Californian page 1 by ric gustafson
At 9:30 pm, Second Officer Herbert Stone was still awake. Normally he would of been asleep until right before his midnight to 4 am shift. He could not sleep because he was concerned about the icebergs he had seen earlier. But on this Sunday night April 14 1912, it was very cold out.
Stone could tell the ship was still steaming at full speed. He was surprised. He had seen ice around. Stone was proud of his ship. There were no passengers on this trip. Instead on board they were carrying textiles, chemicals and general goods. The ship was headed for Boston.
The SS Californian was an ordinary ship. It had four masts and a single slender funnel. Stone was in charge of the navigation charts. Stone's watch was from 12 noon to 4 pm and midnight to 4 am.
Stone yawned. He did not know why at 9:30 pm he was still awake.
Yawning again, Stone turned on his reading light. He had been reading ' Moby Dick'. It was a gift from his mother.
One of the young Titanic survivors was Edith Brown Haisman. She was born on Oct 27 1896. She was born in South Africa. She and her parents were second class passengers. After the tragedy, Edith married Frederick Haisman in June 1917. Edith was on Lifeboat 14.
Edith Brown Haisman died in Jan 1997 at age 100.
research help: the Internet
research help: ' The Midnight Watch' by David Dyer
Peace and God's blessings. Love Ric
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