THE MYSTERIOUS TITANIC AFFAIR

THE MYSTERIOUS TITANIC AFFAIR

Titanic’s Fatal Flaws

Mysteries Unsolved

Tea for Titanic

he is forever seated

in bits of a ship
long
passed away.
there are elements of terror
imbedded in the
ephemeral steel,
surrounding him.
waiting, waiting, waiting for her,
waiting for voices of the dead,
to find a way to speak anew
from the deeper decks
of their souls.
they are one, now,
able to create an image;
the end of time

Mike O’Connell

Violet Jessop was her name—Violet Constance Jessop...and for a fraction of a second Violet’s eyes captured the bright Mediterranean sunlight glancing off the swiftly descending huge bronze propeller disk. It’s sharp edge cut into the wood of the lifeboat shattering it with a violent crashing noise. In that instant the lifeboat was destroyed. In the same instant Violet jumped out of it to save her life. Around her floated those who had not jumped in time; the dead, the dying and the badly injured. Being on that lifeboat had nearly taken away her life. It was the second lifeboat in her life. The first lifeboat she was on had saved her life, it was from the Titanic.

Violet had survived the sinking of ocean liners twice within four years by means of lifeboats. The first from the Titanic, the second from the Britannic, the sister ship to the Titanic. Both ships would have been considered unsinkable years earlier but circumstances proved otherwise. There was a third sister ship, the first to be launched of the trio, the HMS Olympic. Violet was a stewardess on all three ships; an extremely unique occurrence in the annals of naval lore. It is this uniqueness that provides the intertwined threads of the stories surrounding these three ships and their interaction.

Like real life sisters, the three sister ships influenced the circumstances of each other and in some ways their ultimate fate. Violet in her later years wrote of her experiences on these ships in a memoir that only recently has surfaced much like its author had in the Mediterranean. That memoir, which contains within its words the fateful story threads of those ships, has been the inspiration for this book.

Preamble to this author's story of the Titanic sinking

The sinking of the famous and infamous luxury liner Titanic has titillated, entertained and evoked emotions of countless millions of people worldwide for over 100 years. Many millions of dollars have been spent exploring the sunken wreck on the ocean floor and in analyzing the evidence gather in the dark abyss. Expensive docudramas have been produced for the silver screen and television. Much ink has been consumed by those producing the written word.

A number of statements and conclusions have been made by the experts, beginning with the initial U.S. and British inquiries one hundred years ago; such as: why did it sink; why did it sink so quickly; and who was responsible for the disaster? Time and time again the answers provided by the various experts have been proven wrong. For example the essence of some of the prevailing expert opinion is that no ship could have survived what the Titanic endured, not even a modern one. Is that true? Would a modern ship easily survive such a collision with an iceberg? Could it be that not a single person would have been injured let alone lose their life as did the 1517 souls aboard the Titanic if the technology had been different?.

Every Titanic buff knows about the S.S. California supposed fiasco; but even if it had tried to arrive in time would there still have been fatalities? After the collision, were mistakes made by individuals on board the Titanic that led to the premature sinking and the consequent death of one and half thousand innocent victims before the S.S. California could have arrived? Is it true that he first ship to arrive, the rescue ship S.S. Carpathia would never had a chance to arrive in time?

Walter Lord gives a warning in the conclusion to his book "A Night To Remember" which he wrote with some premonition as I see it:

"It is a rash man indeed who would set himself up as the final arbiter on all that happened the incredible night the Titanic went down."

How rash is it to claim the titanic had fatal flaws and that mysteries remain to be solved? Are the experts sometimes correct and sometimes incorrect in trying to explain what happened that night when the unsinkable Titanic sank causing incredible horror for so many?

I may not be the final arbiter on the Titanic affair bur I do make a rash claim: it was the explosion of one or more boilers that tore the ship apart and scattered wreckage over a large area of the sea floor. It is the purpose of this book to substantiate this claim and others through research and analytical evidence.

Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION and BACKGROUND

There were elements of coincidence if not serendipity to it. A librarian had placed a book on an open part of a shelf containing books which were of little interest to me, but that one was. “TITANIC SURVIVOR” the cover shouted at me. I took it home. It was not an especially new book as it turned out but I was unaware of its existence. So it was shear chance that it was placed out of place on exhibit and I happened to notice it or this book wouldn’t have been written. Reading Titanic Survivor was not only inspirational but it has brought back memories and new thoughts I wish to share.

Violet Jessop was the survivor’s name. She was one of the few who survived the sinking of the largest moving machine mankind had constructed up to that point in history…the Titanic. She had written of this great tragedy as part of a memoir that had never been published although she tried to have this happen. It took a measure of more coincidences for it to see the light of day and then be made available for book readers. A naval historian, John Maxtone-Graham, fortuitously happened to interview Violet shortly before her death at age eight-four in 1970 and he alone was able to capture more of her story for the world. Years later, again through unusual coincidences, John came upon the memoir and then introduced, edited, and annotated Violet’s story in his book (Reference 1).

[John Maxtone-Graham left this veil of tears in 2016 at age 85.]

I must refrain from even summarizing the remarkable nature of the happenstances that brought Violet’s manuscript into John’s possession. These incidents are not the subject matter I wish to discuss. Still I must give you just a taste of the memoir and I quote from John’s introduction….”Much of Violet’s prose flows beautifully and she knows how to tell a good yarn. It has been my experience that everyone employed aboard passenger vessels—from master to cruise director—inevitably threatens to write their memoirs. But very few do and never before, to my knowledge, has a stewardess. So that is the greatest plus of all, that an articulate witness to memorable maritime events –one of which has fascinated the world ever since—has left an unique record.”

Violet Jessop was a stewardess aboard the Titanic and also aboard the two sister ships, the Olympic and Britannic. She was aboard the Britannic when, as a hospital ship during WWI, it struck a submerged mine and rapidly sank. Although she was uninjured in the Titanic sinking she was wounded in the latter. By her account it would seem miraculous that she wasn’t badly injured or killed as many were. Her forty some years of maritime duty where she not only witnessed but was involved with the destruction of large ocean liners and other vessels gives her unique authority in the description of these events.

Violet bore a striking resemblance to the petite English lass I had a crush on in high school (crush was the street word we used back then to express unrequited affection). I was reminded of my unsuccessful pursuit of the object of my fantasies; unsuccessful in that we never even dated.

John’s book’s relates the unhappy romantic life that was Violet’s lot and it had certain resemblance to my own which further strengthened our ties; but it was those memories stirred by the book of my fascination with maritime foundering’s which are pertinent here. Following high school graduation, my “crush” and I parted ways never to see each other again much like what happened to Violet and her first love. I went on to get an engineering degree at the University of Wisconsin where the campus is located on the shores of picturesque Lake Mendota. In my later years I was employed in the research laboratory of a large rather well known corporation where I exhibited certain skills related to fluid dynamics and mathematics, and where I published technical papers which showed forth those skills (see Bibliography). More to the point here I also was found to have some latent skill in analysis related to what today is called forensic engineering. Some of my duties involved the investigation of explosions for which I presented my findings at trial. So perhaps it is understandable that I have retained an interest in such matters since retirement. [The large corporation was the infamous Enron which came to calamitous end long after I was forced to leave. I can now joke that Enron was the end of Ron, at least professionally]

Titanic Background

Some readers may appreciate a brief review of the Titanic story. Those who are ‘affections’, and who know more Titanic lore than the author, will want to skip over this part. Titanic’s story should begin when her construction was started; this would officially be when the “keel was laid down” in March of 1909. Of course much relevant activity had taken place before this. Bruce Ismay, the Managing Director and chief stockholder of the White Star Line, and his counterpart Lord Pierre at Harland and Wolf, the builder, had met years before to agree on strategy. The strategy was simple but daring—build three technologically cutting edge ships, each much larger than any then in existence and more magnificent in appointment; and thereby capture the bourgeoning and lucrative first class transatlantic passenger trade.

From a legal standpoint and financial bookkeeping standpoint, the White Star Line (WSL) and Harland and Wolf (H&W) had been separate entities but in essence they were one company with two divisions; H&W which built the ships and WSL which operated them. It was a cozy arrangement that worked well. To maintain appearances, H&W headquarters were in Belfast Scotland where it had originated, and WSL headquarters were in Liverpool England where it had originated. However, some years prior, WSL had been purchased under duress by the American monopolist J.P. Morgan supposedly with encouragement from Pierre. In effect Ismay, who was on board the Titanic the night it sank, was a British citizen under an American thumb being paid with American dollars. H&W is still in operation and I saw firsthand their nameplate on the turbine reduction gearing for the Queen Mary floating museum in San Diego.

Both companies had excellent reputations and H&W was a recognized world leader in building ships technologically advanced yet economical to operate with lower than usual maintenance costs. Of the three sister ships built to the same basic design, the Olympic was first and had her maiden voyage to New York in May of 1911. The Titanic was already under construction with the Britannic coming along not too much later. The H&W design which was used was above reproach although not conservative enough for Thomas Andrews, Nephew of Pierre and the technical director of H&W. His first design rendition was rejected by the WSL board of directors after a design review by WSL suggested it would not be cost effective and too costly to operate at high speed. Compromise led to a thinner steel hull, weaker but still adequate, and far fewer lifeboats but still above British legal requirements. All three ships were built to this compromise design. After Titanic faltered, modifications were made to the remaining two.

Unlike her sister ships, Titanic and Britannic, HMS Olympic did not suffer a premature ending. After a long and successful career she was scrapped in 1935. Britannic, like the Titanic, lies on the ocean floor, having been sunk by a mine in the Mediterranean during WWI. At least she had completed a number of voyages as a hospital ship before she sank. HMS Britannic has the distinction of being the largest liner on the sea bottom (at least for now).

HMS Olympic did well on her sea trials with only minor adjustments to the hull being necessary (remarkable for a new design concept and being 25% larger than any other ship then afloat). Because of this success, Titanic’s sea trials were said and done with very quickly and she was immediately pressed into service. It came as quite a shock then when Titanic sank on her maiden voyage to New York after only a few thousand miles at sea. Although many have made much of Titanic being the largest moving object etc., she was only slightly heavier than the Olympic.

Titanic left Southampton on April 10, 1912 on her maiden voyage with a somewhat less than maximum capacity of passenger and cargo. Her itinerary took her first across the channel to Cherbourg France and then back to Queenstown Ireland to pick up additional passengers and mail. Then it was across the Atlantic following the normal great circle route to New York.

The weather was abnormally mild for a spring crossing although more nippy than usual. Very calm seas prevailed. After four days of successful steaming, Sunday evening dinner was reported to be quite jubilant. Too jubilant perhaps; the leaders on board decided to push their luck and be less than prudent. The usual practice at the time, as far as complicated steam powered vessels were concerned, was to ‘break-in’ the vessels machinery gradually over months of operation. WSL, apparently with H&W consent, had pushed the Olympic in this regard and quite successfully so. And so it was, starting Sunday evening, that the people in charge, disregarding all caution, had the Titanic’s speed gradually increased above its rated design sustained speed for the first time. A record crossing time for WSL was being sought for the glory of all.

The night was clear and cold. Above the horizon the stars shown with unusual brilliance, but at sea level slight vapor condensation reduced visibility. South of Newfoundland an extremely unusual and very large ice pack had formed and had pushed its way into the normal sea route right where Titanic was, with two-thirds of her voyage completed. The Titanic bridge crew had received many telegraph ice warnings during the course of the day and Captain Smith even made a course correction because of them to take the ship further south. Unfortunately, one of the last warnings sent out that evening; one that relayed information of large icebergs directly in the path of the Titanic, although received by Titanic’s telegraphers, never made it to the bridge. That Sunday evening, at twenty minutes to twelve, a giant iceberg was sighted but not in time. Despite a desperate avoidance maneuver, a glancing collision with the iceberg resulted and that is where our Titanic story begins.

A number of survivors recalled hearing a tremendous roar go up as the ship went under. Some have explained the “roar” having been caused by equipment (i.e. boilers and engines) breaking loose and cascading down a vertical or nearly vertical hull destroying bulkheads in the process. One survivor sketched a view showing both the bow and stern pointing upward with the majority of the hull under water. Other survivors remembered the stern portion first sinking then falling back to the surface giving them some hope for refuge, only to see it seemly pulled down almost vertically as depicted in the movie “Titanic”. The accounts differ and some are contradictory which makes the Titanic story fascinating if not mysterious; contentious and a breeding ground for a variety of theories such as the one in this book.

Violet’s Background and Her Maritime Incidents

There is very much a human side to the Titanic tragedy. It can be found in the movies, television documentaries and in the hundreds of books and articles that have been written about it. None more so than Walter Lord’s book “A Night to Remember” which perhaps was the main impetus behind the tremendous interest that the public has developed. One movie in particular has stuck with me and the repeated calls Jack, Jack, Jack … and Rose, Rose, Rose…still ring in my mind.

This book is about the sinking of the Titanic and is basically technical in nature but the human element is essential to an understanding of the sinking events and cannot be ignored. As part of the human element I feel that Violet must also not be ignored. So anonymous was the person Violet Jessop to the telling of the Titanic story that no mention of her or her life is made in the docudramas for movie and television. It is not much better in books with the exception of Maxtone-Graham’s book. Even Maxtone-Graham appears to be desperate to find affirmation because he seems to think it was Violet alluded to by the Titanic survivor and author Colonel Archibald Gracie, who wrote the book “The Truth about the Titanic”; since John extracts a quote from Gracie for his forward.

[The facts speak otherwise. Violet was put into lifeboat No. 16 under supervision of Lightoller, not lifeboat No.7 under Murdoc.]

Even Walter Lord, who interviewed hundreds of survivors, overlooked her. Violet sought anonymity herself—she tried to publish her memoir under the pseudonym Constance Ransom. Did this reflect her sub-conscience desire not to mentally rehearse the horrors she had endured? She does not speak of them in her memoir. Just as in the case of the Titanic, there are details of Violet’s life we will never know the truth of for sure. Nonetheless, Violet Jessop is a remarkable star witness and heroine particularly in the eyes of this author, and as such her story is part of my Titanic story.

Violet was born in Australia to Irish immigrants who were seeking a better life by raising sheep. Much of her childhood was spent in fighting various diseases which left her with diminished lung capacity; a fact which makes her underwater survival in the Britannic disaster even more remarkable. Being the eldest, and despite her ill health at times she found herself in charge of the numerous brood her petite and frail mother was unable to cope with. Her father’s death (perhaps premature from an operation gone awry) forced a return to London England and close relatives. The financial situation became precarious. To support the family, Violet’s mother took a job as an ocean going stewardess while the surviving children were placed in a Catholic orphanage; except for Violet and her very young sister [less than five] who eventually found refuge together in a convent-boarding-school.

It seems that the happiest period of Violet’s life was that spent at the convent. John Maxtone-Graham’s appraisal of her life was: “Violet patently cherished a taste of the normal adolescence of which she had, for too long, been so deprived”. Her memoir leads the reader to believe Violet was a bright student who was inherently attracted to education both in Argentina and England. Her parenting responsibilities ingrained in early youth overwhelmed her and she reluctantly gave up her studies. Instead she became an ocean going stewardess like her mother (who probably helped get her the job). Here I quote Violet: “I must confess that in closing my books for good, something completely went out of my life, leaving an ache behind.” She was twenty-one.

Violet did quite well at her chosen career despite the fact she disliked almost every aspect of being a stewardess and made no secret of it. Her maritime career began near the end of October in 1908 when she hired on as a stewardess for the Royal Mail line’s SS Orinoco. Violet worked for the Royal Mail ship line for two years and did so well she was able to land a position with prestigious White Star Line despite her youth. Within one year she was promoted to the ultimate of ships—the luxurious RMS Olympic. Her promotion came one month too late and Violet missed out on the tumultuous reception in New York the brand new White Star liner Olympic received.

In 1912, a string of bad luck for the White Star line began to unravel. The Olympic, with Violet on board, left the port of Southampton bound for New York City, There was a collision between the RMS Olympic, under the command of the port pilot, and the British warship HMS Hawke in a tricky channel. A cruiser, considerably smaller than the Olympic, Hawke had a reinforced bow designed for ramming and sinking enemy vessels. Damage to the Hawke was extensive, but the Olympic barely quivered. Violet never mentions the collision in her memoir probably because she was busy getting her passenger responsibilities taken care of and was not an eye witness. There can be no doubt she later became aware because the voyage was canceled and Olympic had to return to South Hampton. While not in command during the collision, Captain Smith was on the bridge of the Olympic.

This incident cost Violet more than two month’s pay while the Olympic was in dry dock back in Belfast where it was built to have the huge gash in its hull repaired. The collision omission from her memoir is thus a bit mysterious. More mysterious is the fact that the damage to the Olympic included a bent propeller drive shaft and to expedite a return to service a replacement was taken from the Titanic still under construction thereby delaying the latter’s completion by a month or more. This in turn had a traumatic effect on Titanic’s published sailing schedule etc. and some claim that the later sailing time was one link in the circumstantial event chain that led to the Titanic tragedy.

Despite this lost time, in this one year Violet made ten voyages as stewardess on the Olympic. Then once more bad luck struck the White Star Line. In mid-Atlantic. March 1912, Olympic lost a propeller in collision with a submerged object. Then her bridge was damaged by a huge rogue wave. It was repair time again.

Consequently Violet was transferred to the even more luxurious Titanic but not without losing several months’ pay. Captain Smith was transferred also along with other crew. Being hired onto the Titanic with Smith as captain for the maiden voyage was an honor, a signal event in a seafarers life. Violet was obviously well thought of by White Star Line management so much so that she was a stewardess for the more sensitive well-to-do folks in First Class.

Again Violet makes no mention in her memoir about another auspicious incident that occurred at the beginning of the maiden voyage. Leaving the dock area in Southampton, the Titanic passes several ships moored because of a coal strike. One, the New York, is pulled to the Titanic by the Titanic’s propeller suction and snaps its restraining hawsers. The two ships nearly collide but quick thinking by Captain Smith (perhaps as a consequence of the Hawke collision) averts it. No damage is done but the incident is given bad press by the superstitious. Analysts seem to overlook the fact that the coal strike had markedly decreased sea traffic thereby reducing the possibility for a rescue ship to be when the Titanic collided with the iceberg. Possibly another link in the chain.

Violet wrote very little about the Titanic tragedy or its impact on her life. Here is what she remembered of the initial impact writing her memoir years later:

”Crash!....Then a low, rending, crunching, ripping sound, as Titanic shivered a trifle and the sound of her engines gently ceased”

Violet was in her bunk reading when the collision occurred. From all accounts she then dressed and attended to those in her charge. Later she was put into lifeboat No.16 which was furthest aft on the port side to induce other reluctant women to climb aboard, especially the non-English speaking immigrants. One of the last to be launched, it was lowered about an hour and a half after the collision. Over an hour later the great ship went under.

Next we have her remembrances aboard lifeboat No.16: “…… I sat paralyzed with cold and misery, as I watched Titanic give a lurch forward. One of the huge funnels toppled off like a cardboard model, falling into the water with a fearful roar. A few cries came to us across the water, then silence, as the ship seemed to right itself like a hurt animal with a broken back. She settled for a few moments, but one more deck of lighted ports [portholes] disappeared. Then she went down by the head with a thundering roar of underwater explosions, our proud ship, our beautiful Titanic gone to her doom.”

“It is only when something is over, when your mind is detached from immediate surroundings, that you visualize actual details. One of these surviving officers had gone down with the ship and then been blown up with the explosion; he somehow managed to get clear and was picked up by one of the boats. “

Maxtone-Graham then inserts the following comment in his book:

“This was, of course, Second Officer Herbert "Lights" Lightoller who, struggling in the water near the sinking ship, had been drawn down and affixed atop an engine room grating as sea water flooded into it. But that same flow of water proved the instrument of his salvation. It apparently struck a still-hot boiler, fracturing it. The ensuing explosion miraculously blew Lightoller clear of the wreck and he managed to clamber aboard an overturned Englehardt collapsible lifeboat that had been launched inverted when Titanic went down. His subsequent leadership throughout the night on that overturned boat with thirty precarious survivors standing atop it remains one of the most heroic sagas of the wreck.”

There you have it—a seasoned veteran of the seas using the words explosion(s) and an authoritarian naval historian backing her up with the same words. These passages triggered my return to writing of this disaster and subsequent re-analysis based on the explosion premise. It is ironic that it was Lightoller’s testimony during the hearings that the Titanic sank intact, which is what I think led to the present day dismissal of boiler explosions being involved in the sinking. I find it remarkable, perhaps even incredible, that the other technological experts, and there are many involved, refrain, for reasons best known to them, from even considering boiler explosions in their forensic analysis of the Titanic disaster.

Following her short lived duties on Titanic, Violet went back as a stewardess on several different ships one of which was again the Olympic. She was reluctant to do so and I quote: “I knew that if I meant to continue my sea life, I would have to return at once. Otherwise I would lose my nerve, for I had no love for it. But I needed the work.” One voyage was as a stewardess on P&O’s SS Malwa while the Olympic was in dry-docks for mandated upgrades emanating from the Titanic disaster. This voyage she had arranged purposely to visit with her true love, Ned, formerly an engineer, she had met on one her first ships. Still unmarried, Ned lived with his family in Australia. Naively hoping the visit would culminate in a formalization of their romance; the result was tragic instead. Violet was almost twenty six.

On her fourteenth Olympic voyage following the Titanic sinking, Violet witnessed the sinking of the British battleship HMS Audacious in October of 1914. The Audacious was a brand new battleship for the Royal Navy when, during gunnery practice it struck a German mine which did more harm to the ship then it should have. By chance, the Olympic was in the vicinity and was able to rescue most of the Audacious crew with her lifeboats (other nearby vessels also helped in the rescue).

It is doubtful the Violet witnessed the violent ending of the Audacious. In her memoir she reports seeing the sinking ship at sunset. The rescue of sailors took place before that time and the Captain would not have lingered around with submarines lurking. By 9:00 pm the Olympic would have probably been many miles away precluding any eye and ear witness by Violet. Nonetheless through some experience or other Violet would distinctly relate that there were underwater explosions in addition to the “roar”.

Violet must have thought that it could have just as well have been the Olympic hitting the mine instead of the Audacious. With the Titanic sinking still a fresh memory, Violet decided to join the Red Cross.

[Although she was not on board the Lusitania when it was torpedoed on May 7, 1915, that sinking may also have influenced her employment decision.]

There were other reasons as well. World War I was now in earnest and the, Olympic was laid up because of the slump in sea traffic. Violet took up nursing as a “junior nurse” on shore in a Volunteer Aid Detachment or “V.A.D”. According to her Nieces who John interviewed, Violet was a natural born nurse. But before that, after a little more than a year in training as a V.A.D., and after first sailing to New York so as to recuperate from an infection related to nursing a patient (She had been also advised to recuperate from physical exhaustion and I suspect she found caring for military wounded more traumatic than the screams from those dying from hypothermia).

Violet’s star seems to be as cursed as that of the White Star Line . She finds herself assigned to a hospital ship as a Red Cross nurse. If she felt any apprehension about possible ship disasters her memoir doesn’t reveal it; instead she is looking forward to reuniting with her brother serving in the military. Besides the hospital ship reminds her of the Olympic—huge and safe looking; it’s the sister ship to the Olympic after all—it’s the Britannic. Not to be lucky! The Britannic hits a mine, sinks out of sight in fifty five minutes and this time Violet is nearly killed. Now Violet has had enough of sea dangers and human suffering so at this point in her life she takes a desk job on land back in England. During WWII she took a job in a bank for a number of war years. At wars end she again joined White Star for five years on the Olympic and Majestic whereupon she was laid off during the depression. Next, at age 34 she encountered her best sea life doing world cruises, first with the Red Star line on the SS Belgenland, in many ways her favorite ship because of the crew, and then other ships for a total of thirteen years. During World War II she again was ashore for almost ten years doing clerical work. At age 61 she went back to sea for a two year stint and then gave up sea life entirely until her death in 1971 at age 84.

It is interesting to note that in her memoir she never mentions her many voyages aboard the Majestic; thirty eight in total according to John’s record keeping. This is second only to the Olympic where she had at least sixty two voyages. Besides those already mentioned, Violet sailed on seven other vessels and made no comment about them either, with the exception of the Titanic where she and other stewards and stewardesses personally expressed appreciation to the designer, Thomas Andrews, for upgrading their living quarters from that on the Olympic, which was already better than most in this regard,. In her memoir she lashes out at both passengers and crew not the ships.

There have been countless shipwrecks over the centuries and it is not the purpose here to even touch on the matter. I have read estimates that claim millions of shipwrecks have occurred and a great amount of information on the subject is available on the internet. A few wrecks in the twentieth century and since have some relevance and are considered next. The sinking of the Costa Concordia is a contemporary example of a large passenger vessel unexpectedly sinking.

In particular, we will be looking at the extent of damage, type of damage, cause of damage, and the rate of sinking. Only large ships are considered and only those with a relevance to the titanic sinking..

Costa Concordia

I’m sure most readers know that the Cruise ship Costa Concordia’s hull was subjected to forces well beyond design standards when the ship hit a rock outcropping which sliced open her port hull like a can opener. The engine room was immediately inundated with sea water and the diesel-electric propulsion system failed due to this immersion. Despite his other errors, the captain wisely used the emergency electrical power plant to enable the bow thrusters to turn the ship 180 degrees around. However the bow thrusters could not provide forward movement. Presumably, a fortuitous on shore breeze moved the ship some distance towards the safety of a nearby harbor area at the tiny Italian island and community called Giglio. Ironically this same breeze then pushed the ship against underwater rock outcroppings in the harbor shore puncturing the hull so that the ship capsized on its starboard side opposite the side where the initial damage was done. (I have been unable to locate a forensic analysis so this is my hypothesis as to why it capsized on the starboard side.) The relevance of the Costa Concordia sinking to the Titanic’s sinking lies in what scuba divers saw on the ocean bottom near the rock outcropping that had initially opened the hull. Those readers who have seen these images will recall that the divers found a ribbon of the ships steel hull neatly folded in a serpentine/accordion fashion. I remember it being about a foot wide; i.e. about ten times wider than thick. As mentioned in the introduction, my exposure to forensic situations has been very limited so this plastic folding of steel while immersed in cold water was eye opening. The forces necessary to do this must be rather large and the restraining conditions unique. Amazingly, recent underwater expeditions to the Titanic’s stern have returned images of similar accordion bending of hull pieces; even images of sharp bends where the rivets didn’t fail. I surmise from this that unusually high forces were exerted on Titanic’s stern shell as well. The implications of this will be considered latter.

Andria Doria

Like other large passenger liners of her era, the English Queens, the American United States and the French Normandy, the Italian Andria Doria was steam turbine powered. It sank as a result of a high speed collision with the Norwegian passenger liner Stockholm in fog off the US coast after she left the port of New York. The Stockholm’s bow pierced the starboard side to almost the centerline; well beyond the Andrea Doria design specifications, which were in accord with established standards. While both ships were using radar, radio communication was not used; a big factor in causation—both crews have been found to be at fault but no blame was ever affirmed in court and the shipping companies settled out of court. The Andrea Doria stayed afloat for almost half a day and could have lasted even longer had there not been a design error with the omission of an automatically closing bulkhead door to the generator room bulkhead in the service tunnel. The generators had to be shut down immediately and only emergency power was available which didn’t help matters any in the ships interior, especially with the exterior shrouded in fog. The Norway was not endangered and helped in the rescue of passengers. What is pertinent in this disaster is what happened during and immediately after the collision.

Reportedly, the Andrea Doria steam-turbine engines continued to run after the collision. This was in accord with what I have read concerning the instructions mandated to steam ship captains; one of the three which read to the effect: keep engines running in such emergencies. But I have not read of boiler shut down procedure(s) initiated at the bridge in an emergency situation. On the Titanic it is documented that the chief engineer in boiler room #6 ordered the boiler dampers closed following the alarm bell which announced watertight doors were closing. I presume this was also the case on the Andrea Doria. The captain of the Titanic seems to have followed the engine procedure as well; signaling “half speed ahead” after stopping the engines from full astern. This maneuver continued for several minutes until it became apparent that moving forward increased the rate of sinking and the engines were silenced forever. I have not read, so I must guess that this continuation was done to quickly reduce steam pressure in the boiler(s) and prevent an explosion. There is no evidence of a boiler explosion on the Andrea Doria and it appears (perhaps because of this procedure) that ship boiler explosions are very rare indeed.

[During peacetime that is; Erik Larson notes in his book the following: “[quoting a submarine captain following the torpedoing of a ship how the air forced out by incoming water] “…escapes with a shrill whistle from every possible aperture, and the sound resembles the shriek of a steam siren. This is a wonderful spectacle to behold.”—[Larson continues]: Often at this point stricken ships gave one last exhalation as water filled their boiler rooms, causing a final explosion and releasing a cloud of black smoke and soot, known to U-boat commanders as “the black soul”” There is no mention of boiler explosion in the Titanic hearings.]

Underwater images of the Andrea Doria produced soon after the accident show the sunken hull (now port side up) to be relatively undamaged despite hitting the ocean floor at a non-negligible velocity. This attests to the ship being well built, exceeding even today’s standards—a double hull and bulkheads up to “A” deck; and no evidence of boiler explosion. However, impact damage from the collision and additional hull damage to the starboard side on impacting the ocean bottom seems to lessoned structural integrity and the ship’s superstructure and interior are now disintegrating into the mud.

The damage to the Andrea Doria was extensive. The hull was split open to a width at least that of the Stockholm’s bow 40 ft. back; or I would guess a width somewhat less than maximum or about sixty-five feet. [Due to the rotation of the Stockholm after the collision the width may have been increased even more.] Vertically, the gash was from top to bottom, including the double bottom from bilge to nearly the keel: a vertical height of about 100 ft.. The fireman’s tunnel was pierced, allowing an unknown flow rate (at least to me) of sea water into the tunnel. Again for reasons unknown to me, this inflow proceeded unimpeded through the rest of the ship and caused her eventual sinking as noted previously. [Since the bulkheads rose to the bottom of “A” deck, the initial list to starboard of less than 20 degrees would not have caused sea water to flow over the top of the bulkheads as some have maintained.]

Despite the huge hole in the hull and damage to the double bottom, it took eleven hours for the ship to sink. This length of time is undoubtably due to the fact that watertight bulkheads on either side of the gash retained their integrity and equally important, the bulkhead watertight doors were closed. [I presume (since at this time I have not been able to verify) that these doors were hydraulically forced closed and not gravity operated like those on vessels of the Titanic generation.],

Wilhelm Gustloff

So why is it that the Titanic disaster remains at the forefront of public attention for 100 years now and counting—for that matter why am I blogging about it. One reason for it is rather obvious—the great drama-- with high society on board and their heroic and in some cases notorious conduct. And there is mystery and, as mentioned, unusual degree of coincidence. The interest is not necessarily do to the large number of people who did not survive, but instead perhaps the “who” that didn’t survive. In terms of numbers alone it pails into insignificance compared to natural disasters where hundreds of thousands perish in an instant but are little remembered by the general public within a few years. Even in terms of maritime disasters it ranks only as third. The record number of victims is held by the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff.

The Wilhelm Gustloff, needless to say a German vessel, was a large passenger liner built just prior to WW II and was diesel powered (so no boilers of importance in this case) but its relevance is a bit more than in fatalities. Overcrowded to the gills with refuges from the Russian front which was going badly for the Germans, the ship was torpedoed three times by a Russian submarine, one torpedo exploded in the engine room immediately disabling the vessel and it sank rather quickly drowning over 9,000 people, about half of them children.

Despite the torpedo explosions, the hull lies broken but relatively intact. As we all know now—not so with the Titanic, where the hull is broken into widely separated pieces and a large portion of the hull is missing entirely. Accurate information on the torpedo damage to the Wilhelm Gustloff does not seem to exist, but since the sinking time is approximate then speculative damage estimates may be allowed (I hope). Three torpedoes strike the ship; one between the bow and the bridge, a second somewhere under the bridge, and the third hit the large engine room probably in the bilge region. On average, torpedo damage (from torpedoes of that era) extended over an area with dimensions roughly thirty feet. All three torpedoes may have detonated near the double bottom since the hull broke into three pieces presumably from the bottom up when the ship struck the ocean floor vertically upright, It took the Wilhelm Gustloff seventy minutes to sink out of sight in less than 200 ft. of water.

Lusitania

On May 7, 1915, about three years after the Titanic sinking, another English large ocean liner went to the bottom; a victim, this time, of a German submarine; this was of course the Lusitania. Sailing from New York to England, the Lusitania supposedly was carrying only passengers and ordinary freight (at least as far as the passengers knew).

Despite a German warning, the ship was fully loaded with ordinary passengers. The freight was a different matter entirely—certainly not ordinary. Not all the passengers were ordinary though, there were a few that weren’t; like the multi-millionaire A.G. Vanderbilt, but still nothing resembling the glamour aboard the Titanic. The German military had proclaimed a war zone around the British Isles and any vessels, including passenger liners could be vulnerable to underwater mines and even submarine attack. Most of the ordinary passengers would have been unaware of the warning and even those that were, like Vanderbilt, dismissed it because of the liners great speed (the Lusitania was then the fastest passenger vessel on the seas). Cunard personnel lied to passengers that passage would be made at normal full speed in an attempt to assuage their anxiety if they had any. Captain Turner had no such intent and some boilers were never lit. Lusitania’s speed never exceeded 22 knots as a consequence. Although it was publicly stated by the Brits that the speed reduction was to conserve fuel, I suspect there was another reason for shutting down boiler room # 4. But was it boiler room # 4 in which the boilers were shut down?

In short, speed didn’t matter and bad luck coincidences overwhelmed it in any event. It took a major set of coincidences for a torpedo hit to occur to begin with. Call it luck if you will—good for the Germans and bad for the English. There were tremendous explosions initially, and at least one muffled one about half a minute later, that ripped apart the hull and the Lusitania disappeared quickly with over a thousand lives lost forever.

The relevance to the Titanic lies in the extent of damage done by the explosions on the Lusitania. Despite sinking below crushing depth, the hull, although badly broken and distorted, is still relatively intact; intact despite the explosions and despite depth charge bombing by the Brits apparently to destroy evidence. Again; this is not so with the Titanic.

I have become so intrigued with the Lusitania sinking that I’m devoting a separate blog to it. There are mysteries and unanswered questions still remaining after a hundred years. There is a high probability they will never be solved or answered satisfactorily or conclusively. Besides the boiler room # question, there are others like; why did Captain Turner not shut down the engines, why did it sink in eighteen minutes? And there is the mysterious second explosion, the muffled explosion, and depth charging. To read about my analysis of the Lusitania disaster, see my blog:

“lusitaniaconclusions.blogspot.com”

Oceanos

The cruise ship Oceanos was a relatively recent victim of a disastrous sinking, monetarily that is; a consequence of faulty design and poor maintenance. Its relevance is that these were not factors in the Titanic sinking. Despite accusations by some that the Titanic was poorly designed or improperly manufactured there is little evidence of this and I side with those who provide arguments to the contrary. There are those who argue that the coal bunker fire was poorly handled (sort of a maintenance issue). Many authorities disagree; and while I admit it may have hastened the end, in my analysis to be presented, other sources for the ship’s rapid flooding precluded the timely arrival of rescue ships anyway.

In the case of the Oceanos, the openings to the sea were evidently small initially. But because the crew abandoned ship early on, portholes were left open so that the ship eventually sank. Like the Andrea Doria, the sinking took place over a much greater time span than that for the Titanic. Following a “muffled explosion” at 8:45 pm, the ship gradually took on water, the ship was stopped and the electric generator was shut down. It took over six hours for the sinking when, at 3:30 the following afternoon, the Oceanos capsized and went down (on her starboard side of course)

Britannic

Britannic was the last built and, in small ways, the largest of the three White Star liners—the Olympic the first built and smallest. It, the Britannic, has the dubious distinction of still being the largest passenger liner on the ocean floor. Besides the fact that Violet Jessop was on board, the interest in this disaster lies in the unexplained rapidity of its sinking from a single mine explosion. Even though it sustained a hull opening not much larger than the Olympic sustained, within 55 minutes after the explosion the ship sank out of sight. The Olympic barely quivered (see below). Because of the mystery surrounding this sinking, a separate blog is devoted to the Britannic and Violet’s involvement. See my blog:

“britannicconclusions.blogspot.com”

Other Ships

Two other ships need brief mention and will also be considered latter on; the Audacious which was not a passenger liner and the Olympic which did not sink.

Audacious

Audacious was a British warship newly commissioned when it encountered a German laid underwater mine and rather rapidly sank much to the embarrassment of the British Admiralty. It had a design flaw; longitudinal coal bunkers which were favored at the time as added resistance to shell bombardment but with unfortunate greater vulnerability to mines and torpedoes. The ship quickly listed to starboard (another one) but then stabilized. Now the relevance to Titanic: by coincidence, a nearby passenger liner could render assistance by sending lifeboats to rescue the sailors before the Audacious sank. The liner was even involved in a futile attempt to tow the stricken warship to relatively nearby shallow water where salvage would have been possible. There was no chance for this because the Audacious turned turtle amid a fearsome explosion which sent a geyser of water and chunks of metal hundreds of feet into the air. One chunk of metal flew 800 yards and killed a sailor on a nearby ship. Authorities at the time explained the explosion was due to armament falling as the ship capsized. Despite the mortal wound the Audacious remained afloat for a considerable time; from 8:45 am when it struck the mine until 8:45 pm when it capsized and sank.

It is doubtful the Violet witnessed the violent ending of the Audacious. In her memoir she reports seeing the sinking ship at sunset. The rescue of sailors took place before that time and Captain Smith would not have lingered around with submarines lurking. By 9:00 pm the Olympic would have probably been many miles away precluding any eye and ear witness by Violet. Nonetheless through some experience or other Violet would distinctly relate that there were underwater explosions in addition to the “roar”.

Olympic

The Olympic must again return to the spotlight because the damage it sustained in the Hawke collision is so pertinent to my analysis. The Hawke although quite a bit smaller than the Olympic was reportedly traveling near its maximum speed; over 20 knots when it struck the Olympic near the stern (on the starboard side of course). The Hawke had a reinforced bow for enemy ship ramming so the resultant hole in the Olympic’s hull was not negligible.

2.4 Titanic’s final moments w/ Violet Jessup

Now we go back to the actual sinking of the Titanic during its final moments. A number of survivors recalled hearing a tremendous roar go up as the ship went under (including Violet). Some have explained the “roar” having been caused by equipment (i.e. boilers) breaking loose and cascading down a vertical or nearly vertical hull destroying bulkheads in the process. This will be discussed later. One survivor sketched a view showing both the bow and stern pointing upward with the majority of the hull under water. Other survivors remembered the stern portion first sinking then falling back to the surface giving them some hope for refuge, only to see it seemly pulled down almost vertically as depicted in the movie “Titanic” These witness accounts will be addressed later. Here is what Violet remembered as she wrote her memoir years later. The following is her account of the initial impact:

”Crash!....Then a low, rending, crunching, ripping sound, as Titanic shivered a trifle and the sound of her engines gently ceased”; (page 125 of John’s book).

The accounts of what happened during and after the crash by other survivors differ in detail from Violet’s recollection she had years later.

Next we have her remembrances aboard lifeboat #16:

“…… I sat paralyzed with cold and misery, as I watched Titanic give a lurch forward. One of the huge funnels toppled off like a cardboard model, falling into the water with a fearful roar. A few cries came to us across the water, then silence, as the ship seemed to right itself like a hurt animal with a broken back. She settled for a few moments, but one more deck of lighted ports [portholes] disappeared. Then she went down by the head with a thundering roar of underwater explosions, our proud ship, our beautiful Titanic gone to her doom.” (page 133 in John’s book).

Author Maxtone-Graham inserts an additional detail on page 140 of his book—(ref. 1): but first some remembrances by Violet that triggers his detail.

Maxtonel-Graham then inserts the following comment:

There you have it—a seasoned veteran of the seas using the words explosion(s) and an authoritarian naval historian backing her up with the same words. These passages triggered my return to writing of this disaster and subsequent re-analysis based on the explosion premise. It is ironic that it was Lightoller’s testimony during the hearings that the Titanic sank intact, and this is what I think led to the dismissal of boiler explosions being involved in the sinking. I find it remarkable, perhaps even incredible, that the other technological experts, and there are many involved, refrain, for reasons best known to them, from even considering boiler explosions in their forensic analysis of the Titanic disaster.

3. SIGNIFICANCE OF BOILER ROOM No. 6

It is somewhat difficult to separate out the true significance of boiler room No. 6 from what is public record and what is not. The inflow of water and the reaction of the ship’s personnel to it has been written about and dramatized over and over again. On the other hand, attention seems to be focused on saving boiler room No. 5 from flooding as if that will save the ship from sinking. In so doing, the audience has been deluded into downplaying the role of boiler room No 6 This then is the public record and part of the background to the Titanic sinking; and as such it could have been in the background section. But it is not in the background because of the special significance it played in the sinking scenario.

3.1 Overview

To help the readers orient and familiarize themselves; especially those new or forgetful like me, a brief review of the front end of the Titanic is offered up. This will help those who would like to know where boiler room No. 6 was located. Figure F 3.1-1 gives sort of a cut away view of the ships guts in the forward area where all the damage occurred. This view is before the Titanic struck the iceberg. The numbering of the various features was somewhat unusual and somewhat confusing. For the most part numbering sequences advanced from the front end, (the bow) to the backend, (the stern); except for the boiler rooms for which the numbering was opposite. The use of Table T 3.1-1 in conjunction with F 3.1-1 will help clarify the nomenclature that was used by the ships designers.

F 3.1-1 Undamaged Forward Portion of Titanic’s Hull

The forepeak was separated from the forepeak tank by a horizontal bulkhead (heavy solid line). The forepeak contained a separate chamber for storing the huge chains to which the anchors were attached. This was called the chain locker.

Note in particular the watertight bulkheads labeled WTB-A, WTB-B, etc. (heavy mostly vertical lines) which are not included in the following table:

Table 3.1-1

Titanic Numbering

FEATURE

from right to left

COMPARTMENT

Number

(bow to stern)

Forepeak

forepeak tank

cargo hold No. 1

cargo hold No. 2

cargo hold No. 3

boiler room No. 6

boiler room No. 5

boiler room No. 4

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Now we get to the middle ground between public and non-public knowledge. As any school-boy in his mid-twenties or thirties knows, Thomas Andrews said it all. In many of the docudramas the chief technical man, Thomas Andrews, representing the ship builder Harland and Wolf, is seen explaining to the captain that the ship would not sink if only the first four compartments dividing the ship were flooded. This was an essential part of the philosophical basis upon which the ship was built. The other parts of the design philosophy are not germane to the discussion here and can be found elsewhere. Bruce Ismay, the virtual owner of the ship, was told the same. With some measure of authority, Andrews asserted that more compartments than that, the ship would sink. That next vital compartment going aft, was compartment number five, which was boiler room six as explained previously.

After the sinking, the chief naval architect for Harland and Wolf, who reported to Andrews, said essentially the same thing during the inquiries in 1912 as his boss had on board the Titanic. The amazing conclusion that can be drawn from this is ( never firmly stated in the resources I have studied) —the Titanic would not have sunk at all if boiler room six had not been damaged. Not a single soul would have been injured let alone killed.

According to Wielding’s presentation at the inquires, in this condition (only the four forward compartment flooded—forepeak tanks and cargo holds 1-3) the ship would have been down by the bow only about 1-1/2 degrees with the propellers under water. Possibly it could have made it to safe haven under its own power. Figure F -3.1-2 depicts this happy ending.

[A number of these images were actually presented at the disaster inquiry in England in 1912 by Wielding himself . These here have been taken from Reference 2.]

Figure F 3.1-2 Titanic with only compartments 1-4 flooded

Unfortunately, such was not to be the case. Figure F 3.1-3 provides a view of the damage sustained by compartments —1-6 (which now includes boiler room 6) as determined by “sub-bottom profile” imaging. The heavy horizontal lines with footage indicated are artistic simplifications of the images. For example, boiler room 6 appears to have suffered from a 45 ft. gash of some sort which extended into boiler room 5. No. 1 hold (compartment # 2) suffered two separate gashes etc. The source of this F 3.1-3 image is again Ref. 2.

Figure F 3.1-3 Hull Damage Profile Measured by Sub-bottom Profiler

Titanic’s forward or bow portion is buried in the sea floor nearly up to its retracted anchors so the hull damage is only discernable through the bottom mud by radar. There was minor damage done to compartment s 6 & 7 in addition to what is depicted but it could not be detected by the radar system and so is not shown in Figure F 3.1-3. From the water intake reported by survivors, Wielding estimated the hull damage to be about 12 square feet which meant it could not have been a continuous large gash in the hull for three hundred feet as was first thought. The radar images show Wielding was correct. Modern calculations (Ref. 2) indicate the damage amounted to something slightly less than 12 sq. ft. Figure F 3.1-3 shows that the damage length was greatest in boiler room 6.

3.2 Inside boiler room 6

Boiler room six would then seem to be the whole crux of the sinking disaster. Despite what the DVD’s depicted, the activity in boiler room 5 to save the ship was mistaken and futile. Titanic was going to sink no matter what the crew did in boiler room 5. It was going to sink even if the coal bunker door had not failed. However, other sinking scenarios are possible and will be discussed much latter in this story.

How big was the hole in the side of Titanic’s hull in boiler room six?. Calculations by Charles Weeks and Samuel Halpern indicate that water came into boiler room 6 through a relatively tiny hole, less than 1-1/2 square ft. (Ref. 2, pg. 113) . That is equivalent to about a sixteen in diameter circle. What is being said here is that the fate of over 2,000 people depended on a hole in the ships side not a whole lot bigger than a large dinner plate. On the surface of it, this would seem to be ludicrous situation in as much as the Titanic was the largest moving object made by man at the time. No wonder there is so much fascination with the Titanic story.

This then is pretty much where the boiler room 6 story available to the public ends; there is a bit more in what the survivors in boiler room 6 had to relate at the time of the collision Their stories will be woven into the narrative to follow and their stories are public knowledge. Next we will provide a sneak preview into the proprietary analysis of what happened in boiler room 6.

Through the use of the suitably modified Bournuli equation along with appropriate Reynold’s number, flow coefficient, and water density (which the author’s did not disclose), Weeks and Halpern determined the area of the hole (opening) in boiler room six was about 1.47 sq. ft. (bottom row of T 3.2-1). A simple calculation results in the hole of 1-1/2 sq. ft. being rather slit like with an average width of less than ½ inch.

Figure 3.2-1 depicts a simplified cut-away view of boiler room 6 looking forward as if the boilers were not there. This is how the structure would have looked before the collision with the iceberg.

F 3.2-1 Boiler Room 6 Undamaged

[ F 3.2-1 was taken from the DVD “Titanic Achilles Heel” (Ref. D1) and which then would ostensibly infer the image was boiler room 6 of the Titanic. However the original image in the DVD showed an inner “skin” of steel plating. In the view above, this inner plating (“skin”) has been removed since the Titanic did not have an inner “skin”. Inner plating (“skins”) in the boiler rooms was added to both the Britannic and Olympic sister ships after the sinking of the Titanic as added precaution (and face-saving promotion by White Star line).

This type of construction is still used today, the only difference being the welding of the structure together instead of using rivets. Much attention has been given to the possibility that rivet failure played a significant role in the sinking, but laboratory testing has pretty well downplayed this theory. Brief scenes of this testing can be viewed in DVD’s, and technical reports are also available. No doubt it is possible some rivets failed in the forward part of the Titanic which took the brunt of the impact with the iceberg initially.]

The next view is boiler room 6 about 8 seconds after the collision with the iceberg. There is now a ½ inch crack in the hull plate about 2 feet up as surviving fireman, Fred Barret described in his court room appearances.

F 3.2-2 Boiler Room 6 Damaged***

(*** time=approximately 8 seconds after initial contact with iceberg)

The amazing revelation that is being disclosed here is that apart from the crack, there is absolutely no new deformation of Titanic’s structure—no bent web or channel members what so ever! At this time, approximately 8 seconds, the iceberg is still in contact with the hull outside of boiler room 6 and is preventing significant water entry. The next view depicts water flow into boiler room 6 through the ½ inch crack. The reader is reminded of scale disception—the plates shown in these two figures are six feet in width (height)!

What can be said at this point is that Titanic’s crack formation is a consequence of steel embrittlement which, in the case of the Titanic, is public knowledge. Aside from striking the iceberg itself, steel embrittlement at water freezing temperatures is the fatal flaw in the Titanic disaster, the root cause of the ship’s sinking and the resultant loss of life. Although made of the highest quality steel at the time of Titanic’s construction, the consequences of steel impurities at low temperatures was unknown to steel makers and users, and therefore not a subject of quality assurance. Reference XXXX provides a thorough discussion of this subject as applied to the Titanic situation and for the non-faint hearted it is recommended reading. In a nutshell, under the conditions that prevailed that night in the mid-Atlantic, the Titanic’s steel shell was shock sensitive…a metallurgical “fatal flaw”, Note, as depicted in F-3.2-2, it was the steel plate itself that failed, not a riveted seam. A question remains! What caused the crack to open up? That question is one of many considered in Part II.

3.3 Titanic operation and boiler room six

We are not quite through with boiler room six. The author feels there remains substantial misunderstanding about the Titanic’s operation apart from the sinking itself and this impacts on the understanding of the sinking dynamics. Why this misunderstanding persists is in and of itself a mystery. The operation of boiler room six is central to the misunderstanding.

Titanic had six boiler rooms which were separated by transverse coal bunkers and water tight bulkheads. As indicated previously, they were numbered 1 through 6 with number 1 boiler room closest to the stern and number 6 the most forward. Boiler room 1 was the smallest with five single ended boilers. The other five boiler rooms had double ended boilers which were about twice as long but of the same diameter. Boilers in room 1 were principally used to provide steam for generating electric power and secondarily for the steam driven bilge pumps and ash ejectors.

Once the Titanic passed its abbreviated sea trials it is doubtful that these boilers in room 1 were ever completely shut down since the ship was immediately pressed into service to replace the sister ship Olympic which was in dry-dock for repairs.

Coal consumption was a big factor in steam ship operation and boilers were fired up on an as needed basis. Thermodynamic and pressure drop considerations meant that only those boilers closest to the engines driving the ship were used for steam demanded by engines at the speed desired. An approximate formula states that the steam required is proportional to the third exponential power of speed or velocity. For example; a doubling of speed requires eight times more steam quantity, everything else remaining the same.

Until the collision with the ice berg Titanic was operating at reduced or “break-in” speed; at a little over 20 knots. The running gear (reciprocating steam engines, steam turbine, gearing, bearings etc.) were performing very well so that Captain Smith and the virtual owner, Bruce Ismay, were anticipating getting favorable press by breaking Olympic’s maiden voyage crossing time record (Captain Smith himself had the Olympic under his command at that time).

To best Olympic’s record, the Titanic had to be run at its maximum design speed and to do this all boilers had to be operational which meant four (and the last) additional double boilers had to fired up according to the cube law noted above. There happened to be four such boilers furthest from the engines that had never been used even in the test trials because the running gear had not yet been broken in. These boilers were, of course, in boiler room six furthest from the stern. Therefore I conclude: BOILER ROOM 6 WAS NOT IN OPERATION AT THE TIME OF THE COLLISION.

There is additional substantiating evidence for this conclusion which, by its nature, is quite extensive. Much of it is therefore delegated to the APPENDIX. In Appendix 1 is a revised listing of the Titanic Crew, those who survived the sinking. The original listing found in Reference 2 has a complete listing of all the crew prior to the sinking. This distinction is provided to help in keeping track of those involved in providing witness testimony. Witnesses are shown in red lettering. As far as boiler room six is concerned, the most important witness is leading fireman, Frederick Barrett.

The crew listing in Reference 2 provides important information where it delineates the three 4 hour time “shifts” (watches) of operating personnel—firemen, trimmers and greasers. It is very important to point out that the headings contained in Reference 2 for these time delineations for the operating personnel are misleading. Better headings are provided in Appendix 1 where “watches” is to be preferred over “shifts” since the former is used in technical forums e. g. the hearings. One reference states “there is nothing more confusing in the Titanic story than that involving time” This seems to be the case even with simple things like “watches”. The tables in Appendix 1 present 3 shifts of crew on 4 hour watches. Each crew man on the Titanic served two watches a day each having 4 hours on and then 8 hours off. From the evidence found so far it is not clear when the second watches occurred for the crew in these tables. The bracketed times in blue format are my best guesses for when the second watches took place based on available information. That information makes it clear that for these crew, the firemen,(stokers), trimmers, and greasers, the day schedule was as follows:

TITANIC WATCH SCHEDULE

8:00pm to 12:00am 2000-0000 (first watch)

12:00am to 4:00am 0000-0400 (middle watch)

4:00am to 8:00am 0400-0800 (morning watch)

8:00am to 12:00pm 0800-1200 (forenoon watch)

12:00pm to 4:00pm 1200-1600 (afternoon watch)

4:00pm to 6:00pm 1600-1800 (first dog watch)

6:00pm to 8:00pm 1800-2000 (second dog watch)

Note that on the Titanic the 4-8 “shift” was broken into two watches called first and second dog watches. Through a rotation system (not specified), the dog watches enabled all the crew of these tables to have evening meals on occasion. Not all shipping companies or ships for that matter treated this kind of crew so well.

Now with the detailed information we can make better sense of what went on in boiler room 6 on the night of the collision. We start the scenario at 4:00 pm the night of the sinking. The third table down in Appendix 1 gives the surviving crew from this 4pm to 8pm watch. The total crew in this watch shift before the sinking, besides the surviving lead fireman, Mr. Charles (George) Henderickson, included two other lead firemen, 54 firemen/stokers, 22 coal trimmers, and 18 greasers. The firemen and trimmers were spread out over the five operational boiler rooms (1-5) since I maintain boiler room 6 was not in operation.. While the greasers shared the same watch schedule as the firemen and trimmers and hence are in these lists, most of their duties took them far from boiler room activities since their job was to keep rotating surfaces, e.g. bearings, well lubricated. Other crew such as lookouts, had different watch schedules ranging from 2 hour watches to 8 hours and beyond. Captain Smith’s main function, when things were going well, was to entertain the rich, young and famous for as much time as possible. While the 4pm-8pm watch was keeping the ship running at top speed, the other two shifts were getting their evening meal either from 4 to 6 or 6 to 8.

Their feeding took place well away from the public in the crew dining room (mess) hall on C-deck forward of both the bridge and well deck just under where Cameron’s movie stars Jack and Rose traipsed across to get to the bow for their romantic encounter.

The 4pm to 8pm watch is then replaced at 8:00 by the next watch; the 8pm to 12 (midnight) watch for which Mr. Frederick Barret is the surviving lead fireman. The full crew for this watch includes 4 other lead firemen, 49 regular firemen, 22 trimmers, and 7 greasers. [The disproportionate number of greasers in the 4pm-8pm watch raises my eyebrows, but the matter cannot be pursued here. Many hours were spent by the table compiler for Reference 2, Lester J. Mitcham, and by others to provide these lists that are found in Reference 2 and for which I am most grateful; I must thereby leave it to others for explanation.]

According to Fred Barret’s testimony at the hearings there were three personnel in boiler room 6 at the time of the collision. His testimony is depicted in Figure 3.3-1 below:

F 3.3-1 Personnel in Boiler Room 6 at Time of Collision

Besides Fred, the leading fireman in this watch (he is listed first in Ref. 2), there is the engineer, Hesketh, and the fireman/stoker, Beauchamp. No other personnel are mentioned by Barrett or Beauchamp (Hesketh did not survive). If the boilers were in full operation there would have been fully a dozen operational people in boiler room 6 at the time of the collision. Notice would have been made by Barrett and Beauchamp of the chaotic exit with that many people, the closing of the water tight doors and only one escape ladder. And besides the water tight doors going into the firemans tunnel closing (two sets of doors), the tunnel was already filling with water.

So what were the three men, and only three men, doing in the boiler room? They were starting up the 4 boilers for the high speed run for the rest of the voyage to best Olympic’s record. I have read it takes about eight hours to start up a large coal fired scotch boiler and it has to be done carefully. The start up details can be found elsewhere.

These considerations lead to the following speculative scenario. Sometime before the Sunday evening meal, Ismay confers with chief engineer Bell about the condition of the running gear and is informed that everything is performing better than could be expected and Ismay is assured that the propeller RPM’s could be increased without due concern. [The DVDs give the impression that the Bell-Ismay conversation took place after the collision which is borderline non-sensical since the ship’s engines had been stopped for good within ten minutes of the collision and Ismay without much doubt knew it.] During that evening meal Ismay let it be known that arriving early would be a good thing and Smith, possibly with some misgiving because of the ice warnings, agreed. After the meal Smith orders Bell to start up the boilers beginning with 8pm watch after Bell assures him the ship is up to a higher speed. Smith also hedges his bet by ordering a slight southward correction to the helmsman. Both men then retire to the security of their magnificent private lounges and the rest of the scenario is well known by most.

3.4 Wholly, hole, holy mackerel

In my youth the expression holy mackerel was popular in my neck of the woods being less offensive than similar expression except to certain religious types (the context of which I was unaware in my younger years). I find it a bit ironic that this memory comes to mind in a Titanic context. In this section, we are going to consider the holes in the Titanic’s hull that were a consequence of the collision. In my opinion there is something fishy about the estimates of their sizes—and yes this hole mackerel is part of the background material so hang in there.

In the past a whole lot of attention has justifiably been given to these Titanic holy holes, especially the uncertainty of their size location and geometry (that pretty well includes everything). However, with some certainty we can narrow it down to the bow section—in fact, what is postulated for boiler room 6 is fairly well believable. To give a concrete example of the difficulty, the following table has been constructed from the analysis provided in Reference 2.

Table 3.4-1

Water Intake per compartment at 12:25 am

(from Ref. 2)

	COMPARTMENT	H₂O Tons	AREA * **
1	Forepeak tank	190	0.06	trace
2	No. 1 cargo hold	1,730	0.55	0.47
3	No. 2 cargo hold	3,040	0.96	0.80
4	No. 3 cargo hold	3,515	1.11	0.74
7	N0. 4 boiler room	187	0.06	trace
6	No. 5 boiler room	180	0.06	0.04
5	No. 6 boiler room	4,658	1.47	1.47
totals		13,500	4.27	3.52

(area in sq. ft. )

Table 3.4-1 shows a compartment by compartment tabulation of the amount of water that invaded the ship by 12:25 am or forty-five minutes after striking the iceberg. [ H₂O data in table 3.2-1 from Reference 2 pg.111 ]. The fourth from the left column of table 3.2-1 (*) gives the area of the other holes (likewise assumed to be slits) obtained by prorating (ratioing) the amount of water in the other compartments to the water and area of compartment 5 (boiler room 6). The right most column (**) is the area of each opening determined from the opening lengths given in F 3.1-3 multiplied by a presumed ½ inch width.

The correlation between the two different area determinations is surprisingly good except for cargo hold #3 (compartment 4). The “water ratio” technique produces an opening area of 1.11 sq. ft., while the ½ inch technique produces an opening of 0.74 sq. ft. There are at least two possibilities for this discrepancy. First, the opening is much wider than ½ inch; the second possibility is that there is at least one or more openings in cargo hold #3 (compartment 4) not detected by the sub-bottom profiler. Survivor testimony suggests that the latter possibility is more likely. This testimony will be important in latter sinking analysis.

But it is the total area values at the bottom of the table that are disquieting if not downright alarming. These values of less than five sq. ft. are a far cry from the nominal 12 sq. ft. determined by others or even the 10 sq. ft. the Reference 2 authors claim to have determined. The reason for this disparity is that it is not possible for 13,500 tons of water to flow through 5 sq. ft. opening in 45 minutes. In theory this is possible only if the flow coefficient, which must be applied in this situation, is taken to be unity. In reality the flow coefficient is much less than unity (1.0). There are two possibilities—one; the crack width is greater than ½ inch, or two; there is damage elsewhere. This issue will be explored in depth in the Analysis to follow (no pun intended).

3.5 The Dillon, Barrett and Sheirs Affair

What’ this? The word ‘affair’ so prominent in the title to this work finally makes it into the text? Usually it’s the SS California that is so adorned—“The California Affair etc. This is probably a consequence of ships assigned to the fairer sex ( finally got that word in also—according to the writing pundits this should generate best seller status ). So here we have three, all men though, creating an affair—in my opinion that is. In their sworn testimony, Dillon and Barrett seem to agree that boilers in boiler room 1 were not lit. Apparently, it is because of Dillon and Barrett’s testimony that analyst since then believe that boilers in room one were not in operation. Shiers on the other hand, who worked the 4pm to 8pm watch, claimed boilers in room 1 were lit. It is rather obvious both sworn testimonies can’t be correct. The writers of Reference xxxx, page 389 dismiss the contradiction with a shrug claiming:

”It makes little difference whether the boilers were lit or not, they would not have been applied to the engines by midnight that night.”

On this point, Lee, the writer of Reference XXX, is more blunt and I quote:” Despite what some apologists and poor researchers say, the fires in boiler room 1 were not lit that night. While it is true that the boiler used to generate electrical power was used in port, none in that room were used at sea; boiler rooms 2 and/or 4 were used to provide electrical power.”

What Dr. Lee believes is not to be taken lightly because he has a PhD in Nuclear Physics which gives him a fair degree of credibility in the technical arena. If he and others are correct then that puts the author of this work in his category of “apologist and poor researcher” since I don’t agree with him or them. I side with Shiers’ observation that boiler room #1 was in operation.

It is hard to overestimate the importance of this disputed view of boiler room #1 operation on the understanding of what happened to the Titanic machine that night. If those boilers in that room were unused, were cold, then with all other boilers known to have been relieved of high pressure steam by 2:00am, a boiler explosion would have been impossible. There would be no reason then, for the writing of this book.

3.6 The E-Deck Affair Staring Second Officer Lightoller

We conclude our consideration of background material for the analysis to follow with the controversial subject of the passenger door forward on E-Deck; The E-Deck Affair (now that we are big on affairs) is yet another controversial aspect of the mysterious Titanic affair in general and it revolves around Second Officer Lightoller. Lightoller’s swaying testimony that for fifty years or more convinced everyone of Titanic’s unity at sinking could have garnered the accolade affair. But it takes more than one person in a party to make it an affair. Lightoller, in sworn testimony, claimed that he ordered the port side E-deck passenger forward entrance door opened shortly after the command was given to load the lifeboats. He did this (possibly on his own authority) to aid in fully loading the lifeboats apparently in the mistaken belief that the lifeboats could not be lowered safely fully loaded. His intent was to fill the lifeboats, after their lowering and floating on the sea, via the much lower down opening in the hull at E-Deck level. [In all probability it was through E-deck doors that passengers boarded the Titanic from small ferry boats at Queenstown. There were no docking facilities at Queenstown for ships as large as Titanic.] The crewmen Lightoller sent to open the E-deck door never returned to report mission accomplished as they should have and, in fact, were never seen again by anyone. The mystery of their disappearance will be touched on in the Analysis.

It was because of this lack of confirmation by returning seamen that many believe the door was never opened although one female passenger did confirm it being open (being a woman and a passenger, her testimony had two strikes against her for being believed). If it was open, none of the lifeboats took advantage of the E-Deck door to load people.

We have then three controversial issues confronting any robust analysis if an accurate portrayal of the Titanic sinking event is to be accomplished. The boiler issue, rooms # 1 and room #6, are testimonial linked and must be considered together and in context. Since they are the most critical issue, they will be considered first in the ANALYSIS. The E-Deck door issue is more difficult to argue because the evidence is paltry and post sinking evidence for it having been opened is easily disputed. The E-Deck door evidence, however limited it may be, will still be argued in the ANALYSIS as the second topic of interest.

PART II

ANALYSIS

part II will not be blogged--sorry

TO BE CONTINUED IN SERIAL FORMAT

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

LIST OF TABLES

T 3.1-1 Titanic Numbering

T 3.4-1 Water Intake by Compartment at 12:25 am

LIST OF FIGURES

F 3.1-1 Undamaged Forward Portion of Titanic’s Hull

F 3.1-2 Titanic with only 4 flooded Compartments

F 3.1-3 Hull Damage Profile Measured by Side Bottom Profiling

F 3.2-1 Boiler Room Six Undamaged

F 3.2-2 Boiler Room Six at 8 seconds*
F 3.3-1 Personnel in Boiler Room 6 at Time of Collision

APPENDICES

TITANIC REFERENCES

BOOKS

B1. Titanic Survivor; J. Maxtone-Graham

B2. SS Titanic—A Centennial Reappraisal; S. Halpern & others

B3. Titanic—Triumph and Tragedy; J.P. Eaton & C.H. Haas

B4. Olympic*Titanic*Britannic; M. Chirnside

DIGITAL VIDEO DISK (DVD)

D1. Titanic Achilles Heel, History Channel DVD, ISBN- 0-7670-9832-3

Appendix 1

SURVIVING ENGINE AND BOILER CREW*

8pm to 12am WATCH

( 8am to 12pm )

Firemen Trimmers Greasers

Barrett, Mr Frederick (lead fireman)
Beauchamp, Mr George William	Cavell, Mr George Henry	Scott, Mr. Frederick William
Kemish, Mr George	Dillon, Mr Thomas Patrick
Harris, Mr Frederick	Dore, Mr A.
Kemish, Mr George	Fryer, Mr Albert Ernest
Rice, Mr Charles
Street, MrThomas Albert

12:00 midnight to 4:00am WATCH

( 12:00pm to 4:00pm )

Firemen Trimmers Greasers

Threlfall, Mr Thomas (lead fireman)		NONE SURVIVED
Clark, Mr William	Allen, Mr Ernest Frederick .
Collins, Mr Samuel A.	Avery, Mr James Frank
Doel, Mr Frederick	Fredericks, Mr Walter
Dymond, Mr Frank	McGann, Mr James
Flarty, Mr Edward	McIntyre, Mr William
Godley, Mr George A.	Pelham, Mr George
Hurst, Mr Walter	Perry, Mr Edgar Lionel
Judd, Mr Charles Edward	Snow, Mr Eustace Philip
Kasper, Mr Franz Wilhelm	White, Mr William George
Major, Mr William James
Mason, Mr Frank Archibald
Murdoch, Mr William John
Noss, Mr Henry
Oliver, Mr Henry
Pearce, Mr John
Priest, Mr Arthur John
Taylor, Mr James
Taylor, Mr William Henry
Thompson, Mr John William
Thresher, Mr George Terrill

4:00pm to 8:00pm WATCH**

( 4:00am to 8:00am )

Firemen Trimmers Greasers

Hendrickson, Mr Charles (lead fireman)
Combes, Mr George	Binstead, Mr Walter	Ranger, Mr Thomas G
Couper, Mr Robert	Hebb, Mr Albert	Self, Mr Alfred Henry
Diaper, Mr John Joseph	Hunt, Mr Albert	White, Mr Alfred Thomas
Dilley, Mr John	Sheath, Mr Frederick
Graham, MrThomas G.
Haggan, Mr John
Lindsay, Mr William Charles
Mayzes, Mr Thomas A.
Moore, Mr John J.
Nutbeam,MrWilliam
Othen, Mr Charles Edward
Podesta, Mr John Alexander
Pusey, Mr Robert William
Self, Mr Edward
Senior, Mr Henry
Shiers, Mr Alfred Charles
Sparkman, Mr James Henry
Triggs, Mr Robert V

********************************* end of tables *********************************

THE MYSTERIOUS TITANIC AFFAIR

Saturday, September 3, 2016

Titanic Affair

FEATURE

from right to left

COMPARTMENT

Number

(bow to stern)

Forepeak

forepeak tank

cargo hold No. 1

cargo hold No. 2

cargo hold No. 3

boiler room No. 6

boiler room No. 5

boiler room No. 4

1

1

2

3

4

5

6

7