Escape ladders in boiler rooms

[Paul Lee]

I would have posted this in the Engine room thread, but its locked

Can anyone please enlighten me as to the location of the escape ladders in the boiler rooms? Where there two, one for each stokehold? Were the positioned port and/or starboard?

Cheers

Paul

 

[monica e. hall]

What's locked, Paul?

 

[Michael H. Standart]

I'm aware of at least one for each boiler room which went up to E deck. That's about it. I'd be very surprised if there weren't some other ways out. Perhaps Bruce Beveridge, Steve Hall or Dan Cherry would have something to offer on this.

 

[Dan Cherry]

Michael,
same here - my only knowledge is that an alternate escape route was available in each boiler room, to E-deck. I haven't had the budgeted opportunity to buy the GA plans yet. So, in the meantime, I would point toward Bruce B. and Co. for a possible answer.

In the meantime, I've seen an artist's rendition of the boiler rooms, which suggested a ladder to port, one to starboard, which led to a catwalk above the boilers. From there, I would imagine then there'd be an access to the E-deck space. I hope someone else can offer something more concrete....

 

[Michael H. Standart]

The only thing I've seen is a cross section from the Harland & Wolff builders plans which point to the escape ladders going to E-Deck. I wonder if there might also be an escape trunk somewhere else that couldn't be shown that way. Every ship I've been on had at least two ways out, one being the regular access going down and the other being a vertical escape trunk.

 

[Samuel Halpern]

Looking at the plans in the 1911 Shipbuilder issue, I see an escape for each stokehold up to a cat walk about G deck level and then up another ladder to F and then E deck. There were 11 stokeholds on the ship, 1 in BR #1, and 2 each in BR#2 through BR#6.

 

[Scott R. Andrews]

There were ladders within the fidleys that ran all the way up to the tops of the houses on the Boat deck. The following is from the "Decks and Accommodation" section of the "Report on the Loss of the 'Titanic' (s.s.)" -- the so-called "final report" from the BOT inquiry:

"Crew. - From each boiler room an escape or emergency ladder was provided direct to the Boat deck by the fidleys, in the boiler casings,..."

These served both as an escape to the open decks and to provide access to the equipment and piping located throughout the fidleys, which contained various small water tanks and hot water heaters as well as being the vertical conduits for salt and fresh water supply piping.

In his biography, Lightoller makes mention of occasionally looking down the crew's emergency stairs or ladder (I forget the exact wording he used). I believe it is one of these ladders that he was referring to. There are several good photos taken on the Olympic's upper decks in which you can see small steel hatches in the open position poking up above the house tops. It occurs to me that there may also have been one or two small doorways from a platform in the forward boiler casing into the passageways along the officer's quarters that we aren't aware of because these wouldn't show up on any normal general arrangement plan.

Regards,
Scott Andrews

 

[Jesse D O'Neill]

Out Of Curiousity, Where Could one Obtain These More Detailed Plans?

 

[Samuel Halpern]

The detail I was refering to in my post above comes from a reprint of the summer 1911 Souvenir Number of the Shipbuilder. Specifically Plate VI showing a cross section through BR#1 and BR#2. In this plate you see the escape ladders going up from the stokeholds to G deck level, then ladders going higher up on fore and aft sides of the 3rd funnel casing all the way to A deck. You can also see access doors that lead onto E deck from these.

I don't know where you can get this these days. I got my copy in 1971.

 

[Jesse D O'Neill]

Thanks Samuel. I do Have Shipbuilder Reprint w/ Engine Room and Partial Boiler Room Plans. As in For The Issues on the other 5 ships they're whole Boiler Room Section is Shown in the Detailed Plate. Im Interested in seeing Plans where All Boiler Rooms Are Shown in Detail.

 

[Paul Lee]

Thanks everyone. I do recall seeing doorways on the boiler cases on the starboard side of Scotland Road in some versions of the plans (e.g. Shipbuilder), but not in others (E&H)

Cheers

Paul

 

[Jesse D O'Neill]

Paul

Are You Talking Shipbuilders from 1911 or Modern Reprints? I Have the 3rd Reprint 1988 by PSL.

 

[monica e. hall]

Paul,
I've unlocked Engine Rooms and moved this thread to there where, as you say, it really belongs. Can't think how it got locked in the first place! Slip of the finger, must have been. Sorry.