'sewn into a weighted sack and thrown' … How did those left behind survive the tragedy of the sinking of the Titanic?
My father-in-law grew up in Selsey, on the West Sussex coast, and lived in the same area all his life. He knew many interesting stories about local people. In one memory from his childhood, he told me of his parents and other adults discussing, with some disapproval, a local woman who had taken to swimming every day off the beach at Selsey, alone. In 1912 it simply wasn't the 'done' thing for a woman to swim unchaperoned. He recalled that his own feeling, as a boy overhearing the adults talk, was surprise at their lack of sympathy. It was perfectly clear to him that it would be essential for her to swim, every single day, because she had lost her husband at sea, on the Titanic.
I couldn't stop thinking about this woman and my father-in-law's intuitive interpretation of her actions, so I began to read about the sinking of the Titanic. My reaction to the devastating detail in contemporary newspaper reports and the language used to describe the disaster, was so strong I knew I had to write about it myself.
Here is my story, inspired by that woman in Selsey – whoever she was – who swam everyday, alone.
First published in Riptide Journal 4, ed. Jane Feaver (2010)
First Prize, Ilkley Literature Festival Short Story Competition (2005)
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