Journey to Freedom

By: Hayden N.

It was a foggy night with barely being able to see 50 feet out the ship. The captain reassured everything was fine and under control but I just didn’t feel the same. Even with lighthouses if we got close to land, the ships lights, and how big the ship was I still didn’t feel right. It is the biggest ship ever built by mankind and it was even named as the unsinkable ship. With all of that I didn’t know if the ship would hold up to it.

It had been an hour since department and conditions had been getting worse since we left. It had been a nice day when we left but the department weather was deceiving. A storm was starting to break out now. It was just the beginning, so you couldn’t tell if it was going to be big or not. 

“Attention borders it is now time for everyone to return to their rooms,” the Master through the loudspeaker.

Usually it was 12 o’clock when they told everyone to go into their rooms and even with this storm it seemed unusual.  It was only 10:30 boat time for us and I was tired but as being the Chief Mate I had to assist the captain in everything. We usually had alternate work times but if there was a storm we both stayed up. 

A little later around 11:35 we were about to go to sleep when the power cut off. It didn’t usually cut off but when it did it was dangerous, scary, and important to get it back on. It normally was an easy fix but we had to spend around four minutes on getting it back. When we got it back there it was. A colossal iceberg even bigger than the ship. 

“Turn!” the Master yelled. “Turn as fast as possible!”

He took the wheel and turned it all the way to the right as far as it could go. Helpers in the bridge started to find anything they could to turn the gigantic ship right. Of course it was no use though as everyone could see we were hitting the iceberg. 

“Everyone I’m going to see how much I can get out of the rooms.”

And without another word the Master went out into the darkness. There was an explosion in the hull of the ship and then chaos. At least more than a thousand people started swarming out onto the open platform. The ship was already beginning to sink into the ocean with the back end going under. I started to run towards the door and flung it open. I bolted down the stairs and into the mass of people. I saw people trying to board a lifeboat but it was only women and young children. Some men tried to sneak on but were caught and pushed back. I thought there was no hope. Too many people too few lifeboats. 

They never planned for the ship to sink and that was why there were only so many but it still was one of the biggest ships of the time. Even though only some people were still allowed on some men still tried to get on. Some men even went to the point of pretending to be a woman. I looked over at a man who seemed angry. Too angry to be normal. He came up to me and looked me dead in the eyes. Without a word, he swung his arm and hit me in the head. Then blackness.

I woke up later to find myself on a raft in the middle of the ocean. There were people and debris from the ship but all like the other still. Some survivors were trying to gather anyone they could find that was alive and trying to create a makeshift boat. Someone saw me and called out to the others then at least 5 people started paddling on a wooden board to me.

“What happened?” I asked.

“The ship sunk down to the ocean depths never to be seen again.”

“It sunk from bottom to top!” 

“I would rather be on the ocean water floating then this mayhem.”

“How long has it been?”

“Around an hour.”

“We better get moving quickly if we don’t want to starve.”

We spent most of the night trying to build a boat. Once we had a good enough piece to sail on we went to find land. Someone in our group was a scout, luckily for us so he could tell which way we were going. We started to go South for a couple of days. Some people had just starved and others jumped off for no reason other than there was almost no hope. Almost. 

After a few days of rowing, everyone became exhausted and tired. We hadn’t had anything to drink or eat. We could drink saltwater just to get thirsty again or eat raw meat just to be sick. Now there was no hope. I gave up and just sat on the board. If I died I would want it to be when I was sleeping so I just laid there on my back and slept. 

“Wake up! Wake up!” said a different voice.

It wasn’t someone I had been with all these days it was someone new. I opened up my eyes and sure enough there was a medic standing over me with a huge ship behind him. We were saved from the wreck! There was actually hope all the time and now we had found that little bit. We were safe at last.