The Titanic was a huge ship which was intended to sail from Southampton to New York. I had been lucky enough for one of my friend’s parents to give me a ticket to travel on it as they were friends with the Captain. The voyage lasted many weeks of seeing interesting places and there was always a lot of entertainment available on the ship including dancing, shows and silent films being played. I often enjoyed spending the evenings standing on the deck of the ship looking out to the dark sea ahead of me. Sometimes my friend whos family had taken me on the voyage would have come and spoken to me in the cool air of the night. Some nights I went downstairs and played board games with the older people who were very kind to me. Mrs. Curuthers was especially kind to me when I picked up her slipper and she never stopped thanking me since. I remember one night very well. I was once again standing on the deck with my friend. It seemed slightly warmer than most of the evenings but the sea was just as calm and beautiful as ever. The ship was drifting perfectly along the surface of the water and we seemed to be the only people on the deck as there was a quiz that night. My friend was just thinking of heading to bed but I asked him to stay a few more minutes. Soon after that there was a huge rumbling sound at the other end of the ship and soon we could hear shouting and screaming. We looked down the ship and we saw an iceberg which had just collided with the ship. We weren’t too worried about the iceberg as we knew that the ship couldn’t sink but then my friend’s Mum rushed on to the deck, soaked.

“There’s water rushing into the boat. Do something!” she screamed.

We were now panicking a lot and my thoughts that the boat would not sink were fading. Slowly we were being lifted upwards as the decks filled with worried passengers. Soon, many of the crew were around the edge of the boat lowering ladders and lifeboats. Suddenly there was a huge crack and the end of the boat fell flat again, spraying freezing cold water all over the passengers. People were falling over and as we looked down the ship we realised that it had now been split into two parts. There were people who were now stranded on the other half and there was nothing that anybody was able to do to help them. As the other half of the ship went under the water the band stopped playing. I knew that my friend and I were not going to get onto the lifeboats as there were far too many people already paced onto them. There were also too many people standing round them helping for me to do anything helpful so I decided I had to attempt to save my own life. I calculated that I would be able to survive for about two hours in the water, and that I needed to stay afloat if I fell asleep or became unconscious so that I would not drown before the rescue team would be with me. I also wanted to get away from the ship as fast as possible so that I would not be pulled under by the turbulences caused by the ship sinking. I picked up a large piece of wood, possibly from the smashed smokestack and threw it into the water. I then threw an old mattress onto the piece of wood and jumped onto it. I caught my leg on the edge causing it to get wet and feel very uncomfortable. I was now afloat and I pushed the mattress away from me so that it would not get wet and pull the wood down. I used the side of the piece of wood as a paddle once I had broken it away from the rest of it. I used it to keep myself within sight of the lifeboat so that the search team would be more likely to see me. Even though I was very cold I had to keep myself awake. I concentrated as much on the lifeboat, reading anything I could see and attempting difficult maths questions in my head. I also thought that I could hear boats to come and save me but most of the time it was my imagination. The few hours I was waiting seemed like days in the darkness stranded. When the search team finally arrived I was exhausted and cold, but they soon wrapped me in towels so that I would warm up quickly. I can’t quite remember whether I actually fell asleep during that time but I believe that I may have. While I was on the boat I suddenly remembered how I was selfish enough to leave my friend on the sinking ship. There was plenty of room on the piece of floating wood for both of us. I should have taken him with me. His parents would have got on a lifeboat and we would all have been saved. I guilty feeling ran through my whole body and I prayed that he had been rescued. I asked the Captain how many rescue boats had been sent out but he told me that he was not sure. I wanted them to find him and his family. I then fell asleep due to all the exhaustion of trying to save myself.