Richard Brown - Titanic With ZOMBIES

Lightoller briefly engaged in light conversation, and then bid them farewell and headed out to do his final sweep of the ship.

He began at the upper most deck, the boat deck, and walked the length of the ship with a cold wind blowing at his back. Along the way, he passed the captain and officer quarters (where soon he would go to rest), the forward entrance to the first-class staircase, and also the gymnasium.

The boat deck got its name from the twenty lifeboats that lined the outer edge, sixteen of which were connected to davits by ropes. Two of these called emergency cutters were always kept swung-out for quick descent, as in the case of a passenger accidently falling overboard. The four boats not attached to davits had collapsible canvas sides for easy storage and to maximize deck space.

Between the third and fourth funnels was the engineers mess room. A few of the crew said hello to him as he briefly stepped inside and out of the wind to load and light his pipe. He took a heavy drag and then left to continue his security check.

The end of the boat deck came just past the entrance to the second-class staircase and elevators. Lightoller used a vertical iron ladder to climb down to A-deck and then another to get to B-deck. From here, he could see there was no one on the stern of the ship. Most passengers had already headed to their staterooms, and those that hadn’t yet resigned to bed were inside one of the lounges or smoking rooms, out of the bitter air.

Lucky them, Lightoller thought. The wind was making it hard for him to keep his pipe lit. He huddled under the enclosed starboard walkway to relight, when he saw them hurrying toward him.

He didn’t recognize the woman, but the man was clearly Thomas Andrews.

“Is there a problem?” Lightoller asked.

“A woman collapsed on the deck just below here,” said Andrews. “If you could be so kind to help us.”

“And who is that?” Lightoller pointed at the shipbuilder’s female companion who didn’t stop to chat and continued down a short set of stairs.

“Oh, forgive her. That’s Margaret Brown.”

Lightoller followed Andrews down the steps to the aft well deck. The woman Andrews spoke of was lying motionless on the ground under a rotating crane, Margaret down beside her.

“Come on now, can you hear me?” Margaret lightly patted the young woman on her face to get her attention, unsuccessfully. “She’s so cold. She’s barely even breathing.”

“I don’t think she got this way from drinking too much,” said Andrews, looking panicked.

“She needs to see a doctor immediately.”

“Guess we’ll have to carry her then,” Lightoller said, taking one final puff before extinguishing his pipe. “Grab her feet.”

A small third-class hospital was located just below them on D-deck. Margaret led the way down the stairs with Andrews and Lightoller following with the young woman in tow.

They ran into Catherine Wallis, the third-class matron, on the landing for C-deck. Catherine was in charge of helping third-class passengers get around the ship, or with things such as using the toilets, which many of them had never seen before, and was to monitor and report any signs of illness.

“Is Dr. O'Loughlin on duty?” asked Lightoller.

“Not this late,” Catherine replied.

“Better go wake him up.”

Catherine took a long look at the young woman currently being held up under her arms by the second officer. “That’s Miss. Brennan.”

“You know her?” Margaret asked.

“Yes, ma’am. Elise Brennan. I helped her to the hospital this morning. She complained of stomach pain. What’s happened to her?”

“I don’t know,” said Lightoller. “But I don’t think this is stomach pain. As I said, better wake up the doc. We’re taking her down to D.”

Catherine hurried up the stairs to C-deck where William O'Loughlin stayed.

Lightoller and Andrews carried the young woman named Elise down one more flight of stairs and then around a corner to the small hospital opposite the stairwell on D-deck.

The third-class hospital contained three rooms, one main room for examinations, and two small bedrooms for patients. A larger hospital with more beds was located further down D-deck beyond the second-class dining saloon.

Once inside the hospital, Andrews and Lightoller lifted Elise on to the examination table. Margaret helped by wrapping her in some spare blankets she found in a storage closet.

“They need to hurry up.” Lightoller slipped back out into the stairwell but saw no sign of Catherine or the doctor.

“She seems to be warming back up real fast,” Margaret said.

“Is that a good sign?” Andrews asked.

“Heck if I know.” Margaret gently brushed her fingers down Elise’s face trying to soothe her. “Come on, dear. Stay with us. Listen to my voice. Just stay with us.”

Catherine Wallis delivered Dr. William O’Loughlin to the third-class hospital over ten minutes after the meeting on D-deck. She had also managed to round up Dr. John Edward Simpson, O’Loughlin’s assistant surgeon, and the hospital steward William Dunford.

Lightoller and company stood back as the two doctors immediately went to work, unwrapping Elise from the blanket and checking her vital signs.

First for a heart rhythm using a stethoscope.

“Her heart is beating very slowly,” said O’Loughlin. “Her temperature?”

“North of 104,” Dr. Simpson replied.

“Jesus,” Margaret gasped.

O’Loughlin checked her eyes. “Unreceptive to changes in light or movement, but otherwise no obvious abnormalities. Officer Lightoller, you say you found her like this outside?”

Lightoller was in the middle of lighting his pipe.

“No, I was the first to see her,” Margaret answered. “She was stumbling around in circles, grabbing on to this and that, barely able to stand up straight. Finally, wham! She just fell over like a pile of bricks and that was it.”

“We ran into Mr. Lightoller on our way down to help her,” Andrews added. “Then we ran into Catherine on our way down here. Her condition has remained unchanged since we found her. Other than, of course, her rising temperature.”

“Catherine said Miss. Brennan had come to see you earlier in the day,” said Lightoller, smoke rushing from his mouth. “Is that true?”

“Yes,” said O’Loughlin. “Though I first saw her yesterday during inspection before we departed Queenstown. As you know, the British Board of Trade requires us to perform physical and mental evaluations for all passengers in steerage. We check for lice, signs of tuberculosis, things like that. At the time, Miss. Brennan seemed to be in good health. She only complained of a bite on the back of the neck where there was a small patch of redness.”

O’Loughlin gently rolled Elise on to her side revealing the purple infected skin inhabiting her neckline—a foul odor emanating from it.

“It’s gotten much worse. I told her to come see me if she noticed any other symptoms. This morning, with the help of Catherine, Elise came to see me again. This time she complained of head and stomach pain. She said she had trouble sleeping and wanted something to help her relax. I gave her some powder and told her to get lots of rest.”

“How did her neck look then?” Lightoller asked. “Is it possible she could have had a reaction to the powder?”

“It looked roughly the same as when I saw her the day before. And while with any drug there is certainly a possibility of side effects, I do not believe this is an allergic reaction, Mr. Lightoller. This is an infection. And it has likely spread to her brain.”