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fellowshippers2005-11-02 02:23 pm
ex-salwood.livejournal.com) wrote in fellowshippers2005-11-02 02:23 pm
I Will Go Down With This Ship - 2/6
Title: I Will Go Down With This Ship 2/6
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
salogel42
Pairing: Dom/Lij
Rating: PG13
Summary: This story is set in the early 1900s... Dom and Lij are on the biggest steamship ever built.
Author's Note: This is a short story based on a very real event.
Disclaimer: Although the event actually happened, non of the characters are real. All made up.. totally... absolutely!
Thank you toelfellon111 for wonderful beta!
Other chapters in this series can be found here
I Will Go Down With This Ship
Chapter 2 – Leaving Queenstown – Thursday 11 April 1912
Nothing but open ocean as far as the eye could see. Dominic stood on the promenade deck watching the sun slowly sink towards the watery horizon. Queenstown was now behind them, and all passengers who were going to board Titanic, had boarded. She was not sailing to full passenger capacity, which perhaps was a good thing. Dominic knew that Elijah, along with the majority of the crew was working all the hours that God sent. Standards had to be kept if Titanic was going to succeed as the most luxurious liner ever built.
But things should quieten down a little now, if not for Elijah but for himself and the other members of the Inspection Team. The past thirty-six hours had seen him assisting Titanic’s engineering staff with matters that needed attention. And just that morning a full emergency dress rehearsal had taken place to test the alarm bells and the progress of the watertight doors. All that was really left was to observe fuel consumption of all boilers, and the speed capacity of the engines. Everything seemed to be running very smoothly, for the time being at least.
Dominic watched the sky turn from yellow, to red, to purple and then to black. He looked up at the sky and tried to pinpoint the constellations he knew well. He became conscious of his breath misting in front of him, and them of a warm coat being placed over his shoulders.
“Lijah…?” Dominic smiled as he turned to face his lover, taking his warm hands in his own. “Are your duties finished for the day?”
Elijah glanced up and down the promenade; it was more or less deserted, with just the odd passenger taking time out for fresh air.
“Finished?” He sighed resignedly. “It’s never finished, Dom… not on this vessel. It was the same when I sailed on Olympic. Finished, but on standby. Never any real rest for any of us, is there?”
“No…” Dominic lifted Elijah’s hand to his mouth and kissed it.
“How long have you been out here, Dom?” Elijah was conscious of Dominic’s cold lips against his skin.
“Maybe an hour, I’ve been watching the sun set. It was beautiful as always.”
Elijah nodded as he gripped the metal railings and looked over the side of the ship at the dark churning ocean below.
Sunsets had never appealed to Elijah, for in his past the setting sun had represented nothing more than prison walls closing in. Daylight had always been his sanctuary, night time his doorway to nothing but despair.
Dominic looked at Elijah. “I have declined joining Gerard for dinner this evening; I informed him that I shall be dining alone in my room. I need to work on the results from the tests this morning. But, you will join me though, won’t you, Lijah?”
Elijah grinned as he nodded.
“That’s wonderful…” Dominic smiled in return.
“But I’ll need to check that I’m not required first,” Elijah said. “Tom’s pretty good; we cover each other well. Old timers, you know!”
Dominic couldn’t help laughing. “Old timers.”
Elijah shrugged as he grinned. Then he shivered. The temperature was dropping… and he knew it would continue to drop noticeably further - the further west they sailed.
West…
Back to the country he had left behind eight years ago. He had sailed to New York before, of course, on the Olympic, but had never set foot again on his native soil. He’d had no desire to do so, but this time he was sailing with Dominic, and they planned to spend a little time ashore before Titanic returned to Southampton.
Dominic had never ventured overseas, and was quite thrilled to be travelling to the country where Elijah was born, even though he knew Elijah was less amoured with the whole idea of returning to his country of birth.
***
Nineteen hundred and four, the blackest year of his life to date, and the year Elijah, his sister and mother fled America for Northern Ireland in an attempt to escape a violent father and husband. They sought refuge in the relative safety of his aunt’s Belfast home. His mother’s sister did not have much to offer them, but she welcomingly opened her arms and took them in.
It had not been easy. Aged just sixteen Elijah found himself in an alien world. Brought up on a farm, away from any form of developing industry, he hated the city he now found himself in. He hadn’t been schooled in the ‘proper way’, and his accent meant he stood out from the crowd. He was a lost soul in a sea of uncertainty.
His aunt could not afford to keep them, so all three members of his family had to find some form of employment. His mother, along with his younger sister worked long hours in the local infirmary laundry. The work was not easy, but it paid enough to put food on the table.
Elijah, on the other hand was introduced to one of the managers of White Star Line, by his uncle who worked as a clerk in one of the small White Star Line remedial offices hidden within the depths of the Harland and Wolff complex.
Elijah’s fears that he would end up working in the shipbuilding yard, and be at the mercy of endless jokes by hardened ship builders, to his relief, did not materialise. He was taken on as crew for the White Star Line, but in the lowly position of Bell Boy, a grand sounding name, but nothing more than an errand runner.
Despite all three of them working, Elijah and his family did not earn enough money to rent a property of their own, so they remained in residence with his aunt and uncle. The farm they had left behind had been big; all three children had their own rooms when growing up. To any outsider it looked idyllic, but within those walls it had become a living hell. Elijah’s older brother left home aged just fifteen, and Elijah hadn’t seen him since. Zack didn’t even know his family had fled to Ireland, and Elijah often wondered if he would ever see his brother again.
The house of his aunt was small, too small for five people. His aunt and uncle shared one of the bedrooms, while his mother and Hannah slept in the other. Elijah slept on the floor in the small living room, on a makeshift mattress. The conditions were far from ideal, but at least he wasn’t being beaten black and blue any more.
Elijah knew he was a hard worker. And he knew that if he worked well and with effort he would eventually advance the crew ladder, and gain some sort of status within the inner world of ship victualling. He aimed to become a steward for the first-class passenger. They always tipped well and the pay was reasonable. He hoped one day to earn enough, so that he could rent a cottage for his family, thus giving back his aunt and uncle the room they so graciously gave up to accommodate them.
But he was different. He wasn’t one of them, he was an outsider, not a local, ‘a weird bugger’ was one phrase banded about, and no matter how hard he worked he stayed where he was… at the bottom of the promotional ladder. When he reached seventeen he was finally upgraded, if that was what you could call it, to kitchen duties, which in reality was nothing more than a glorified plate washer. He spent most of his time at sea squirreled away in a hot stifling kitchen - life became a drudge and he couldn’t see it getting any better. Then something happened, insignificant in the grand scale of things, but would eventually lead to hope and happiness - something he thought he would never experience.
He became a land messenger, again employed by White Star Line, working for them in between voyages, delivering memos and letters to Harland and Wolff. His duties were lowly, and the wages poor, but eventually he felt like the richest man in Belfast, for he met Dominic, the man who would end up becoming the love of his life.
tbc
Author:
salogel42Pairing: Dom/Lij
Rating: PG13
Summary: This story is set in the early 1900s... Dom and Lij are on the biggest steamship ever built.
Author's Note: This is a short story based on a very real event.
Disclaimer: Although the event actually happened, non of the characters are real. All made up.. totally... absolutely!
Thank you to
elfellon111 for wonderful beta!Other chapters in this series can be found here
I Will Go Down With This Ship
Chapter 2 – Leaving Queenstown – Thursday 11 April 1912
Nothing but open ocean as far as the eye could see. Dominic stood on the promenade deck watching the sun slowly sink towards the watery horizon. Queenstown was now behind them, and all passengers who were going to board Titanic, had boarded. She was not sailing to full passenger capacity, which perhaps was a good thing. Dominic knew that Elijah, along with the majority of the crew was working all the hours that God sent. Standards had to be kept if Titanic was going to succeed as the most luxurious liner ever built.
But things should quieten down a little now, if not for Elijah but for himself and the other members of the Inspection Team. The past thirty-six hours had seen him assisting Titanic’s engineering staff with matters that needed attention. And just that morning a full emergency dress rehearsal had taken place to test the alarm bells and the progress of the watertight doors. All that was really left was to observe fuel consumption of all boilers, and the speed capacity of the engines. Everything seemed to be running very smoothly, for the time being at least.
Dominic watched the sky turn from yellow, to red, to purple and then to black. He looked up at the sky and tried to pinpoint the constellations he knew well. He became conscious of his breath misting in front of him, and them of a warm coat being placed over his shoulders.
“Lijah…?” Dominic smiled as he turned to face his lover, taking his warm hands in his own. “Are your duties finished for the day?”
Elijah glanced up and down the promenade; it was more or less deserted, with just the odd passenger taking time out for fresh air.
“Finished?” He sighed resignedly. “It’s never finished, Dom… not on this vessel. It was the same when I sailed on Olympic. Finished, but on standby. Never any real rest for any of us, is there?”
“No…” Dominic lifted Elijah’s hand to his mouth and kissed it.
“How long have you been out here, Dom?” Elijah was conscious of Dominic’s cold lips against his skin.
“Maybe an hour, I’ve been watching the sun set. It was beautiful as always.”
Elijah nodded as he gripped the metal railings and looked over the side of the ship at the dark churning ocean below.
Sunsets had never appealed to Elijah, for in his past the setting sun had represented nothing more than prison walls closing in. Daylight had always been his sanctuary, night time his doorway to nothing but despair.
Dominic looked at Elijah. “I have declined joining Gerard for dinner this evening; I informed him that I shall be dining alone in my room. I need to work on the results from the tests this morning. But, you will join me though, won’t you, Lijah?”
Elijah grinned as he nodded.
“That’s wonderful…” Dominic smiled in return.
“But I’ll need to check that I’m not required first,” Elijah said. “Tom’s pretty good; we cover each other well. Old timers, you know!”
Dominic couldn’t help laughing. “Old timers.”
Elijah shrugged as he grinned. Then he shivered. The temperature was dropping… and he knew it would continue to drop noticeably further - the further west they sailed.
West…
Back to the country he had left behind eight years ago. He had sailed to New York before, of course, on the Olympic, but had never set foot again on his native soil. He’d had no desire to do so, but this time he was sailing with Dominic, and they planned to spend a little time ashore before Titanic returned to Southampton.
Dominic had never ventured overseas, and was quite thrilled to be travelling to the country where Elijah was born, even though he knew Elijah was less amoured with the whole idea of returning to his country of birth.
***
Nineteen hundred and four, the blackest year of his life to date, and the year Elijah, his sister and mother fled America for Northern Ireland in an attempt to escape a violent father and husband. They sought refuge in the relative safety of his aunt’s Belfast home. His mother’s sister did not have much to offer them, but she welcomingly opened her arms and took them in.
It had not been easy. Aged just sixteen Elijah found himself in an alien world. Brought up on a farm, away from any form of developing industry, he hated the city he now found himself in. He hadn’t been schooled in the ‘proper way’, and his accent meant he stood out from the crowd. He was a lost soul in a sea of uncertainty.
His aunt could not afford to keep them, so all three members of his family had to find some form of employment. His mother, along with his younger sister worked long hours in the local infirmary laundry. The work was not easy, but it paid enough to put food on the table.
Elijah, on the other hand was introduced to one of the managers of White Star Line, by his uncle who worked as a clerk in one of the small White Star Line remedial offices hidden within the depths of the Harland and Wolff complex.
Elijah’s fears that he would end up working in the shipbuilding yard, and be at the mercy of endless jokes by hardened ship builders, to his relief, did not materialise. He was taken on as crew for the White Star Line, but in the lowly position of Bell Boy, a grand sounding name, but nothing more than an errand runner.
Despite all three of them working, Elijah and his family did not earn enough money to rent a property of their own, so they remained in residence with his aunt and uncle. The farm they had left behind had been big; all three children had their own rooms when growing up. To any outsider it looked idyllic, but within those walls it had become a living hell. Elijah’s older brother left home aged just fifteen, and Elijah hadn’t seen him since. Zack didn’t even know his family had fled to Ireland, and Elijah often wondered if he would ever see his brother again.
The house of his aunt was small, too small for five people. His aunt and uncle shared one of the bedrooms, while his mother and Hannah slept in the other. Elijah slept on the floor in the small living room, on a makeshift mattress. The conditions were far from ideal, but at least he wasn’t being beaten black and blue any more.
Elijah knew he was a hard worker. And he knew that if he worked well and with effort he would eventually advance the crew ladder, and gain some sort of status within the inner world of ship victualling. He aimed to become a steward for the first-class passenger. They always tipped well and the pay was reasonable. He hoped one day to earn enough, so that he could rent a cottage for his family, thus giving back his aunt and uncle the room they so graciously gave up to accommodate them.
But he was different. He wasn’t one of them, he was an outsider, not a local, ‘a weird bugger’ was one phrase banded about, and no matter how hard he worked he stayed where he was… at the bottom of the promotional ladder. When he reached seventeen he was finally upgraded, if that was what you could call it, to kitchen duties, which in reality was nothing more than a glorified plate washer. He spent most of his time at sea squirreled away in a hot stifling kitchen - life became a drudge and he couldn’t see it getting any better. Then something happened, insignificant in the grand scale of things, but would eventually lead to hope and happiness - something he thought he would never experience.
He became a land messenger, again employed by White Star Line, working for them in between voyages, delivering memos and letters to Harland and Wolff. His duties were lowly, and the wages poor, but eventually he felt like the richest man in Belfast, for he met Dominic, the man who would end up becoming the love of his life.
tbc
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