Kitabı oku: «The Lost Sister»

Chapter 2
Emma, 1911

Emma Higgins’ earliest memory was of being on board a ship. Well, it was not really a ship, she supposed. It was a ferry, a steamer operating between Southampton and Cowes, on the Isle of Wight. She’d been about four years old, her sister Ruby just a babe in arms and her sister Lily not yet born. She’d been so very excited to be on board a boat, amazed that such a huge thing could float, and astounded at the views from the deck as Southampton faded into the distance and Cowes loomed ever closer.

The family were on the ferry because they were moving to the Isle of Wight, where Emma’s father, George, had secured a job working in a new hotel in the fashionable resort of Sandown. ‘There’ll be a beach for you to play on,’ he’d told Emma, ‘and the sea for you to paddle in. We shall have a wonderful life in Sandown!’ But it was the sea crossing – steaming down Southampton Water and then across the Solent – that had captured little Emma’s imagination. When she looked back on it, she thought that was probably the moment that determined her lifelong fascination with being at sea.

They had lived in Sandown, George working in the hotel and Emma’s mother Amelia taking in sewing, for almost ten years, until George had fallen prey to a gang of ruffians one stormy afternoon when he had been carrying the hotel’s takings to the bank to lodge. They’d beaten him and stolen the money, leaving him lying in a ditch with broken ribs and a smashed skull. He was found some hours later by a passing policeman but did not recover from his injuries. Amelia, on hearing the news, had collapsed and taken to her bed for a week, by which time the rent was due and there was not enough money to pay it.

Emma’s second sea crossing, therefore, was the return trip from Cowes to Southampton, where the now-fatherless family stayed for a while with Amelia’s sister until Amelia felt able to leave her bed, take on work as a laundress and seamstress, and move herself and her daughters into a tiny terraced house near the Southampton docks.

Now, as Emma hurried back to that same terraced house, bursting with her news, she wondered what her mother and sisters would make of what she had to tell them. Would they be pleased? Or fearful? She had no idea. All she knew was that this felt like her destiny. A chance to go to sea again – properly to sea! – and actually live on board a ship. It felt so right. It seemed like a job that had her name on it; a job she’d been meant to do since she was four years old and had marched onto the bridge of the paddle steamer on the way to Cowes, demanding to see the horses that powered the ship. Her father had been simultaneously mortified and delighted by her audacity, she recalled, and the ferry’s skipper had picked her up and let her hold the wheel for one brief, glorious moment.

She turned a corner, passed the small grocery shop where Ma went every day to buy the family’s dinner, waved to the little girl who lived across the street and was playing out with a hoop and stick, and found herself running the last few yards to her front doorstep, where she almost tripped over her sister.

‘What are you doing sitting out here, Ruby? You’ll make your skirts all dirty and Ma’ll be furious.’

‘Huh. I scrubbed the step this morning so it’s clean as anything. Sitting out here because it’s better than being in there.’ Ruby pointed over her shoulder with her thumb at the house.

‘Oh dear. What’s happened now?’ Emma sighed. Her news would have to wait a while. She nudged Ruby with her foot to make her move over, and sat beside her.

‘Ma. That’s what’s happened. Making me scrub steps and wash clothes and sweep floors. I ain’t a general skivvy, Ems.’

‘We need to share out the jobs. Especially when Lily’s ill and Ma needs to nurse her.’

‘Where was you, then? Where was you this afternoon? You could have done your share of the jobs.’ Ruby glared at Emma. ‘I do enough blinking work at the hotel every morning without having to do more when I come back home.’

‘I swept upstairs and did all the grates this morning before I went out. While you were still abed,’ Emma replied. Part of her wanted to be furious at Ruby for suggesting she, Emma, didn’t do her fair share of the chores. But another part felt for her sister. Of course Ruby wanted more from life than to spend her days scrubbing floors. At 17 she deserved fun and happiness and sunshine and laughter. But with their father dead, their mother’s fading eyesight meaning she was struggling to sew her piecework, their little sister Lily’s precarious health requiring her to frequently spend days in bed … well, it was essential that Emma and Ruby have jobs and bring in some money. They’d both worked since leaving school at 14.

‘Yes, I know.’ Ruby leaned against Emma as a gesture of apology, and Emma smiled to show it was accepted. ‘But I wish there were some way out of this. Where’s my knight, riding over the horizon on his glossy black steed, come to sweep me off my feet and take me to his castle to live in luxury?’

Emma laughed. ‘You’ve been reading too many romances, Ruby. Life’s not like that.’

‘I know. I just wants something a bit different. Less scrubbing, more love and laughter with some lovely-looking fellow.’

‘You’re so pretty, Ruby, it’ll happen in time. You’re still young.’

‘Wish it would hurry up and happen.’

‘Ah, pet. Don’t wish your life away. Come on. Let’s go inside and make tea for us all. I have some news to share.’ Emma stood and held out her hand to haul her sister to her feet. Ruby followed her in, looking curious as Emma called for Ma and Lily to come to the kitchen and listen to what she had to say. As she passed through the hallway it dawned on her that her news would mean Ruby would have more work to do at home, as Emma wouldn’t always be there. With a pang of anxiety she wondered how her sister would take the news.

‘There’s a possibility of me getting a new job,’ Emma announced, when Ma, Ruby, and Lily were all sitting at the kitchen table, looking at her expectantly.

‘What, on top of the one you already have, in the Star Hotel?’ Ma looked surprised. Emma already worked six days a week cleaning hotel rooms.

Emma shook her head. ‘Instead of it. I wouldn’t be able to do both – listen while I tell you.’

‘Get on with it, then,’ Ruby said, rolling her eyes.

‘There’s a new ship coming in, next month. A big one. The biggest ever built, they say. It’s sailing down here from Liverpool, and then a week or so later it’s off on its first proper trip – the maiden voyage, they call it.’

‘So what?’ Ruby shrugged.

‘You want to get a job on it?’ Lily said, her eyes shining. ‘Will you be climbing the rigging?’

Emma laughed. ‘You’re right, Lils, I do want to work on it. But not on the rigging. She’s a steamship. An ocean liner. Her name is RMS Olympic.’

‘You, work on a ship?’ Ma said. ‘Doing what?’

‘As a stewardess, I hope. Looking after the rich people in their cabins. Or cleaning if I can’t get a stewardess job. Or in the kitchens.’

Lily looked vaguely disappointed that Emma wouldn’t be climbing the rigging. ‘Do you work on the ship when it sails away or only when it is in port?’

‘When it sails, dear Lily. The staff need to go on board before the passengers to make everything ready, and then stay on board as it sails across the ocean. All the way to New York, imagine that!’ Emma could barely imagine it herself. New York seemed so far away, but here was a chance that she might actually go there, herself, on board the world’s newest and largest ocean liner.

‘How can it go so far in a day?’ Lily still looked confused.

‘It doesn’t,’ explained Emma. ‘It takes many days to get there. But they think the Olympic might be able to beat the record and make the crossing faster than any ship ever has done before.’

‘Never mind about records and speed and whatnot. How are you going to get a job on board, I wants to know?’ questioned Ruby.

‘There’s interviews for posts on board starting next week, down at the docks. At the White Star Line’s shipping office. I have the right experience, and they need loads of people. I think I stand a good chance. And if they like me, I then sign on for the first voyage, and after that … well, who knows?’

‘How long would you be away for?’

‘About three weeks I think, for the first voyage, and then if I like the work and sign on for another, I’d be away again.’

‘Ems, don’t go! I’ll miss you!’ Lily climbed off her chair and clung to her big sister.

Emma wrapped an arm around Lily’s waist. ‘Ah now, pet. Just think of all the stories I’ll have to tell you when I come back! Three weeks would go by so quickly, and then I’d be home on leave for a few days or a week, before sailing again. You’re almost grown up now. And you’d still have Ma and Ruby here.’

‘Huh. Yes. Leave me with all the work, why don’t you? What if I runs off and gets a job on this ship as well, eh? What then?’ Ruby put her hands on her hips and glared at Emma.

‘Ruby, you need to be over 18 or they won’t employ you. But maybe next year …’

A thoughtful expression flitted across Ruby’s face, and Emma smiled. Her sister was always looking for more from life, adventure, something out of the ordinary, and this just might be the perfect solution. Let her, Emma, work on board ship first to find out what it was like, then if Ruby still liked the idea next year perhaps they could work together on board the Olympic or some other ship.

‘Well, I think it’s a marvellous idea,’ Ma said. ‘Is the pay good?’

‘Better than I am getting now, plus of course board and lodging is included. I’ll be able to save nearly all my pay and bring it home to you, Ma.’

‘Oh, no you won’t. Your pay is your pay. All I will need is a tiny bit to cover your food when you’re back home, and the rest is your own. You earn it, you keep it, lovey.’ Ma nodded decisively and folded her arms across her chest.

Emma smiled. One way or another she’d get her mother to accept some of her earnings, when the time came. The family needed it. ‘So is it all right? May I apply for a job on the ship? You don’t mind?’

‘I don’t mind at all, lovey,’ Ma said.

‘I mind.’ Ruby glared at Emma. ‘With you away for weeks on end I’ll have to do your share of the housework as well as my own, as well as my job. I’ll have no free time to myself. But you don’t care about that, do you?’

‘I can do Emma’s chores,’ Lily said. ‘I’m old enough now.’

‘Huh. Half the time you’re too poorly to help with anything. And with Emma away I’ll end up having to nurse you on top of everything else.’

Lily pouted. Emma sighed. It was true that she tended to be the one who looked after Lily most whenever she had one of her frequent bouts of ill health that had plagued her since she’d had tuberculosis at the age of seven. Ruby had always done the minimum.

‘Lily’s not so often sick these days, Rubes. Not now she’s growing up. It’ll be all right, if I go away, I’m sure. And I’d be back every few weeks.’ And it’s my chance to do something different with my life, she wanted to add. My life, my choice.

‘Of course it will be,’ Ma said. ‘Now then, how about a nice cup of tea? I hope they’ll have tea on board the ship. I know how much you like a cup in the mornings.’

‘Of course they’ll have tea,’ Emma said. ‘And I’m sure I’ll get a few breaks in the day in which I can drink a cup. At least I hope so!’

‘When are the interviews?’ Ruby wanted to know.

‘Tomorrow. I have a half day, so I’ll go down in the afternoon. Wish me luck!’

‘Good luck, lovey.’ Ma smiled but there was a sadness in her eyes. Her first daughter to leave home, even if it was only for temporary periods. But Emma knew Ma would miss her. As Emma was the eldest, Ma had leaned on her heavily since Pa had died. She’d helped nurse Lily. She’d counselled Ruby many times, doing her best to curb her middle sister’s wayward nature and spare her mother’s grey hairs. She’d taken on as much of the day-to-day housework and cooking in the home as she could. She’d been working in the Star Hotel since they’d returned from the Isle of Wight when she was 14, giving up most of her wages to help keep the family. None of it was what she’d dreamed of, but it was her duty as the eldest to take care of the family. And now, there was a chance to have some adventures of her own, while still helping provide for the family’s needs. It was perfect. If only she could get the job!

The following afternoon Emma changed quickly out of her work uniform, put on a neat brown dress and re-pinned her hair, then hurried down to the docks to the shipping offices of the White Star Line. There were people milling about everywhere; she had expected it to be busy and indeed there were hundreds of people, mostly men, hanging around in and outside of the offices. Emma approached a young woman who was waiting patiently inside the offices, sitting on a plain wooden bench that ran along one side. The woman, pretty with dark hair, was neatly dressed in a tweed coat and hat.

‘Hello,’ Emma said. ‘Do you mind if I sit with you? Am I in the right place for interviews for a job on RMS Olympic?’

The other woman smiled. ‘Of course, sit down. Yes, this is the right place to sign on. Is this your first time?’

Emma nodded. ‘I heard about the possibility of work and thought I would quite like it. I’m Emma Higgins, by the way.’ She held out her hand for the other woman to shake.

‘Violet Jessop. Good to meet you, Emma. Stick with me and I’ll help you out.’ She looked kindly at Emma, who felt relieved to have found a friend so quickly.

‘Have you done this before? Been to sea, I mean?’ Emma asked.

Violet nodded. ‘Several times, yes. I’ve been with White Star for a while and they asked me to come and sign on for the Olympic. But they’re short so they are needing to recruit more.’

‘All those men out there? Are they all trying for jobs?’

‘Some of them will be signing on, yes. As engineers, stokers, crew, able-bodied seamen, stewards, deckhands. There’s a lot more jobs for men than women. But they need stewardesses too to help look after the female passengers. That’s what I do. Is it what you are hoping for?’

‘Yes. I’ve been working in a hotel for a few years,’ Emma replied, as she looked around at the people milling about in the waiting area. ‘Should I be giving my name or something?’

‘Oh, heavens, have you not done that? Yes, go over there and give your name to the clerk at that desk.’ Violet gestured to where a man with greased-down hair was sitting behind a desk, fending off enquiries from several men at once.

Emma felt nervous as she approached. Some of the men looked rough – they must be hoping for work as stokers or engineers rather than as stewards. The man at the desk looked up at her.

‘Can I help?’

‘My name is Emma Higgins. I am looking for work as a stewardess, please.’

‘Very well, Miss Higgins, I’ll put your name down and if you can just wait over there until you’re called.’ He gestured to the bench where Violet was still sitting, and Emma returned to her seat gratefully.

A few minutes later a door opened, and a man in a smart suit came out and nodded to Violet. ‘You’re next, Vi,’ he said. ‘Glad to see you’ll be joining us on board.’ He tipped his hat to Emma and sauntered out, whistling.

‘Good luck getting the job,’ Violet said to Emma as she stood up. ‘Hope to see you when Olympic sails.’ She went through the door the man had left open and closed it behind her. Emma felt a little alone now, with nothing to do other than sit quietly, back straight, knees pressed together, observing all that was happening around her. Some of the men seemed to know each other – she guessed from previous voyages. These people seemed to only need sign some sort of form and have an entry made in a book they each carried. But they weren’t leaving immediately, and Emma overheard two men wishing ‘they’d hurry up and read out the Articles so’s we can go home for our tea’.

At last Violet emerged from the inner room once more, and nodded to Emma. ‘In you go. Chin up, look confident.’

Emma swallowed her nerves and tried to do as Violet had said. The inner office was a plain room with wooden wall panelling, a battered desk and two chairs. The man behind the desk was of middle age, with an impressive set of grey whiskers.

‘Miss Higgins? Your discharge book, if you please.’ He held out a hand.

‘Yes, sir. I mean, yes, I’m Miss Higgins but please, what is a discharge book? I don’t have one …’

‘Ah, a first timer.’ The man leaned back in his chair and looked appraisingly at Emma. ‘Tell me about your experiences and background, if you would.’

Emma launched into the little speech she’d prepared to introduce herself and talk about her years of hotel work. ‘And I have always wanted to work on a ship,’ she finished, ‘ever since I was very little and sailed over to the Isle of Wight.’

The man threw back his head and laughed at this. ‘Well, being on board the world’s finest liner is a little different from the steam packet over to Cowes. But if you can supply references and pass the medical check I think you will do very nicely, Miss Higgins. Now then, through there to see the doctor, bring me your references tomorrow and then we’ll have you sign the Articles and be issued with your very own Seaman’s Discharge Book. It’s used to log all your voyages, and rate your work on each one,’ he explained.

‘Sir, I have references with me already,’ Emma said, pleased with herself for organising that beforehand, even though it had meant admitting to her employer that she was thinking of leaving them. She took the papers out of her pocket and handed them over.

‘Excellent. Then see the doctor, come back straight after and we’ll sort you out.’ He smiled at her and gestured to another door. She thanked him, went through the door, and found herself in a room with a kindly doctor who carried out what she thought was a rather cursory health check.

A few minutes later she was issued with her discharge book, signed a paper called the ‘Ship’s Articles’ and was told to wait with the other successful applicants. There she found Violet talking to the man who’d recognised her.

‘Well?’ Violet said, smiling. Emma guessed Violet must know she’d been successful, as she had joined all the other people being taken on.

‘I’m in!’ Emma said, and was delighted when Violet gave her a quick, spontaneous hug.

‘I’m so glad. There won’t be many women on board, and so us girls have to stick together. Now, in a little while they will read out the Articles of Agreement – that’s what we’ve all signed – so they know we’ve heard them. Just rules and regulations, really. We’ll be issued with uniforms when we go aboard. All new for a new ship! So pleased you’re on board, Emma. It’s a hard life but an exciting and rewarding one. You won’t regret this.’

At that moment, with a grin threatening to split her face in two, Emma felt Violet was absolutely right. She would never regret her decision to go to sea. This was the start of a new and wonderful life.