Surviving Savannah

Everly hopes she didn’t say anything too personal, worried she crossed a line at dinner. She wants to be more careful about whom she trusts with her feelings of grief and loss. She thinks how ridiculous it is to believe there is a reason she lived when Mora died. It was chance, not fate.

Oliver calls. Everly relates that Maddox was testing her during dinner. Oliver doesn’t think she needs to worry about that. Everly is going to start her research at the historical society. Oliver tells her he’ll stop by, but Everly dismisses him. She and Maddox will be fine on their own. Oliver is not thrilled but doesn’t protest. Instead, he asks to be kept updated, and the call ends.

Everly turns on music, which accidentally triggers a memory. Immediately after Mora died, Everly and Oliver spent every day looking for the drunk driver. They grew close, and Everly soon felt that she was betraying Mora. Oliver appeared one day with a bottle of Mora’s favorite whiskey and invited Everly kayaking. Everly eventually agreed, and they kayaked toward a sandbar. They drank the whiskey, and Oliver asked Everly to share some childhood stories. Everly started crying and Oliver comforted her. They kissed and had sex.

As the memory fades, Everly feels ashamed for sleeping with Oliver. She blames it on the whiskey but knows that wasn’t the entire reason it happened. She’s falling in love with Oliver. Then Everly gets a text from Allyn, letting her know that she and her kids are on their way.

Augusta, Melody, and the children have made it to the lifeboats. Augusta worries about Lilly and Henry. However, there is no time for her to look for them. Lamar finds Augusta along with his wife and children. He takes off his jacket, and Augusta sees an ornate pocket watch that had been her grandfather’s before it had been given to Lamar.

First Mate Hibbert arrives, bloody and bruised. Augusta asks what happened to him, and he says the last he remembers he was in the wheelhouse, and now he is here. Lamar grabs boards for Augusta and his family to use as makeshift oars. Augusta sees Henry helping a woman climb the unstable stairs.

Charles grabs Augusta’s hand, saying, “We will be saved” (107). As the lifeboat is lowered, Henry hands Augusta a tin cup for bailing water. She begs him to join them, but Henry refuses and tells her he will find them.

The rest of the lifeboats are full, causing those left on the deck to rush into Augusta’s boat. It is quickly overfilled, and, in a panic, Augusta tries to climb back on the Pulaski. Lamar begs her to stay, and she does. She pulls Thomas onto her lap, promising to keep him safe. Waves surge under the lifeboat as it plunges into the ocean. The sides of the boat crack, and it capsizes.

Everly’s maternal family arrived in Savannah with Savannah’s founder. The women in her family founded the first orphanage and the Georgia Historical Society. On her father and Papa’s side, her ancestors were the same Irish immigrants as Mora’s family. Everly considers her family’s heritage as she lets Allyn and her two children, Merily and Hudson, into her apartment.

Allyn notices the photos Everly has collected and asks her about them. Everly tells her sister they are for her exhibit on the Pulaski. Allyn’s children get excited when Everly tells them about the shipwreck and the artifacts. Merrily picks up a photo of a pocket watch, and Everly explains that it is an artifact pulled from the wreckage.

The sisters wish Papa were there so he could learn about Lilly Forsyth’s fate. Allyn asks Everly if she’s ready to work with Oliver. Everly replies that both she and Oliver are “adrift.” Allyn tells her everyone feels that way, and she hopes Everly has stopped looking for the man who killed Mora. Everly says she’ll never stop. Allyn wants Everly to be careful about both the search for the mystery man and the curation with Oliver. Everly tells her she’ll stop working on the exhibit if things with Oliver get too difficult. Allyn says that quitting isn’t in Everly’s character.

At midnight on the Pulaski, Lilly sees a man from Savannah named Mr. Couper. Lilly, Priscilla, and Madeline join his group, and they make their way to a lifeboat. He takes Madeline from Lilly, telling her she must jump onto the boat, and he’ll hand her daughter to her. Reluctantly, Lilly agrees, and she and Priscilla jump. Lilly reaches for Madeline, but the steamship is sinking. Mr. Couper slides down the side of the ship into the waves with Madeline in his arms. He swims to the lifeboat and hands Madeline to Lilly. Mr. Couper climbs onto the lifeboat. Mr. Couper orders people to paddle so they don’t get caught in the vortex caused by the sinking ship. A woman cries for her missing family. As they get further away, the Pulaski sinks.

Lilly and Priscilla hear a man calling for help, offering to pay for a spot on a lifeboat. They quickly realize it is Adam. Lilly knows if she told Mr. Couper the man was her husband, he would stop to save him. She keeps silent. Mr. Couper and the other man paddle toward the lifeboat being led by First Mate Hibbert. A woman begs them to save more people, but Mr. Couper believes that those in the lifeboats must make it to land to find help. The boat can’t take more weight. Someone asks for the captain, and Mr. Couper insists the first mate is just as capable. Lilly covers her ears, blocking out the desperate pleas for help. She vows to save Madeline.

Everly and Maddox go to the Georgia Historical Society. Maddox asks her if facts or legends are more interesting. Everly says, “The legends, of course. I mean, even we historians know no one remembers dates. We’re captivated by stories” (123).

At the historical society, Maddox asks how long her family has been in her childhood home. Everly explains that her father’s family bought it from her mom’s ancestors. They get a folder with photocopied articles. There isn’t much information on Lilly Forsyth. Maddox and Everly realize that people didn’t know the Pulaski sank until a week later. Lamar Longstreet invested in the Pulaski, and they find a partial manifest. Adam Forsyth survived the sinking and stood at the water’s edge for two days looking for Lilly until he collapsed. Maddox asks if Everly has any idea what happened to Lilly, but she has no idea. She says it is hard to find someone who doesn’t want to be found, like the driver who hit Mora. She starts to have a panic attack, and Maddox suggests they move on. Everly looks at Maddox and realizes he understands her grief. She knows she’ll never talk about Mora with a therapist, but she might to Maddox, because he would know the guilt she feels.

As the lifeboat capsizes, Augusta thinks that she is about to die. She barely stays afloat while holding Thomas. Augusta accidentally grabs a corpse and screams when she realizes what it is. She desperately holds Thomas above the waves and finally finds a piece of wood that will support them. She looks around for the rest of the Longstreet family but doesn’t see anyone. She worries that she and Thomas are all that is left.

Augusta hears Eliza calling for help. As Augusta reaches for her, Thomas begins to slip away. Without thinking, she grabs Thomas, and Eliza drowns. Devastated, Augusta realizes she chose Thomas over his sister. Augusta is surrounded by floating wreckage. There is a large piece with many passengers huddled together. She swims to it and lifts Thomas aboard. Augusta starts to sink beneath the waves, but Lamar appears and drags her onto the floating wreckage. She asks Lamar about the rest of the Longstreets, including Lilly and Madeline. Lamar says they must have hope. Charles appears, and the group has a brief reunion until a wave tosses Augusta back into the ocean. She grabs onto a trunk and uses it to return to the deck, but Thomas and Charles are nowhere in sight. Augusta screams.

Everly stays up late reading articles she found in the archive. One article details Lamar and Charles Longstreet’s business dealings. It confirms that at least three members of the Longstreet family survived the wreck: Lamar, Charles, and Adam.

Now that it is summer break, Everly has the time she needs for research and curation. Papa’s favorite phrase, “everything changed,” runs through her mind as she reads. She calls everyone she can think of who might know where any Longstreet papers are, but she has no luck.

Everly goes to the riverfront and imagines what it would be like to board the Pulaski. Later, she considers the timeline from when the ship left Savannah to when the lifeboats headed toward the North Carolina coast. Exhausted from her work, Everly falls asleep.

In the morning, Everly wakes up when Oliver knocks on her door. She cleans herself up and lets him in. Oliver brought breakfast. As they eat, he looks at her research. Everly compliments the flowers he leaves at Mora’s grave. He says they are not from him. They both admit to still searching for the driver. Everly wishes she had done things differently, maybe even switched positions with Mora. They get into an argument. Everly accuses Oliver of moving on too quickly. Oliver argues that she doesn’t know anything, since she ignored him for months. Everly apologizes. She gets a text from Maddox. There are several artifacts that she should look at. Oliver leaves.

Everly leaves for North Carolina to meet Maddox. He invites her on his boat, and she meets the rest of the crew. As Everly interviews them, Maddox discusses how sea travel was never safe, but people wanted to believe the promises of the people who built the Pulaski.

Maddox invites Everly below deck to look at the newly cleaned artifacts, which include the pocket watch she previously saw. Its face is shattered, freezing the hands at 11:04. Everly connects the time with when Mora died and feels as if the ship is lurching.

Lilly’s lifeboat moves aimlessly. She has learned the names of the people onboard: Barney, a seaman; Solomon, a Black waiter; Mr. Pooler and his teenage son; Mr. Harris from New York; and Mrs. Bird. Men on another lifeboat are covered in burns from the fire. Lilly thinks they will die by morning. Lilly feels guilty that she allowed Adam to die. Madeline is hungry. Lilly hands her to Priscilla, sad that she can’t feed her daughter and that Priscilla lost hers during childbirth.

As the two lean into each other, Lilly realizes they are being stared at. Under normal circumstances, it would have been inappropriate for a white woman and an enslaved woman to be so close. Hesitantly, Lilly asks if Priscilla’s child was Adam’s. Priscilla tells her it was not. Lilly offers condolences.

Everly and Maddox go to a restaurant, and Maddox tries to understand Everly’s reaction to the artifacts. Everly was disoriented by the pocket watch and how time had, in a way, stopped. She wonders if what they are doing with the wreck is akin to desecrating a tomb. To Maddox, they are honoring the wreck, not desecrating it. Everly is unable to make sense of it all, unclear if she is talking about herself or the Pulaski. Everly would rather hear about his grief, trauma, and guilt now that she has recognized it in him. He says they aren’t talking about him and presses her to tell him what she’s trying to forget.

Everly still feels guilty about Mora’s death. She thinks the world should have stopped when Mora died. Nothing Everly has tried relieves her guilt. She wishes it had been she who died. Maddox says he’s there for her and adds, “We are the ones who make meaning out of the tragedies” (168). Everly is drained, and Maddox lets her stay in his room at the inn to rest. Maddox believes she’ll find her way. Everly doubts it.

Augusta stops screaming when Lamar finds her. He covers her with a blanket from a man named Mr. Hutchinson. The men will tie together pieces of floating wood to keep the wreckage buoyant. A small child is found. Augusta is disappointed when it is someone else’s. The girl reunites with her father, but grief overwhelms Augusta. Soon after, Thomas is found. Augusta holds on to him all night. In the morning, Mr. Hutchinson offers to help Augusta, and she wonders what anyone could do to help. He massages her freezing feet.

Augusta asks Lamar if he saw Henry. Lamar hopes he made it onto a lifeboat. When Augusta despairs, a man finds his wife, still barely alive, and saves her. There is hope. Lamar is devastated he brought his family on the ship. If his wife and missing children are dead, then he can’t go on. Augusta promises they’ll help each other survive.

Everly wakes up disoriented. She’s embarrassed by her conversation with Maddox. He left a note telling her to stay as long as she needs, but she is intent on leaving. Everly heads home to Georgia. She thanks Maddox for the room via text. She vows to stop conflating her tragedy with the Pulaski. She calls Oliver but gets his voicemail. She realizes she has no idea what Oliver does with his time.

Everly hasn’t dived since Mora died, but now, having seen the artifacts from Pulaski, memories of her first dive remind her how life-changing it is. Everly goes to the museum. She’s setting up her workspace when she gets a call from Margarite Mulvaney, a descendant of Lamar. She doesn’t have papers from anyone who was on the Pulaski. Oliver arrives and Everly ends the call. They talk about the artifacts, and Everly outlines the information she found. It feels like a goose chase. Oliver tells her she’s making her job too hard; they don’t need complete family profiles. Everly disagrees, arguing that making the exhibit personal will make it impactful. He then asks her about the Pulaski painting in her mother’s library, and Everly realizes she doesn’t know where it came from.

Oliver sees the photo of the pocket watch and reacts similarly to how Everly did. Oliver excuses himself. Once he’s gone, Everly researches Maddox Wagner. She sees articles about a female graduate student dying on a dive he led and others that detail how he was fired in the aftermath. Her mind spins, but before she can dwell on it, she gets an alert reminding her to pick up Allyn’s birthday cake.

Mrs. Bird swears off sea travel. The two lifeboats float alongside each other as Lilly hears the dying moans of a Black fireman. Mr. Couper shields his passengers from the sight of a body being buried at sea. Lilly disassociates, imagining a woman frolicking through a meadow. Once, when she and Augusta were little, she wanted to play with the enslaved children. Augusta told her not to, as the slaves would be punished. Madeline’s cries bring her back to the present. Everyone is hot, dehydrated, and close to death. Mrs. Bird offers to take Madeline, but Lilly says they will be fine. Mrs. Bird is amazed at their familiarity. Finally, First Mate Hibbert spots land. They will survive.