose against the horizon.

When she first saw one of the lifeboats splashing through the early dawn, it looked like the gondola of an airship, and the huge gray mound behind it looked like a frame. She was sure they were picking up the crew of a fallen dirigible.

Mr. Marshall was nonplussed. All three of his nieces were, he knew, making the Titanic's maiden voyage. They even sent him a wireless last night. How could one of them be on board the Carpathia?

And the people that straggled from them couldn’t have looked more peculiar—Miss Sue Eva Rule noticed one woman wearing only a Turkish towel around her waist and a magnificent fur evening cape over her shoulders.

Early that afternoon she had taken the special train chartered by the White Star Line to meet the supposedly crippled Titanic at Halifax.

In Southampton, where so many of the crew lived, grief was staggering — 20 families on one street bereaved.

In Southampton, where so many of the crew lived, grief was staggering — 20 families on one street bereaved.