Iceberg

Contents
 
 
 Cover
 Title Page
 Dedication
 Contents
 Chapter One
 Chapter Two
 Chapter Three
 Chapter Four
 Chapter Five
 Chapter Six
 Chapter Seven
 Chapter Eight
 Chapter Nine
 Chapter Ten
 Chapter Eleven
 Chapter Twelve
 Chapter Thirteen
 Chapter Fourteen
 Chapter Fifteen
 Chapter Sixteen
 Chapter Seventeen
 Chapter Eighteen
 Chapter Nineteen
 Chapter Twenty
 Chapter Twenty-One
 Chapter Twenty-Two
 Chapter Twenty-Three
 Chapter Twenty-Four
 Chapter Twenty-Five
 Chapter Twenty-Six
 Chapter Twenty-Seven
 Chapter Twenty-Eight
 Chapter Twenty-Nine
 Chapter Thirty
 Chapter Thirty-One
 Chapter Thirty-Two
 Chapter Thirty-Three
 Chapter Thirty-Four
 Chapter Thirty-Five
 Chapter Thirty-Six
 Chapter Thirty-Seven
 Chapter Thirty-Eight
 Chapter Thirty-Nine
 Chapter Forty
 Chapter Forty-One
 Chapter Forty-Two
 Chapter Forty-Three
 Chapter Forty-Four
 Chapter Forty-Five
 Chapter Forty-Six
 Author’s Note: Titanic Facts Vs. Fiction
 Acknowledgments
 About the Author
 Sneak Peek at Lines of Courage
 Also by Jennifer A. Nielsen
 Copyright
 
 
 
 Guide
 
 Cover
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Contents
 Title Page
 Dedication
 Chapter One
 Chapter Two
 Chapter Three
 Chapter Four
 Chapter Five
 Chapter Six
 Chapter Seven
 Chapter Eight
 Chapter Nine
 Chapter Ten
 Chapter Eleven
 Chapter Twelve
 Chapter Thirteen
 Chapter Fourteen
 Chapter Fifteen
 Chapter Sixteen
 Chapter Seventeen
 Chapter Eighteen
 Chapter Nineteen
 Chapter Twenty
 Chapter Twenty-One
 Chapter Twenty-Two
 Chapter Twenty-Three
 Chapter Twenty-Four
 Chapter Twenty-Five
 Chapter Twenty-Six
 Chapter Twenty-Seven
 Chapter Twenty-Eight
 Chapter Twenty-Nine
 Chapter Thirty
 Chapter Thirty-One
 Chapter Thirty-Two
 Chapter Thirty-Three
 Chapter Thirty-Four
 Chapter Thirty-Five
 Chapter Thirty-Six
 Chapter Thirty-Seven
 Chapter Thirty-Eight
 Chapter Thirty-Nine
 Chapter Forty
 Chapter Forty-One
 Chapter Forty-Two
 Chapter Forty-Three
 Chapter Forty-Four
 Chapter Forty-Five
 Chapter Forty-Six
 Author’s Note: Titanic Facts Vs. Fiction
 Acknowledgments
 About the Author
 Sneak Peek at Lines of Courage
 Also by Jennifer A. Nielsen
 Copyright
 
 
 
 
 
 A Night Divided
 Lines of Courage
 Rescue
 Resistance
 Words on Fire
 The Scourge
 
 The False Prince
 The Runaway King
 The Shadow Throne
 The Captive Kingdom
 The Shattered Castle
 
 Mark of the Thief
 Rise of the Wolf
 Wrath of the Storm
 
 The Traitor’s Game
 The Deceiver’s Heart
 The Warrior’s Curse
 
 
 
 
 For Johan Svensson, a distant cousin and third-class passenger, who at age 14 snuck onto the boat deck and finally made it onto Lifeboat 13. Thanks for your courage.
 
 
 
 
 
 In the end, in those final minutes before the Titanic sank into its grave, some people would jump overboard, taking their chances in the icy water. They had little hope of surviving, but if they continued clinging to the rails, they’d have no chance at all.
 Others, resigned to their fate, stepped back and listened to the small group of musicians, playing on even as the water crept higher onto the deck. Maybe that was better, to seek peace in the inevitable.
 Others still made themselves heroes in the end, working until their last breath was swallowed up in an ocean of water, hoping to give those on deck another minute of life. They might have proven themselves to be the finest among us.
 Yet the stories will be told of those who had no choice. Stories of those who ran for the nearest stairwells, hoping to reach a higher deck, or praying for the chance to reach a lifeboat, but found themselves trapped behind watertight doors, without a chance to survive.
 I know these stories are true. Because I was one of them.
 
 
 
 
 
 Wednesday, April 10, 1912
 A British legend from nine hundred years ago describes the Viking king Canute, who had his throne carried to the shores of Southampton. There on the beach, he stood before the mighty ocean and commanded the incoming tide to stop so as not to wet his royal robes.
 But the water was indifferent to the command and flowed onto the shores, soaking the great king’s robes. Dripping with ocean water, the king turned to his followers to say, “Even with all my power, I am nothing compared to the heavens and earth. I worship the heavens, and I respect the might of this world.”
 My father used to tell me that story every time he returned from his fishing trips. But that was years ago. I was twelve years old now, and far older in my mind, as I’d never cared much for childish things. Except for Papa’s story. I did used to love that, and every word came rushing back to me on the day I first saw the Titanic.
 Because here I was now, on the very same shores of Southampton, England. Although I wasn’t down on the beach, but on the port above it, staring up at a ship that aimed to defy King Canute’s words.
 The Titanic was everything the papers had described: as powerful as the Titans of mythology, and as elegant as if it were a floating castle. It did not respect the might of this world because it was the might of this world.
 The Titanic was also the largest man-made moving object in the world. Taller than the great pyramids of Egypt, or any cathedral of Europe; as long as four city blocks. Each of its four smokestacks was wide enough that a locomotive could drive through it, and its anchors were said to weigh fifteen tons each. Indeed, the Titanic was so bold in appearance that the newspapers called it the world’s first unsinkable ship.
 The ship that claimed it would command the very tides of the ocean.
 I’d done my research. On a four-day walk from my home in the southern tip of England to the ports of Southampton, I’d pulled newspapers from every rubbish bin I could find, scouring the pages for any information on the White Star Line’s newest and grandest ship.
 But reading about it did little to prepare me for the wonder of actually seeing it.
 I wasn’t the only one standing in awe. A vast crowd had gathered to watch the Titanic depart on its maiden voyage. I couldn’t begin to guess at how many people had come, but surely it was in the tens of thousands. Men lifted children to their shoulders, and women stood on