Women and Children First: Bravery, love and fate: the untold story of the doomed Titanic. Gill Paul

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      After breakfast on Sunday morning, Annie McGeown went with her children and her new friends from Mayo to the church service led by Captain Smith up in the first-class dining saloon. She wore her best green frock, her only hat and a beige wool jacket, and she combed the boys’ hair over to the side the way she had seen on the boys up in first class.

      It was only one deck up from their cabin, on D Deck, but there was no mistaking it was another world. Her feet sank into the plush carpet. She could see her reflection in the dark wood panels. Everything gleamed with polish and it smelled more expensive than their third-class dining room, in a way that you couldn’t quite put your finger on. But Annie wasn’t one for yearning after what she didn’t have. She was excited to be there among the first-class ladies in their jewels and towering hats with peacock feathers. She was curious to see Captain Smith, and when he came in she was impressed by his smart uniform and air of authority. He had kind eyes, she decided, and a gentle voice. She clutched the baby – fortunately asleep – and squeezed her daughter’s hand tightly.

      The captain read at length from a prayer book Annie didn’t recognise, and the boys soon began to fidget. She had to swipe Patrick on the back of the head when his whispers grew too loud. Annie wasn’t listening to the service herself, though, too busy gawping at the grand clothes, the fine fabric of the gents’ suits, the fancy plasterwork on the ceiling, the elegant curve of the legs of the chairs. The tables were covered in spotless white damask cloths and the sunlight streaming in through the big picture windows sparkled on the chandeliers up above. Annie felt overwhelmingly privileged to be there.

      When the captain finished speaking, a quintet began to play and the congregation of some three or four hundred all sang along to the hymns. There were nervous glances when it was announced they were to sing the one entitled ‘For those in peril on the sea’ but Annie felt it had a nice tune to it. As she sang, she thought about fishermen way out on the ocean in their tiny craft trying to earn an honest living. That’s who it was about.

      And then it was over and people were filing out towards their cabins to freshen up before luncheon.

      Finbarr tugged at her sleeve. ‘Ma, is he really the captain of the whole ship?’ he asked. When she said he was indeed, Finbarr continued, ‘Can I go and talk to him?’

      ‘He’s busy right now, my love, but what would you go and say?’

      Finbarr blushed. ‘I want to ask him if I can work on this ship one day. I think it’s the best place I’ve ever been.’

      Annie smiled. ‘I expect he would tell you to finish your schooling first and be a good boy and you would be in with a chance.’

      She dawdled as they walked out through the first-class reception room towards the stairs down to E Deck. She wanted to feel that carpet under her feet for just as long as she could. There were huge bouquets of spring flowers on side tables and their scent floated through the air. How come they looked so fresh when the ship had already been at sea for four days? Was it the lilies-of-the-valley that had such a sweet smell?

      Her new friends Eileen and Kathleen and Mary were chatting nineteen to the dozen about the grand ladies they had seen.

      ‘Did you notice the diamond bracelet on yon lady in the lilac? It looked so heavy it must strain her arm.’

      ‘I should have such problems!’

      ‘It was the size of the hats that got me. Who would have thought you could balance so much on your head without getting a headache?’

      Annie was only half-listening. She looked at the rich reds and greens of the embroidered upholstery and wished she had shades like these for her own work. Embroidery threads could be expensive and she’d only brought four basic colours with her. She imagined herself sinking into an armchair by one of the big picture windows with their vast views of the ocean and summoning a steward to bring her a glass of stout as an aperitif before dinner.

      The baby wakened and smiled sleepily up at her, and she kissed his perfect plush cheek and breathed in his milky smell.

      Chapter Twelve