Bad Things Happen on April 15

INTRODUCTION & DISCLAIMER -- April 15th. Every year this date brings stress to many Americans who have left their taxes to the last minute. But April 15 is more than an irritating date, with so many bad things happening on this square of the calendar it has become infamous. In fact it flat out sucks.

The death by assassination of President Abraham Lincoln in 1865. A deadly Second World War German air raid on the Northern Irish city of Belfast causing over 1,000 deaths in 1941. A US Navy Plane shot down over the Sea of Japan in 1969. Two trains crashing head-on in a horror smash with many fatalities in Italy in 1978. The horrifying Hillsborough Stadium disaster in an English Football League match in 1989 resulting in 96 deaths. Air China Flight 129 crashing with the loss of over 100 lives in 2002. The Boston Marathon bombings in 2013. The destruction by fire of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris in 2019. A mass shooting in Indiana in 2021.

These events all happened on 15 April, and on this same date in 1912 the new British ocean liner 'RMS Titanic' sank with a heavy loss of life in the frigid waters of the North Atlantic after striking an iceberg late the previous night, at the time and for many years afterwards the worst ever disaster at sea.

It is on Titanic's opulent First Class decks that we meet John Prentice III, a wealthy young man from New York. John is travelling on the liner's maiden voyage with his attractive socialite wife Emma and her blue blood family. John is keen to enjoy his trip home from England to America on the largest and grandest ship ever constructed, but things get complicated when Simon Finch, a wealthy playboy boards the Titanic at Cherbourg. Simon is a young man with an eye for the ladies, and one young lady in particular - John's wife. And Emma is hardly dismissive of Simon, in fact the opposite appears true.

While John is obviously concerned about his wife's roaming eyes towards a womanizing playboy, little does he know as the Titanic steams through the deep, cold waters of the North Atlantic that he might have even bigger problems in a few nights from now ...

Although the Titanic was obviously real and some historical passengers are referenced, the main group of characters are fictional, with any similarity to real persons living or dead coincidental and unintentional, the same applying for the characters in the present day epilogue. Please enjoy your trip back in time to 1912, and be sure to rate and comment.

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SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND, WEDNESDAY APRIL 10, 1912

The Southampton Docks were a hive of activity mid-morning as our party arrived to board the new steamship RMS Titanic for our trip home to New York. Thousands of passengers from First, Second and Third class were waiting at their respective gangways, while others had already taken their places aboard the new ocean liner and were on its decks.

Crewmen of different capacities were busy in performing various duties, and cargo was taken aboard. A horse-drawn cart arrived and began to unload, while a motorized lorry also arrived, sounding its horn at some people who ventured into its path. The man in the bowler hat driving brought the vehicle to a halt, he and the man in the passenger seat jumping out, while a number of lads wearing flat caps who had been riding on the truck's running board leaped off and began to unload their cargo. The way some of these young men handled the boxes made me hope that the contents were not fragile, otherwise they would not make it to their destination in one piece.

Other passengers arrived at the White Star Line Terminal by tram or omnibus, while more people who were not sailing were there as well-wishers to see off friends and relatives on their voyage. The press was also there in numbers, keen to see off the new transatlantic liner -- the largest ship ever built -- on her maiden voyage.

Our party had played things safe by taking the train to Southampton late on Monday afternoon avoiding a rushed trip on the boat train from London this morning. We had stayed for two nights at one of Southampton's hotels, from the windows of which one could see the Titanic's four giant funnels that towered over the liner's nine decks and dominated her nearly 900 foot long structure. The only taller features aboard the ship were her foremast and rear-mast, which connected a series of cables to allow the ship's wireless communication at sea.

Smoke issued from the first three of the four stacks, as within the ship her boilers were no doubt being prepared for departure. A group of seagulls flew over the ship, negotiating her rigging and wireless cables, their shrill cries audible over the general noise on the ship and docks. One gull nearly left some unwelcome guano on the suit and hat of a gentleman waiting to board the first class gangway to which he appeared utterly unamused, before the birds split into two groups, one landing on the terminal roof, the others on some nearby telephone poles and wires.

Like all others boarding we were dressed for the occasion in our best clothes, which for me was a suit and hat. I adjusted my bowler hat and my tie, and looked up at the Titanic in awe. My parents had last summer travelled on her sister ship the Olympic and couldn't praise her highly enough; now I too would get to taste the luxury and opulence of a new class of ocean liner.

"What a beautiful ship," I said to my wife Emma, who stood beside me. She wore a long light blue dress that accentuated her slim figure and the color of her hat matched her dress exactly. A long white coat was keeping her warm on what was a very cold and overcast day across the South of England. It couldn't have been more than 45 degrees, and the skies over Southampton were a deep foreboding grey, not a speck of sunlight to be seen, although it didn't seem as though it would rain any time soon.

It was certainly very different from yesterday where the skies over Southampton were sunny and blue, and over the Easter long weekend. We had attended the Easter Parade in London, and it became so warm that I was sweating and had to remove my jacket.

Emma's response to the Titanic was a little more subdued than mine. "Yes, she is very beautiful, isn't she?"

"I can't wait to go aboard," I said, eagerly anticipating going up the gangway to board.

"You will have to wait John, there is a queue," my wife pointed out, not an ounce of humor in her reply.

We could not board anyway, we had baggage to arrange to be checked in. Emma and I were not travelling alone, the other members of our group were standing with us. To my left were Emma's parents, William and Alice Sanford. Mr. Sanford was not only my father-in-law but my boss too, I was his accountant. This was one of the reasons for our trip from our home in New York to London, to check on my father-in-law's considerable business holdings in England.

While my own family had found our wealth in recent decades thanks to the railroads, the wealth of the Sanford family went back many years, they were old money fixtures of New York high society, blue bloods through and through and their wealth immense. Had my father-in-law sat me down and instructed me to count out every dollar of his net worth one dollar at a time, even if I counted a dollar per second and future earnings on his investments and inflation were not included, I without doubt would still be sitting there counting by the year 1999.

I was relatively tall at five eleven, but Mr. Sanford at six feet three was considerably taller, and while nowhere close to overweight he had a big-framed body. I remained clean-shaven, but my father-in-law sported a full beard now greying that made him look strict, stern and fierce.

To be true he was a formidable and forceful man who had connections within Tammany Hall that allowed him to get things done, and he did not suffer fools gladly. His presence filled a room much like the great tycoon JP Morgan, with whom my father-in-law was friends on a first name basis. I had been his son-in-law for 18 months now, and I was still rather afraid of him. I only ever called him Mr. Sanford and the man never made any attempt to change this. It was also hard to tell if he was serious at times. Sometimes he would appear most displeased about something, only for it to be an act and he was joking all along.

Alice Sanford had the same slim figure, flawless complexion, blonde hair and blue eyes of eldest daughter Emma, and today she wore a pink dress and matching hat, and like Emma wore a long white jacket to keep her warm in the chilly seaside weather. Some might have described her as overly formal and rigid in her manner, but it was just her way and I had always like her. Similar to her husband Mrs. Sanford came from a blue-blood, old-money New York family. Her role in life was always going to be that of a millionaire's wife, the mother of his children and a leading socialite.

Emma was not Mr. and Mrs. Sanford's only child, standing to one side looking up at the Titanic was Charlotte, Emma's younger sibling and aged 18. Her long red hair and associated fair skin and green eyes were a contrast to the looks of her mother and older sister, and the dress and hat Charlotte wore today were green in color, which complimented her pretty face and red hair.

The other purpose of the England trip was to collect Charlotte from her British finishing school where she had been studying the past six months and return her to America. Her father spoke to her. "I imagine you are looking forward to our voyage home to America on the Titanic, Charlotte."

"Yes father," said Charlotte.

"And there are some very eligible young men on board, who now that you have completed finishing school will be certain to take an interest in you, and ask for your father's permission to call upon you," said Mrs. Sanford.

"Yes mother," said Charlotte.

Agreeing with people especially her parents was usually the only words one would hear from Charlotte. Unlike Emma, Charlotte's personality was shy and she had the demeanor of a little church mouse at times. It was not her fault, she had lived a sheltered life cocooned by her family's wealth and high social status and was rather naïve in her outlook.

While I never expressed it aloud and I was certain her parents never meant it to be this way, but at times it seemed that Charlotte was the superfluous child of the Sanford family. Emma was the much adored first-born daughter, who would go on to be a fixture in New York's high society, marry into another wealthy family, and produce grandchildren for her parents. Charlotte was meant to be William Sanford Junior, the son and heir, but the result was another daughter.

Three years after Mrs. Sanford did indeed give birth to William Sanford Junior, and Charlotte's role in the family between her sister and brother became less certain. William Junior was not taking the trip with us, he was at home and at an exclusive military school, where he was a straight-A student and a star on the sports field. His parents expected nothing less.

A third young woman was also with us, and with her long dark brown hair, pretty face with big brown eyes and slim figure she would not look out of place in the highest echelons of New York Society. However the young lady in question, 20-year-old Jane Bower was an employee, a maid of the Sanford family. She looked very pretty in her dark purple dress with a straw boater hat on her head.

I smiled at Jane. "What do you think of the Titanic, Miss Jane?"

Jane's pretty face was filled with admiration and awe. "I think she's very beautiful, Mr. Prentice."

"She is that," I said. "The largest, finest and safest ship ever built."

"I can't believe I'm actually going to sail on her," said Jane.

I smiled. "Well you'd better believe it Jane, you most definitely are. At noon today."

The final member of the party was a Mr. Donald Collins, Mr. and Mrs. Sanford's manservant. A tall slim man of 28, he wore a black suit and hat, and his family had been working for the family for decades. I liked him very much, he was impeccable at his job and also had a wry sense of humor.

Mr. Collins had the job of arranging the transfer of our baggage to the ship, and Mr. Sanford and I moved towards him. My father-in-law smiled and indicated the large volume of cases and trunks. "My wife and daughters don't exactly subscribe to the theory of travelling lightly, do they boys?" he asked.

"It's not up to me to say, Sir," said Mr. Collins, stifling a smile.

"It's probably best I don't comment either," I said.

"Wise young men both of you," agreed Mr. Sanford. "It is the type of thing it is okay for me to say, but not others." He smiled and laughed again. "Lucky we traveled down yesterday, had we been taking all of this from London this morning, I think we would have risked missing the ship." He pointed at the somewhat murky waters of Southampton Harbor, made darker by the gray day. "And I don't know about you, but I would not like to have to dive in and swim after her, while the words 'Titanic' and 'Liverpool' on her stern draw further and further in the distance."

The considerable volume of luggage -- well in Charlotte's case it was justifiable as she had been living and studying in another country - was already loaded onto a trolley to be taken aboard by the ship's porters, but two trunks were unsteady and fell off, leaving Mr. Collins to pick them up.

"Let me help you with that," I said.

"There's no need Sir," began Mr. Collins, but I was having none of it and helped the valet re-load and stabilize the trolley, before the ship's porters removed it to take aboard.

"It's no problem at all, Mr. Collins," I assured him.

"Well thank you, Mr. Prentice," he said.

I turned to see where Emma was standing close by with her family but looking at me, disapproval on her face. She made a discrete motion for me to join her, which I did accordingly. "Is something wrong, darling?"

Emma kept a neutral expression and spoke quietly, to prevent her parents, sister or the help overhearing us. "You're doing it again, John."

Probably I shouldn't have acted the mock innocent and been smart in my reply. "I'm doing what again, Emma?"

My wife rolled her eyes. "What I have warned you about many times, John. Being overly familiar and too friendly with Jane and with Mr. Collins and volunteering to help them with work that they are paid to do."

I laughed lightly, annoying Emma even more. "Is there some sort of law against being polite to one's employees, and helping a gentleman so that he might avoid injuring his back?"

Emma glared at me. "I am very aware that the rules around servants in your house were very different John. But Jane and Mr. Collins are not your employees, they are employed by my parents. By acting in such a manner you undermine my parents' authority, you make yourself look weak, you make Jane and Mr. Collins uncomfortable with your over-familiarity and you embarrass me. So as I have told you before, this will end immediately. Do I make myself clear, John?"

I really didn't want to argue the point with my wife in front of her family and thousands of other people while waiting to board an ocean liner, so I smiled and said, "Of course Emma, I will remember this from now on."

"I sincerely hope you do, John," said Emma. She was smiling, but her cold blue eyes carried a warning that she would make things unpleasant for me should I step out of line again. Deciding that continuing to annoy my wife would produce a similar outcome to one putting one's hand into a cupboard in which a hissing cat was hiding, I smiled reassuringly and took Emma's hand, and we waited to board.

Mrs. Sanford was also very impressed with the new transatlantic ocean liner before her, admiring the beautiful ship from bow to stern. Turning to her husband, she said, "William, Titanic is without doubt the greatest ship ever constructed but in the hotel there was talk among other guests of her being unsinkable. I've heard some sales puffery in my time, but nothing to that extent. How can any ship be declared unsinkable?"

Mr. Sanford laughed. "Alice, I believe that the other guests and yourself have overlooked the word 'practically' before unsinkable. Harland and Wolf constructed the Olympic and Titanic are divided into watertight compartments, with high bulkheads and electric doors. Should there be some accident that should open the ship to the sea, the watertight doors can be closed in seconds and water will be confined to the one or two damaged compartments. Such was the case last year with Olympic when she collided with a Navy cruiser. An inferior ship might well have foundered, but the Olympic just required towing back to Belfast, and after some repairs she was good as new and back on the Atlantic by December."

Alice Sanford nodded in agreement. "That sounds very impressive maritime engineering, William."

"That is one of the main benefits of living in this new twentieth century, Alice," said Mr. Sanford. "There are so many advances in technology, and things can only get bigger and better."

My father-in-law definitely knew what he was talking about. While William Sanford in many ways was old-fashioned and conservative in his outlook, with modern inventions and technology he was most enthusiastic and up to date.

Mr. Sanford's gramophone was the most up to date model on the market. He owned the latest model of camera and even a second camera that took moving pictures. It was quite interesting seeing the black and white, slightly sepia moving images of his two daughters and son riding horses on the beach on Long Island, of ducks, geese and swans on the lake at Central Park and even of his wife's three cats playing in the house at home. For the arrival of Halley's Comet in 1910, my father-in-law had invested in the best telescope so we could all enjoy it in the night skies. The same year Mr. Sanford purchased as a wedding gift for Emma and I a wireless set, so we could listen to commercial radio broadcasts after these transmissions began in January. It was a most generous gift.

Motoring, shipping, aviation and exploration were all passions of my father-in-law. He owned and drove his own motor car rather than engaging the services of a chauffeur and would even maintain the automobile himself. He was most interested in the recent exploration of the South Pole by men such as Amundsen, Scott and Mawson, and in the nine years since Orville and Wilbur Wright made their first tentative flight Mr. Sanford had become fascinated by aviation, and much enjoyed seeing triplanes and biplanes passing by.

So it was understandable that he was well-read about the Titanic and her sister ships, the third of which had not yet been launched and was still under construction at the Queen's Island Yard in Belfast. Thinking back, all three ships in the class would have been there in early March. The Titanic undergoing final fitting out, the Olympic for repairs after throwing a propeller blade and the third sister being constructed. It would certainly be a magnificent sight in the future if one was able to capture a photograph of all three sisters completed and together in all their glory.

We were closer to boarding now, and Mrs. Sanford commented to her husband, "There was one lady at dinner yesterday evening who remarked to her husband and their guests that she would never set foot on Titanic, that declaring a ship unsinkable is flying in the face of God."

Mr. Sanford was most amused. "I think she is just jealous that she is not sailing aboard Titanic today."

Had I not gotten to board Titanic and sail on her today while everyone else, I would also have been most envious of them. Walking up the gangway after Mr. and Mrs. Sanford and holding hands with Emma, we boarded through the First Class Entrance located between the first and second stacks into the reception area, everyone admiring the ship's grand staircase. Finished in oak panel and encompassing a number of decks, the main attraction was an ornate wall clock surrounded by to nymph statues. The time had just gone 11am.