Mike,
I can't see how Titanic's stern section could have floated on its own for any time longer than a few minutes. My personal opinion is that the stern didn't completely seperate from the rest of the ship until it was completely underwater. But even if the stern had seperated completely from the bow while still afloat and settled back to an almost level position, the engine room was demolished and open to the sea. The engine room was the heaviest part of the floating stern and would have caused the stern section to tip down as the engine room flooded almost instantly. This engine room down position would have allowed the water to flow quickly over the tops of the bulkheads. As the sea flooded into the aft compartments, the weight of the water filling the stern would have exagerated the unbalanced position of the stern and caused it to tip further and sink deeper by the engine room.
Within a few minutes enough water would have entered the stern's compartments to cause it to probably capsize, or roll over onto its side, and then eventually sink. The stern would not have floated in an upright position because it wasn't designed to do such a thing. It was just too far out of balance to remain stable. Its that inherent instability and unbalance that leads me to beleive that the stern was still attached to the rest of the ship when it sank, because it remained so upright as it flooded. I think it was being "pulled" under as much as it was sinking due to its own weight and damage.
As far as the smoking room catching fire because of the ashes in the fireplace dumping out, I can see that happening, but not for very long. I mean the coals and ashes may have indeed spilled out across the floor at some point as she tipped up, but they would have probably tumbled across the room, along with the everything else that wasn't bolted down, that includes Andrews, and wound up in a pile of debris along the forward wall. For a minute or two some of the furniture or carpet may have began to smolder or catch fire but within a few minutes any fire would have been extinguished by the inrushing sea water.
Either way, by fire or water, Andrews along with about 1500 others didn't enjoy the final minutes of Titanic as she broke up. My God, the violence of collapsing decks, water blasting through passageways, imploding bulkheads, and the screams of others would have been a hellish nightmare. Its impossible to think about it for very long. The stern was a death trap,and the ultimate reality of Titanic was horror. In view of this truth its amazing that anyone who survived that night would ever want to discuss it afterward. It must have seemed very akward to the survivors as the years went on that people would become so fasinated with Titanic. To many, myself included, its easier to think of Titanic in terms of technical details such as rate of flooding, stress points, speed, location or "what ifs", that allows us to seperate the flesh from the steel and avoid the emotional overload that comes from looking at Titanic in the face.
Okay, that was way too heavy talk. What was the question???
Yuri
