April 1st, 1912 

Belfast, United Kingdom  

21:30 

Final night in Belfast. Titanic is a grand old girl, and I have seen every rivet of her go in. Feels right to be taking her out after three years in the yards. Since I worked on her building and helped fit her accommodations and boilers. I have the honor of being one of her leading firemen. I will also be ensuring that she runs well and does not have any mishaps. I also heard Mr. Andrews will be on this voyage. I have built and worked on a handful of his ships. I will say I have a great deal of respect for his designs. I have worked for White Star Line and the Harland and Wolff shipyards for about 31 years, and I have not had any mishaps, and I would say I know my way around a ship. I first joined at around 16 and got my first White Star Line assignment on the SS Belgic at the age of 20. Since then, I have been on and off ships and working in the shipyards. The Titanic is like the Olympic but built a little more structured, as Mr. Andrews mentioned to me, and I noticed the Titanic has some other luxuries that the Olympic does not have. I have a 4–8 watch tomorrow. I shall head to bed since I have a big day tomorrow. 

April 2nd, 1912 

At sea 

21:00 

As per usual, I had to work a similar shift to the other ships I was on, I will not be able to make entries until later, but today was definitely similar to my prior journeys on the Olympic except I noticed the ventilation was way better and the machinery was sound too. It also was obviously very new and not too different from the other new ships I have been on. I met Mr. Andrews today. It was a pleasure. He was asking about how the ship was treating us. I noticed he was doing a very thorough inspection of the ship and had a very professional demeanor. This is my sleep shift. I shall turn it in for the night. 

April 3rd, 1912 

At sea 

20:50 

Today was a glimpse into the work on the Titanic as a lead fireman. While I am not one of the stokers, I get to supervise the stokers, and I take orders from the engineers, and I watch the gauges like a hawk and make sure to ring the bells at the right time with the stokers. I also have been looking at the machinery and the way the ship works so far, so reliable it is quite a marvel, but we are expected to arrive at Southampton soon, I shall get to turn in. That way I will be ready for tomorrow.

April 4th, 1912 

Southampton, United Kingdom 

21:00 

Today we arrived in Southampton and started loading black diamonds onto the ship. This is a unique experience since I heard that there was a coal worker strike, but we still got black diamonds for the voyage. That took up most of my day since we are not leaving Southampton until the 10th of April. I am expecting the next few days to be simple and final preparations for the voyage. As for my other crewmates, I know one other from Harland and a Wolff worker by the name of Rory Fitzgerald. I have worked with him for a little while. He was also helping build the ship, and now he is supervising the engine room. I also know the captain of the ship since I also worked under him on the Olympic. It is late now; I shall be heading to bed and hoping for a simple voyage. 

April 5th, 1912 

Southampton, United Kingdom 

21:00  

With more free time, I took myself on a stroll on the ship. I saw a young man who I assume is his mother taking a photo in front of the ship. I will say it is very akin to the Olympic, but, nevertheless, it has many different accommodations and, since there are no passengers, I looked at the passenger accommodations throughout the ship, and they are definitely better than I have seen on other ships. There was definitely a new paint smell, but that is common on newer ships. We also had a lifeboat drill today. It went well and, hopefully, we will not have to deal with this later, since I have heard horror stories about ships at sea, like the SS Atlantic, where they hit a rock off of nova scotia, but that happened a while ago, I am sure this new equipment will prevent an event like that to happen again. This is where I end this entry to turn in. 

April 6th, 1912 

Southampton, United Kingdom 

20:40 

Today we got our full crew on board and got the final bits of black diamonds on board coming from many other ships. I also noticed that, unlike other ships on their first voyage, the Titanic was not open to public view. I am not sure why, but I assume it is because of the parallels to the Olympic. I also helped load many cargoes, and one stood out to me, and it was a motor car. It looked very luxurious, and I will say this adds to the idea of the Titanic being a floating city. Now I am going to turn in since loading the cargo was exhausting.

April 7th, 1912 

Southampton, United Kingdom 

21:00 

Today is Easter Sunday, that means we had the day off to explore Southampton, and it is a larger town focused on its ports. There are many great liners here, and it feels like a traveler's town. I have seen many people who are titanic passengers. I am not much of a social man there, for I got a boarding house room, and I spent most of my day there resting and reading while enjoying my view of the ship from my window. It is late. I am going to rest and wait to see what tomorrow brings.  

April 8th, 1912 

Southampton, United Kingdom 

21:10 

Back to work today, I helped bring a lot of provisions onto the ship from the town. It was a lot of work. I noticed them painting the funnels to make them look fresh for this voyage. That must be one of my favorite aspects of White Star Line ships is that they have those big White Star buffs. We also fired up the boilers today to prepare them for leaving in 2 days. Tomorrow will be even busier for me. I am going to turn it in now. 

April 9th, 1912 

Southampton, United Kingdom 

21:00 

Today is the last day before we leave and leave for France. My fellow firemen have gotten their boiler assignments. I have been assigned to supervise a boiler in the 6th boiler room. It is a very new room like the rest of the boiler rooms, that quickly gets covered in coal dust. It is very labor-intensive work, but nevertheless, we are on the Titanic. Since I joined the lifeboat drill before, I do not have to join the one today, even though it would be nice to go to get some fresh air. I do need some turning in since tomorrow is most definitely the most work, I will have to go through on this journey so far.

April 10th, 1912 

At sea 

21:30 

Today was the most exhausting day so far. My entire body aches in pain from lifting heavy black diamonds into the boilers, and the heat is prominent, but I can tell the difference in ventilation since it is more breathable. I also keep getting a whiff of the grease and these engines are similar to Olympic's. This morning, we boarded passengers on the ship, and left Southampton at about noon, and we heard about a near collision when leaving. Which explains why the telegraph rang for 'Full Astern' from ‘slow’ and the whole hull shuddered. I am hoping that is the most eventful unplanned event on this journey. Then we made the journey to Cherbourg, France in the late afternoon to board more passengers and we left about an hour ago, and now I am going to turn in for the night since I am exhausted. 

April 11th, 1912 

At sea 

21:00 

Today, while still exhausting, was better than yesterday, my body feels a little better than yesterday and the heat is not the worst I have experienced. My body is getting used to these conditions. Granted I do not have the worst job of shoveling smoldering coal into boilers since there has been a coal fire in one of the coal deposits. Because of the fire, we had to oil the walls to help the paint stay on and not blister. Since we arrived in Queenstown about noon and left around 1:30, it has been steady sailing from then on at a consistent speed and everything has been running smoothly. I am now going to retire tonight. Tomorrow is going to be a steady day. 

April 12th, 1912 

At sea 

21:25 

This was my first day at sea, and it was not that bad. It was very consistent, but my body still ached in pain from the intense shoveling of heavy coal into the boilers, and the heat was still there. The hymn from the gigantic engines can be heard from my boiler room at the front. My room was warmer since we were in the coal fire. This journey is better than the past few days I have had. After my shift ended, I put on a coat to go out on the deck. I was out by the bow with a few third-class passengers just gazing at the stars. I met this Irish man who came here with his family. He was a little smaller than me and well groomed. He was talking about the plow constellation. I still remember my mother telling me about that constellation. I also notice the way the white cow is clearer out in the sea time I end up out here. I am astonished by how clear the way the white cow is. Now I am hitting the bunks after a long day of work. 

April 13th, 1912 

At sea 

21:00 

Today, the coal fire was about at its end that made today not as hot as it was a better day. My body is adjusting to these conditions. While there is still a lot of work, the voyage is better than past voyages I have been on in different ships. I believe this voyage has been remarkably similar to the voyages I have had on the Olympic since the Titanic has better ventilation and the living quarters are less cramped along with better plumbing. I shall hit the bunks now since it is late, and I will need to take the watch early tomorrow. 

April 14th, 1912 

At sea 

21:30 

Today was a lot like the other days except for an extreme abundance of caution around ice. We are keeping the pressure high to help pass this cold patch. The air was cooler today. We are entering the current labrador. The frigid air makes the heat from the boilers seem nice. After my shift today, I went up on the deck again and saw the same Irishman. We have started a brief friendship since he will be in New York while I will be traveling back to the Harland and Wolff yards. I got to know the man a little better. He came here with his wife and son, who would like to meet me. The man’s name is Joseph, and his family is looking to start a new life like many other immigrants crossing the Atlantic. I asked him why he comes out here alone, and he said he comes to get some fresh air while his wife helps his son to bed. I told him I wish him luck in New York and to be sharp because there are many cons in New York. After that I will go hit the bunks. That way I can get some sleep before my morning shift. 

April 15th, 1912 

On the Carpathia 

12:20 

If you are reading this in the future, I am going to give my best telling of what happened on the Titanic right before midnight last night, the 14th of April 1912. My story started around midnight when I noticed that the engine had stopped. I got up and got dressed and looked down at the firemen's stairwell where I saw water slowly rising in the area that I used to work in. I woke up my fellow crewmembers, and we all went our separate ways. I grabbed everything warm I had on along with my lifebelt. And I made my way up to the highest deck where exploring the ship on my own helped my survival. When I made it to the boat deck, I got an idea of what happened. We struck an iceberg, and captain Smith and Mr. Andrews called for an evacuation. After hearing this, I went to the officer in charge of Titanic’s second officer, Mr. Lightoller. I asked him if he needed any seasoned boatsmen, and he said to stay close in case, but Captain Smith called for women and children first. The lifeboat he was loading started lowering and a woman with a heavy Southern American accent said they needed someone to take control of their boat, and Mr. Lightoller told me that if I could lower myself down a lifeline I could get into the boat. As an experienced boatsman, I easily lowered myself down the line and took over the helm of the boat. Knowing the total immense size of the ship, if our lifeboat stayed close to the ship we would get sucked down with it if she fully went down, I knew that if Mr. Andrews called for the evacuation. It had to be serious, so I took that as a sign that she was going to fully sink. I decided to move the lifeboat a good distance away from the ship but close enough to go back for anyone who does not end up on a lifeboat. Since lifeboats were seen as ferries for a sinking ship to go between the sinking ship and a floating rescue ship. Now we have no rescue ship, so this could end very badly for many of the passengers. While she was sinking, it started slowly, then water washed over the bow, and she picked up speed. As she went, we stood back and everyone watched in awe of what was happening. After some time, her lights cut out, and we could hear a crack and splash of abundant screaming. The night was like no other. The sea was about as flat as a sheet of glass and the cold was something else man would not last long in this water with how cold it was, I would say, up to 3 minutes if fully submerged. And the stars were so vibrant since there was no light. There was also a new moon, so we were surrounded by blacks after our lights went out. After a little longer, the screaming died down and nobody could spot the silhouette of the Titanic, so we started rowing back. On our way, we saw a lantern and an officer blowing a whistle. We started to go that way and when we got to the group of lifeboats, they were collecting boatsmen to go to where Titanic was, and I volunteered to go with them, leaving my boat with 2 others. The group of officers started to row to the wreck site, and there were floating frozen bodies. There was an Asian man floating on a table, a steward clinging to a suitcase, there were 2 first class men and a third who soon passed after being rescued. Our boat also helped an overturned lifeboat with Mr. Lightoller on board. After that, the sun started to rise, and we all saw the Cunard red funnels of the Carpathia, and we were very relieved to have some sort of rescue when our lifeboat was raised onto the Carpathia and her crew was very generous to us and provided us with medical attention, hot food and drink, and cots set up in recreational spaces I was lucky to grab my journal or else all of this would have been lost. I have been working hard at work, so I am going to retire to rest. 

April 18th, 1912 

New York City, United States 

22:35 

Arriving in New York, few people cheered when seeing the Statue of Liberty like on other ships. When we arrived in the harbor, the piers started to light up with paparazzi flashing from their cameras. We first stopped at pier 58 where the Titanic would have stopped and unloaded the lifeboats. Many wept thinking back to the ship; most were ready for the nightmare to be over. Then we anchored pier 54 of the Cunard line, and we started disembarking. The 1st and 2nd class disembarked first, and then the crew were escorted privately. We all received subpoenas to go to the US senate inquiry, and we got to stay at the American Seaman's Friend Society Sailors' Home and Institute before the US inquiry.I am exhausted and ready to retire now. 

Patrick would stay in New York for the rest of his life after the disaster. Since this disaster caused him to gain a large amount of PTSD, he would never step foot on another ship in his life. He met a woman who he later married and had a kid with, and they lived out the rest of their lives in New York. He would in his late life go to the New York Times to give his account of what happened and he mailed his journal to the British Board of Trade as his account of what happened.