Titanic Survivor: the Story of Harold Bride
Introduction
In 1912 more and more people wanted to cross the Atlantic Ocean from England to the United States of America. The Titanic was the biggest and most famous ship built to make this trip.
When Harold Bride joined the ship on its first voyage, his job was to work in the radio room. He didn’t know that he would play a part in one of the worst disasters at sea the world had ever seen.
Chapter 1 “Queen of the Seas”
People have called me a hero. I don’t know about that, because there were many heroes in the early hours of 15th April 1912.
I was only 21that year. I had worked for nearly a year as a ship’s radio operator. In April I started a new job—on the Titanic.
My first sight of the ship, in Belfast, took my breath away. Now I understand why people called it the “Queen of the Seas”. The Titanic was the biggest … and the best. Passengers boarded the Titanic in Southampton on 10th April. At noon the great ship set off on its voyage to New York.
For first-class passengers the Titanic was like a wonderful floating hotel with fancy restaurants, a library, and even a swimming pool.
There were lots of other passengers, too. Many had one-way tickets, looking for a new life in America. Of course, these people weren’t allowed near the higher decks of first class.
Jack Phillips was the Senior Radio Operator. He and I had to send lots of messages from rich passengers. We tapped these out in Morse Code. Sometimes it was hard to catch the messages that came back.
Jack and I quickly became good friends. That was lucky, because we lived and slept in the radio cabin!
Chapter 2 Iceberg!
We were especially busy on Sunday, 14th April and it was a long, hard day for Phillips.
We received a few warnings from ships about ice ahead. Captain Smith knew about these, but he wasn’t worried—not on the “unsinkable’’ Titanic.
Phillips had so many messages to send from passengers that he even interrupted one ice warning.
I was supposed to start work late that night, so I went to bed early in the evening. I was asieep when the accident happened. I didn’t feel anything. Around midnight I got up and asked Phillips how everything was. “I think the ship’s damaged,’’ he told me.
Minutes later, Captain Smith appeared. “We’ve struck an iceberg,’’ he said. The captain returned a few minutes later. He told us the ship was sinking. “Send the call for assistance,” he said grimly.
“Yes, at once!” answered Phillips. He began sending out the ship’s position and a message for help in Morse Code.
It was hard to believe. The “unsinkable ship” was going to sink.
We weren’t worried yet.
“You’ll see your first iceberg,” Phillips joked.
Several ships replied to us, but they were all too far away.
As Phillips looked for a closer ship, I ran to the bridge with messages. The crew had begun to load passengers into the lifeboats. Women and children were supposed to leave first..
At first, some passengers refused to go. “ How could the Titanic sink?” they thought.
So many people couldn’t believe what was happening that some of the first lifeboats were almost empty. But slowly people understood the danger and there was no problem filling the lifeboats.
Children cried as their parents put them in the boat. Husbands and wives kissed for the last time.
Finally, a ship called the Carpathia replied to our radio call. It was coming to help. We continued looking for other ships and Captain Smith asked what message we were using. Phillips told him it was “CQD”—“Come quick, danger.”
I suggested using the new Morse Code signal for help, which was “SOS”. We joked that we were sending the first ever SOS from a sinking ship.
Chapter 3 The Terrible Truth
The joking stopped when we worked out how long the Carpathia would sink in less than two. No one could rescue us in time.
Phillips searched for closer ships and I ran to and from the bridge with news. The