Reality bites as final rays of hope fade

THE bracing sea air that once carried prayers of hopefulness now hangs heavy with sorrow and grief as the news hits home.

- CHRISTOPHER BUCKTIN

When the confirmation of the five Titanic tourists’ deaths permeated throughout this colourful coastal city, it delivered a gut-wrenching blow to St John’s.

The small slivers of hope, which had remained after the five men’s oxygen supplies ran out, quickly dissipated, brutally exchanged for the reality we all refused to accept.

This small Newfoundland city, a harbour in the tempest for mariners, has always weathered storms and held on to resilience. But the mood has shifted here from misgiving to one of mourning.

The bustling streets, usually filled with the constant hum of a busy shoreside town, now ring with a deafening silence.