What happened to the Titanic?

Eva's story of survival

NARRATOR
In Session 1, we heard the incredible tale of how seven-year-old Eva Hart
survived the Titanic disaster. Now you'll get a chance to watch the video
again, study the grammar of the past continuous and past simple, and learn
how to use these verb forms to tell stories.
NARRATOR
I was with my parents. My father was going to open a business in
Winnipeg. People were saying to my mother and father how fortunate they
were to get on the Titanic. I was excited because I was going on a
wonderful big ship.
PERSON 1
I had no fear or apprehension or anything. She was very beautiful:
luxurious beyond words. It was the first time I'd been on board a ship.
Captain Smith was on deck and he was very nice. He had a beard like my
own grandfather and he admired a doll I had.
PERSON 2
On the third night I was sound asleep. My mother woke me and said "I'm
going to dress you." But before she could by father came back from deck
and said "You'd best put this thick coat on." That was all he said. Standing
on deck, I couldn't see around the funnel. My father came back and said
"The ship has struck an iceberg." My father had no difficulty in putting me
and my mother in lifeboats but he made no attempt to get in himself.
PERSON 3
When we were in the water, we could hear people rushing about on the
deck. That's when the panic must have started – when they found there
weren't any lifeboats left. I was terrified. I didn't know what a shipwreck
would mean or how long it would take but I was too terrified to do anything
but shriek for my father I knew we'd left behind.
PERSON 4
Before she sank, she was a very beautiful ship: stationary on the ocean
with all her lights on. It was dreadfully cold but the sea was the calmest I'd
ever seen. The starlit night was the brightest I'd ever seen.
PERSON 1
I looked back and saw the whole of that tragedy. And I saw that ship break
in half. The front part went down and left the stern sticking up in a horrifying
fashion. It was enormous. It seemed to stick up in the air for a long time.
And then it gradually went down, turning over.
PERSON 2
And after that there was the sound of the whole disaster. And that was
people drowning. That is something you could never forget. And then the
dreadful silence that followed it. It seemed as if the whole world was
standing still.
PERSON 3
It was discovered that my lifeboat was overcrowded and the officer in
charge of the boat decided he would get rid of his load by putting people in
other boats. I got separated from my mother and didn't find her until the
next day.
PERSON 4
The next day, the icebergs were like white sails in the distance: white
yachts with the sun on them. They were very beautiful. They were all
around us. The crew of the ship that rescued us were very kind and good to
us.
NARRATOR
We were given clothes because I'd only got my nightclothes and a blanket
around me. I had nightmares from the time it sank until I was 23. And
though I wouldn't like to say I'm not frightened of the sea, I lost a lot of the
horror. I've never been in anything touching the Titanic. A beauty. She was
lovely.