She was screaming pointlessly and hopelessly

[alpacinou]

Does this work?

The ship was sinking. A little girl was on the tilting deck, screaming hopelessly and pointlessly.

 

[emsr2d2]

I don't think "pointlessly" works. Of course, screaming when a ship is sinking is pretty pointless but I don't think that needs to be pointed out. To be honest, the same goes for "hopelessly". I'd use something like "screaming in abject terror".

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Both words make a kind of sense, but it's more likely that she was screaming helplessly.