Sam’s flooding diagrams reveal a flaw in Titanic’s bulkhead configuration – but it had nothing to do with the ship’s ultimate demise. Note that if boiler rooms #5 and #6 are flooded, the ship is very close to a sinking condition. Why is this a mistake? Because in order for Titanic to serve as “it’s own lifeboat,” it had to be able to withstand damage directly upon a watertight bulkhead. Such an impact would extremely in a “T-Bone” accident where another ship would run into Titanic at right angles. Of course, that never happened, so isn’t germane to this discussion.
What is germane is the drawing of four compartments flooded (second down on the left). This side view makes the forpeak look nearly as large as boiler room #6. Because of the shape of the bow this was not so. The peak was a fraction of the volume of the boiler room. Any importance of buoyancy in the peak comes from its distance forward of the “damaged tipping center” around which the bow is rotating downward and the stern upward. That distance would act as a lever arm increasing the effective bouyancy at the point of the bow. Unlike the drawing, the forepeak remained dry until it was downflooded when the forcastle went under, making its buoyancy a factor in the sinking.
Still, the three large forward holds did flood and water did enter boiler room #6. Even the eight feet of flooding claimed by Barrett was enough to negate the dry forepeak. Titanic had gone beyond its limit of sustainable damage and flooding. This condition obtained a considerable time prior to the “rush” of waer reported by Barrett in boiler room #5. So where the “rush” came from is really immaterial to the sinking. It was the loss of #6 that put the ship on the chopping bloc and not anything that took place in #5.
By the way, Sam’s drawing correctly shows boiler room #5 dry. It did not flood as boiler room #6 filled. We know this from leading stoker Barrett’s testimony to the BOT inquiry.
1964. And when you got back to No. T, how much water was there in No. 5?
BARRETT: None.
1984. Then you and Mr. Harvey were left alone in #5?
BARRETT: And Mr. Wilson and Mr. Shepherd.
1985. The three engineers and you. Was it still clear of water?
BARRETT: Yes.
1986. So the bulkhead of No. 5 was holding the water back?
BARRETT: Yes.
2007. When you got back to number 5 was it still clear of water, or not?
BARRETT: Still clear of water.
Looking at Sam’s drawings, it is quite obvious that once water in boiler room #6 overtopped bulkhead E it would flood boiler room #5. That would have cued the rotund sopsinger to begin warbling. She didn’t. Barrett explained why.
2056 And you say it (trim by bow) got worse. Now can you give me any idea whether the water came from over the top of the bulkhead or throught it?
BARRETT: I do not see how it could come over the top.
2057 You do not think it did come over the top?
BARRETT: No.
Something else missing from he drawings is the water entering boiler room #4. This flooding was seen by men departing the compartment toward the end of the evening. The amount of water can only be speculated. Still, it would have played a role in the loss of the ship.
I am personally aware of the meticulous care Sam used in preparing his drawings. They were done following the best practices of naval architects. The goal is to produce data for comparison to other ships and – most important – to prove a vessel’s design meets applicable industry and/or regulatory standards. As such they do not prove or disprove the “unsinkability” of a ship in the real world. For instance, free surface motion of floodwater a ship with a 20-degree heel drifting in a 30 foot seaway is likely to spread he flooding and condemn he ship even when the architects’ drawings say it should float.
Something else not in these drawings is the effectiveness of the bilge pumping system and the dedication/training of the crew. Over and again it has been demonstrated that proper application of pumps can keep a theoretically doomed ship afloat for an extended period of time. This is because as the water level rises inside the ship the amount of the flow decreases. When Titanic was first holed by the iceberg water entered with a head pressure of more than 30 feet. But, that pressure decreased directly in proportion to the decrease in distance between the inside and outside water levels. At some point a terrified man with a bucket in theory might have been able to match the flow of water into boiler room #6. As long as his arms held out, the ship could have floated.
This is why Titanic was equipped with an elaborate bilge and ballast plumbing system connected to a variety of different pumps. Nobody expected those pumps would be able to pump a compartment dry. But, used correctly they could have prolonged the life of the ship, especially as the inside and outside water levels came close to the same level. Sam’s drawings show why Titanic was effectively doomed, but why did it sink so quickly? The answer is more likely to be found in the pumps than in the actual damage. Barrett gave us some tantalizing hints that something was wrong that night.
1956. Did Mr. Shepherd come back with you to no. 5?
BARRETT: Yes.
1957. And when you got back to No. 5, you and Mr. Shepherd, who else did you find there?
BARRETT: Mr. Harvey and Mr. Wilson (engineers).
1961. And what were they doing?
BARRETT: Attending to the pumps.
2024. What was the next order?
BARRETT: He (Mr. Harvey) asked me to lift the manhole plate off.
2025. Where was the manhole plate?
BARRETT: On the starboard side of No. 5 section.
2026. When the plate was in position what was it? Closed?
BARRETT: It is someting you lift up to get at the valves. I do not know what valves it is. It is just like a hole in this table. You lift it off to get to the valves to turn on the pumps or something.
I’ve had the opportunity to crawl through the bilges of a ship or two built in Titanic’s era. All had bilge and ballast manifolds leading to dedicated pumps. All valve operating wheels were identified with stamped brass tags and many had large, hand painted signs giving instructions on how to work the system. It was obvious that even in 1906 shipbuilders knew the imporance of simple, easily worked emergency pumping systems. Nothing had to be hooked up, no hoses were needed, and manholes did not cover anything except straight piping. One man could direct suction to flooding compartments from a central operating location.
Why were Titanic’s engineers forced to dive into the dark, dank space between the tank top and stoker plates in boiler room #5? Why was a hose brought forward from the engine room? What were Barrett and Shepherd sent to do in boiler room #6?
Titanic may have been doomed by the iceberg, but was the high loss of life the result of something wrong with the bilge pump system?
– David G. Brown
