-
Titanic Survivor: the Story of Harold
Bride
Introduction
In 1912 more and more
people wanted to cross the Atlantic Ocean from
England to the United
States of
America. The Titanic was the biggest and most
famous ship built to make this trip.
When Harold Bride joined
the ship on its first voyage, his job was to work
in the radio room.
He
didn
’
t know that he would
play a part in one of the worst disasters at sea
the world had ever
seen.
Chapter 1
“
Queen of the
Seas
”
People have called me a
hero. I don
’
t know about
that, because there were many heroes in the
early hours of
15
th
April 1912.
I was only 21that year. I
had worked for nearly a year as a
ship
’
s radio operator.
In April I
started a new job
—
on the
Titanic.
My
first sight of the ship, in Belfast, took my
breath away. Now I understand why people called
it the
“
Queen of
the Seas
”
. The Titanic was
the biggest
…
and the best.
Passengers
boarded the Titanic in Southampton on
10
th
April. At noon the
great ship set off on
its voyage to New
York.
For
first-class passengers the Titanic was like a
wonderful floating hotel with fancy restaurants,
a library, and even a swimming pool.
There were lots of other passengers,
too. Many had one-way tickets, looking for a new
life in
America. Of course, these
people weren
’
t allowed near
the higher decks of first class.
Jack Phillips was the
Senior Radio Operator. He and I had to send lots
of messages from rich
passengers. We
tapped these out in Morse Code. Sometimes it was
hard to catch the messages that
came
back.
Jack and
I quickly became good friends. That was lucky,
because we lived and slept in the radio
cabin!
Chapter 2
Iceberg!
We were especially busy on Sunday,
14
th
April and it was a
long, hard day for Phillips.
We
received a few warnings from ships about ice
ahead. Captain Smith knew about these, but
he wasn
’
t
worried
—
not on the
“
unsinkable
’’
Titanic.
Phillips
had
so
many
messages
to
send
from
passengers
that
he
even
interrupted
one
ice
warning.
I
was supposed to start work late that night, so I
went to bed early in the evening. I was asieep
when the accident happened. I
didn
’
t feel anything.
Around midnight
I got up and asked Phillips how everything was.
“
I think the
ship
’
s
damaged,
’’
he told me.
Minutes later,
Captain Smith appeared.
“
We
’
ve
struck an iceberg,
’’
he
said.
The
captain returned a few minutes later. He told us
the ship was sinking.
“
Send the call for
assistance,
”
he said grimly.
“
Yes, at
once!
”
answered Phillips. He
began sending out the ship
’
s
position and a message for
help in
Morse Code.