Unsinkable

Almost a month earlier in Belfast, Ireland, unhoused youths Paddy Burns and Danny Sullivan pickpocket a set of crisp bank notes from a wealthy man. While Paddy wants to spend the money on food, Danny says that they need to be careful because merchants will realize that the money is stolen if two ragged boys try to use it. The boys head to the local shipyard in search of people to pickpocket. Paddy finds a mark, but Danny stops him, identifying the rich-looking man as Thomas Andrews—the designer of the Titanic. Danny read that the ship’s fourth smokestack is a fake and asks Andrews if it’s true. Impressed, Andrews explains that the smokestack isn’t connected to the boiler but does serve ventilation purposes.

Andrews goes on to tell the boys that the ship’s hull is divided into 16 compartments that can be closed off from one another by waterproof doors at the touch of a button. The ship can stay afloat even with four of those compartments flooded, and Andrews concludes that this makes the ship unsinkable: “[I]t’s safe to say that no one can envision an accident that would do more damage to her than that” (12). Danny claims that he could think of such an accident, and Andrews tells him to come back if he does.

In London, 14-year-old Sophie Bronson, daughter of American suffragist Amelia Bronson, stands at the head of a rally for women’s rights that blocks the road. When the police arrive to arrest Amelia, a woman in the crowd attacks the police, who brutalize her. Enraged, Sophie attacks the police and is arrested alongside her mother and the other women. Discouraged, Sophie looks forward to April 10, when she and her mother will return to the US aboard “the newest, largest, and most spectacular ship in the world, the RMS Titanic” (18).

In Southampton, England, a week before the Titanic is set to sail, 15-year-old Alfie Huggins visits the offices of the White Star Line—the establishment responsible for the Titanic’s first voyage—where his father works. Amid people seeking work aboard the ship, Alfie requests the money owed to his mother from his father’s work. The administrator can’t pay Alfie because his name isn’t in the paperwork, but he assures the boy that his father will be home in three days to get ready to embark on the Titanic. Alfie despairs because his father will leave him again. Glancing at the line of job applicants, Alfie realizes that he can stay with his father simply “by sailing the same seas on the same vessel” (22).

In Belfast, Danny is hard at work figuring out a bad enough accident that could sink the Titanic so that he can present it to Andrews and gain passage aboard the ship. Paddy tries to convince Danny to give up and get food with him. Danny shrugs him off and warns Paddy not to spend the bank notes. Paddy agrees until he wanders past a shop, where he sees a drawing pad and pens in the window. Paddy runs to the boys’ hiding place and grabs a bank note, thinking that this is a perfect gift for Danny and wondering, “What was the point of having money if you could never spend it?” (27). Meanwhile, Danny scrapes his arm on a piece of wood, scratching from his wrist to his elbow. In a flash, he realizes that such a sideswipe could damage more than four compartments of the Titanic’s hull. He draws out a diagram for Andrews.

When Paddy buys the drawing supplies, the store owner says that he needs to get the note verified as real and sends someone to the bank to check. The man whom Paddy stole from arrives and introduces himself as one of the two notorious gangster brothers who run Belfast. The man advances on Paddy, and Paddy breaks the shop window to escape. Finding Danny and his Titanic drawing gone from their hideout, Paddy runs to the shipyard, where he tells Danny what happened. The gangsters catch up to them on the cargo loading dock for the Titanic, ordering the dock workers to back off. The workers comply, and Paddy and Danny are “at the mercy of men who ha[ve] no mercy” (37).

Snatching one of the diagrams that Danny dropped when the gangsters attacked, Paddy scrambles into a bail full of linens. With Paddy inside, the bail is hoisted aboard the ship. Paddy looks down to see a patch of blood on the docks, and he’s sure that Danny is dead. When the bail touches down, Paddy takes off running and finds himself in the first-class quarters, which are so luxurious that “it [i]s hard to believe that the dilapidated, filthy print shop he and Daniel had shared exist[s] on the same planet” (42). Looking out a window at Belfast, Paddy realizes that, without Danny, there’s nothing left for him there, and he decides to stow away aboard the ship.

On a plane above the English Channel, 15-year-old Juliana Glamm, daughter of the Earl of Glamford, fears for her life because the flying machine feels too flimsy to fly successfully. She silently curses her father for bringing her along because she’s “far too young to be expected to sacrifice her life just because Papa want[s] to be a twentieth-century pioneer” (45). Juliana’s father points out the Titanic in the distance; it has just arrived in Southampton from Belfast. Juliana and her father are scheduled to sail on the ship’s first voyage in a week so that they can meet with her father’s associate in New York. Wanting a closer look at the ship, Juliana’s father brings the plane into a dive, almost losing control and striking one of the ship’s smokestacks.

Except for a skeleton crew, Paddy has the Titanic to himself for the next four days, during which he explores and regrets the actions that led to Danny’s death. Paddy is amazed at the opulent design and foreign activities that the ship offers, such as riding a stationary bike. When the ship arrives in Southampton, more people board. If Paddy doesn’t want to stand out, he’ll have to find a way to blend in, and while the Titanic is finer than any place he’s ever lived, it’s no different than those places because “what he need[s], he ha[s] to steal” (54). Paddy finds a closet of crew uniforms. He puts one on, amazed at the crisp fabric.

While Paddy changes in the closet, Alfie and his father arrive in the nearby laundry room. After deciding to lie about his age and apply for employment aboard the Titanic, Alfie was hired as a junior steward for first class. Alfie worries that his age will be revealed, but his father tells him that everything will be fine and to pick out a uniform. Alfie is startled when Paddy emerges from the closet, fearing that another steward overheard him saying that he is underage. When Alfie tries to talk to Paddy, Paddy runs. Alfie finds Paddy’s old clothes and realizes that Paddy is a stowaway, but Alfie can’t report him without risking his place on the ship.