BIG READ Nonfiction feature Into ADVERTISING ARCHIVE/COURTESY EVERETT COLLECTION (TITANIC POSTER); JOHN B. THAYER MEMORIAL COLLECTION OF THE SINKING OF THE TITANIC/UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA (JACK THAYER); ISTOCKPHOTO.COM (WATER) Jack Thayer (above) couldn t wait to be aboard the fanciest ship in the world. LOOK FOR WORD NERD S 6 TERMS IN BOLD THINK AND READ Text Features As you read, look for the different kinds of text features. Think about what they teach you. D Jack Thayer, 17, was on the Titanic, the ship everyone was talking about. But then it began to sink. Jack was separated from his parents and lost almost all hope for survival. BY LAUREN TARSHIS 4 STORYWORKS JR.
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I It was April 14, 1912. Soon, the Titanic would be at the bottom of the sea. More than 1,500 people would be dead. But at 11 p.m., things seemed fine. Jack Thayer was 17. He went out onto the ship s deck. He stared at the sky. The stars looked like diamonds. The ocean was calm. The ship s engines hummed. Jack was from Philadelphia. He was happy. He and his parents had just been to Europe. He was on the Titanic. It was the biggest, most elegant ship ever built. His first-class cabin was as fancy as the nicest hotel room. The swimming pool was heated. Meals were served on gold dishes. Jack felt lucky to be on the ship s elegant: grand, beautiful first-class: the best-quality and often most expensive way to travel A Huge Job It took 3,000 men nearly three years to build the Titanic. First-Class Travel While Jack Thayer and the 323 other firstclass passengers dined in fancy restaurants (above), nearly a thousand second- and thirdclass passengers ate in cafeterias like the one below. first transatlantic voyage. The ship was due in New York in three days. Jack pictured crowds cheering as the ship arrived. PAUSE AND THINK: What was special about the Titanic? Too Quiet At 11:00, Jack went to his cabin. He was about to go to bed. The engines stopped. It was strangely quiet. Jack rushed outside. He wanted to see what was going on. The ship had hit an iceberg. transatlantic: crossing the Atlantic Ocean KRISTA FEW/RALPH WHITE/CORBIS/CORBIS VIA GETTY IMAGES (TITANIC); SSPL VIA GETTY IMAGES (FIRST CLASS DINING, THIRD CLASS CAFETERIA) iceberg: a giant chunk of floating ice
The Passengers As the newspaper shows, many well-known people were on the Titanic s first voyage. For them, it was a vacation. But many third-class passengers (left) were on their way to America to start new lives. Nobody yet thought of any serious lifeboats. The people who designed the FATHER BROWNE SJ COLLECTION/AKG-IMAGES/UNIVERSAL IMAGES GROUP/THE IMAGE WORKS (BOARDING SHIP); BETTMANN/GETTY IMAGES (NEWSPAPER) trouble, Jack said later. The ship was unsinkable. PAUSE AND THINK: Why did the engines on the Titanic stop? Sinking in an Hour People thought that the ship s safety features could not fail. But the iceberg had poked holes in the side of the ship. Water filled the lower levels. The ship s designer said that the ship would sink in an hour. Just as scary: There were only 20 ship never thought it would sink. So they didn t think they would need more. The boats could hold only about half of the people on board. The Titanic was about 1,200 miles from New York. The ocean was freezing. This shocks the body. The heart slows. The skin begins to freeze. Death comes within 45 minutes. If people couldn t escape by lifeboat, they would likely die. PAUSE AND THINK: How many lifeboats were there? Why was that a problem? Æ WWW.STORYWORKSJR.SCHOLASTIC.COM SEPTEMBER 2017 7
Lost in the Crowd Jack went back to his cabin. He tied on his life preserver. He put on his coat. Then he rushed back up to the deck with his parents. People were confused. Jack and his parents walked all over the ship. They hoped to find a lifeboat. Then Jack was separated from his parents. He was sure that they had gotten into a lifeboat. He thought they had left him behind. There were no lifeboats left. Jack was on his own. He tried to stay calm. The ship kept sinking. Jack waited until the ship was low in the water. He wanted to jump in without getting hurt. That moment came at about 2:15 a.m. Jack took off his coat. He jumped. Down and down I went, spinning in all directions, he later said. He hit the water hard. He was pulled under. He swam to the surface. He was gasping from the cold. He found an upside-down lifeboat. Four men were on it. One of them helped Jack up. They watched the ship in its final moments. The front of the ship went underwater. The back rose into the sky. People dropped into the sea. The lights went out. In a moment of eerie quiet, the ship sank. PAUSE AND THINK: How did Jack escape from the Titanic? A Simple Question The lifeboat floated in the dark. Jack was cold. He was scared. He could barely move. He was sure he would die. But then came a light. At 3:30 a.m., a ship arrived. It was called the Carpathia. Its captain had rushed to the scene. He wanted to rescue survivors. Jack boarded the rescue ship. He saw his mother. He was happy. Then his mother asked a simple question. Where is your gasping: trying hard to breathe eerie: creepy 8 STORYWORKS JR.
Just Waiting Survivors hope to be rescued. U.S. New York City MILES 0 1,000 SOUTH AMERICA Southampton, England ATLANTIC OCEAN Where the Titanic sank EUROPE AFRICA The Route of the Titanic The ship left from England and sank nearly 2,000 miles away. The passengers who survived traveled another 1,200 miles to New York City. UNIVERSAL HISTORY ARCHIVE/UIG VIA GETTY IMAGES (LIFEBOAT); MAP BY JIM MCMAHON MAPMAN father? Mr. Thayer had not boarded a lifeboat. He did not survive. I should have known that he would not have taken a boat, leaving me behind, Jack later said. The Carpathia brought the 705 survivors to New York City. They arrived on April 18. They were greeted by 30,000 people. Jack and his mother went home. THINK AND WRITE Later, Jack got married. He had two sons. He wrote a book about the Titanic. He wrote it in honor of his father. It s been more than 100 years since the ship sank. But stories of its survivors still inspire us. In this way, the ship sails on. PAUSE AND THINK: How did the survivors make it to New York City? Which text features helped you understand what it was like to be a passenger on the Titanic? Answer in a paragraph, citing at least two text features. Send it to Titanic Contest by October 15, 2017. Five winners will each receive a copy of I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912 by Lauren Tarshis. See details on page 2. FIND ACTIVITY SHEETS ONLINE! WWW.STORYWORKSJR.SCHOLASTIC.COM SEPTEMBER 2017 9