Gentlemen, I Bid You Farewell [Ch. 5]

R.M.S Titanic

Northern Atlantic Ocean

2:14 a.m

"Goodbye Wallace," Theodore said as he gave Wallace one last solemn hug goodbye. "I better see you again, you hear?"

The two hugged briefly, with Theodore backing up a step. He gazed at Wallace. Wallace smiled faintly. Roger and John both shook Wallace's hand and said their final words.

"Take care lad," John said, "it was a pleasure getting to play with you tonight."

"The pleasure was all mine," Wallace said softly.

The teeth-chattering, frigid cold water was rapidly approaching. The slant forward was becoming more unstable and difficult to stand on.

"Now grab onto something and say a final prayer with me," Wallace stated.

John, Roger, and Theodore all grabbed onto the same railing as Wallace, gripping their instrument cases tightly.

"As we say our final prayer to you Lord, I would like to say that I am grateful for everything that has come before me during my lifetime. Meeting my beautiful wife, learning such a beautiful sounding instrument, playing on monstrous liners like the Lusitania, Lucania, and Maurentania," Wallace said as Roger began his final prayer.

"Lord, if I may say," Roger began, "this was the most modern and luxurious liner the world has ever known. But why did she have to sink? In the paper, they said she was unsinkable, so again why did she sink? I am grateful for having the opportunity to come aboard this vessel and entertain the passengers. That is one memory I will never forget. I am also grateful for having such loyal, and dedicated bandmates. In the afterlife, I hope we can all continue to sound the tunes we did here tonight. I thank you, Lord, for listening in on my final prayer."

"As I go down with this vessel, I will take one thing to my watery grave. The pride and joy of playing onboard this historic, ill-fated liner," John Hume began, "and once I'm gone, I know for certain who's care I will be in—yours. I'm prepared to depart this world, and join you and up in the heavens. My final wish is to have my family prepare a service upon my body's arrival back home—if they find my body that is. Anyway, I thank you for your time. Farewell."

And before Percy could begin his prayer, he was pulled underwater vigorously. John Hume and Roger Bricoux were also pulled under, leaving behind Wallace, John Fredrick Preston Clark, Theodore Brailey, and Percy Taylor.

They were never seen again from this moment forward. Wallace glanced back at his remaining band members.

"Gentlemen," he began, "I bid you farewell."

"Farewell, Wallace," Theodore said.

"Take care, son," John Fredrick Preston Clark said as he patted Wallace on the shoulder two times.

And just like that, they began walking away in the direction of the stern. Wallace remained put. Once the others were lost amongst the crowd, Wallace turned around to look at the water ahead of him. He gulped and took a deep breath in, and then exhaled quickly.

He stood stationary in his spot, letting the water drag him into the vast, black ocean. The stern of Titanic was now almost at its peak height.

The sounds of screaming passengers continued. Wallace closed his eyes and lifted his head up towards the sky. Not a minute went by before he was sucked underwater, losing his violin case in the process. He sincerely went down as a gentleman.

Northern Atlantic Ocean

April 23, 1912

It was a cloudy morning, with the overcast slowly decaying away as the Sun awoke on the horizon. A ship, which was named the C.S Mackay-Bennett, was sailing towards the site where the R.M.S Titanic had gone down just weeks earlier. She had already recovered a large sum of bodies, putting those in the cargo hold over ice to preserve their bodies for burial on land.

The tragic remains of what once was nothing, became visible to all eyes. Floating remains of those who lost their lives still littered the surrounding area.

Debris and wreckage also littered the area. The ocean was choppy today due to the moderate gusts of wind coming in from the north. As the Sun continued to rise, the clouds continued to disappear.

It was chilly outside, due to the cold front that had overcome the area the day the Titanic set sail.

As the ship came to a stop, the crew onboard prepared two lifeboats. Those lifeboats would be launched with two crew inside.

The search and recovery mission was ordered by the White Star Line and the British Parliament. The ship came to a full stop in the center of the scene.

"I can't imagine what it must have been like," Richard Westeros, an Irishman, said as he leaned over the railing to look down at the water.

"Terrifying," Ronald Bronx said.

Both Richard and Ronald were crew members aboard the C.S Mackay-Bennett. Ronald and Richard both boarded the uncovered lifeboat, while two other crew members handled the davit.

They began lowering the boat into the water. Two minutes went by before the boat touched the surface. Richard and Ronald both grabbed an oar and slowly pushed the boat away from the ship.

Once they were a couple feet away from the ship, they began hoisting the bodies of the perished victims onto the lifeboat. One by one, they continued to recover the bodies from the water.

Hours went by before the ship could no longer take on any more of the bodies. They would sail to Halifax, Canada to deliver the bodies.

Before the lifeboat was lifted back up onto the ship, Richard had spotted a floating piece of paper in the water.

He leaned over the side of the crowded lifeboat and grabbed the paper out of the water. Richard examined the paper. It was indeed a letter; an unfinished letter. It was addressed to Maria.

"What is it, Richard?" Ronald asked curiously.

"A letter."

"To whom?"

"Maria."

"What does it say?"

"To my dearest Maria,

I hate having to tell you this news, but I fear I will not be returning home next week. The Maiden voyage of Titanic was splendid the past few days.

I am currently back at my cabin, waiting to hear anything further of what is really happening aboard this majestic vessel.

I am unable to stay, unwilling to leave. I have played my tunes many times on this voyage and tonight will sadly be my last," Richard read aloud.

"That truly breaks my heart," Ronald responded as a male body wearing a brown overcoat, black boots, and green socks.

Both Richard and Ronald hoisted the body up onto the boat and gave the body the #224.

Once back onboard the ship, she set sail for Halifax. From Halifax, the bodies would be returned to their families and given a proper sendoff.

"There's a case floating here too," Richard said as he lifted the leather case out of the water. It had some weight to it.

It had golden latches. Richard opened it to find a violin inside with a bow. The case must have belonged to this man.

"He could be one of the band members aboard?" Ronald questioned.

Ronald looked in the coat pockets for any identification. The first thing he grabbed was a metal cigarette case with the initials W.H.H engraved on it.

"W.H.H?" Ronald said.

"Maybe whoever knew this man back home can identify him?"

"C'mon lads," another crew member said, "we don't have all day."

And so they closed the case, put the cigarette case back in the pocket, and rowed back to the ship. They attached the manila ropes to the boat, and began their ascent to the main deck.

Liverpool, England

May 13, 1912

"Good morning," Albion said as he stood on the pier. The crew were unloading coffins with bodies in them. Engraved on the coffins were the numbers given to them when they were recovered.

Coffin 224 was brought off of the ship and set down in front of Albion. He kneeled down and rested his hands on the coffin, taking the lid off to see the body inside.

"Is this your son, Mr. Hartley?"

The green outerwear, brown coat, black shoes, and green socks. His body was still freezing cold. His skin a light gray color, with his hair messy and frozen.

The violin case was also stored inside the coffin, making it easy to identify Wallace. Just last year, Albion had purchased this leather case for Wallace for his birthday. He was surprised to see that Wallace had still used it, despite having another black leather case for it back home.

"Thank you good man for bringing him home," Albion said as Elizabeth exited the vehicle parked a few feet back and came running over to him.

"Is that my boy? My poor baby boy?" Elizabeth cried.

Albion stood back up and turned around. He stopped her from getting any closer to the coffin. He didn't want her seeing their son like this. It would only break her even more.

"Go back to the car," Albion said, "please."

"I want to see him," Elizabeth argued. "He's my son!"

"And in time we will," Albion said, "in time we will."