A seamans tale continued

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Back in February I started a story and this is the 2nd part of the tale I hope you all enjoy A SEA MANS TALE CONTINUES " Captain is this ship going o sink . If so i want my money back" joked one passenger who was Kyle J Billington both one of the richest men in the world and also the richest man on board the Cinatit who was on his way home from England after a world simposium that would be the forerunner to the greatest financial crises the world would know Despite this Captain Smith assured Kyle that his and that of the lives on board were perfectly safe and that the ship had stopped for a time to insure that it was safe to travel on . Mean while compartments 1,2,3 and 4 were already full of water and compartment 5 was already taking on water at a rapid rate. Two ships mates were just coming up from the cargo hold with very wet trouser legs and slightly out of breath " Captain we are taking on water faster than the pumps can pump it out I think its time to think about loading the boats " The captain looked at the first of the two Shipmates and said " Load the port side and await further direction" Captain Smith then made a very hasty walk to the radio room where John Proctor was already trying to reach ships in the area who could help with a rescue . Ship after ship came back with responses such as please stop wasting our time we know this is a joke save the transmissions for real emergencies John continued diligently for almost an hour until room was waste high full of sea water sending messages of distress only to be rejected at every turn. As the last message went out a ship almost 2 hours away on the very outskirts of the reaches of the broadcasting band heard the call and the captain of this ship set immediate sail to the rescue of the giant of the ships , the name of that ship was called the SS Angeles O Haven. That ship and only that ship was would be the life saver that would prevent the entire crew and passengers reaching an untimely death in the depths of the Atlantic ocean. As the Cinatit began to tip towards the water more and more the passengers were getting more and more worried that they would be left for dead and when a the lights went out after the explosion of one of the boilers as it began fill up with the icy cold sea water. I knew then that there was no saving the ship and that it was only a matter of time before the ship would be at the bottom of the Atlantic ocean. There was one lady who would always be remembered for her role at saving the lives of several people who were in the water if it wasn't for her the death toll would have been much much higher Her name was Maxine White . As soon as Cinatit had dropped below the water Maxine ordered the men in charge of her boat to row towards the ships last location , I was on board her boat as she said to them " You have choice sir , get your scrawny butt on those oars and row towards those in the water and help them to save their lives or you can join them in the water and take your chances with the fish" As we rowed through the field of bodies looking for life , we would hear cries of woman begging for their lives as they slowly succumbed to their fate of the grasp of the cold water. To this day The silence after the last cry before the Angeles O Haven arrived will haunt me for the rest of my life Even though I and 300 others were fortunate enough to live through the ordeal it will torment me till i die wondering if there was more i could do to save more lives that night. The one image that will haunt me above all is a woman in her 30's who had managed to hold her infant baby above the water in order to allow it to live said "please save us , save my baby " as I took the woman's baby from her on to the boat the woman took her last breath and slipped from my hands and sunk to the depths of the water never to be seen again. Cinatit was a great ship and she will be remembered forever as the ship that took souls to the grave. The child we saved on our boat lived until her 21st year dying due to complications or her ordeals of the Cinatit sinking and the trauma of loosing her mother . This is the story of my experiences as a purser on the Cinatit , after the inquiry it was determined that captain smith was at fault and as he could not answer for his errors it was on the words of the ships first mate that it fell to see several changes in marine life. I chose to live on in New York as a hotel worker for the rest of my life and had no interest in setting foot on board of any ship ever again. Last April 12th on the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the Cinatit I lost my wife who was a passenger the same ship . Her last wish was that I take her remains to the site of the Cinatit and that she be left there where he parents perished. As i write this story , my story I pray that you know the suffering and heartache that is in me as i prepare to take my wife to be with her parents and say a lasting goodbye to both my wife and my nightmare that was the SS CINATIT THE END