Dan,
You bring up a very valid point here. With the exception of the period rooms and public rooms, the construction technique used in making the partitions onboard ships at this time didn't permit hiding much of anything, either plumbing or electrical.
In most places, the partitions were made up of a gridwork of stiles and rails, these having grooves milled into the edges to accept a panel in the middle. The partitions were only one thickness, each side forming the finished wall within adjoining rooms. In the case of bathrooms, some portions had full height steel partitions which were part of the ship's structure (web frames, etc.), but most had only a 12-inch high steel coaming riveted and caulked to the steel deck, with the balance of the room being formed from these stile, rail and panel partitions. (The coaming was necessary to contain overflows and slopped-over bath water as well a potential flooding from broken pipes or valves, and also to provide a boundary into which the floor was fitted -- ceramic or rubber tiles over several inches of portland cement in baths, lavatories and WC's.)
At any rate, what this points out is that most room divisions had no space in between to hide piping and wiring, as one might expect in a building ashore. Rather, as there was no need structurally to have studs between these kind of partitions, they were designed and built with saving weight in mind. Being "cheap skates" had nothing to do with the practice. In fact, it says a great deal to the contrary about the WSL's and H&W's concerns in making these cabins a cut above the rest of the industry that they undertook the expense to cover the interior side of the hull and box in around the sidelights with joinery in the ordinary outside cabins; this was considered to be rather extravagant by most builders and owners for ordinary accommodations in those days.
Another thing to take into consideration is that, at sea or on terra firma, plumbing installations of a century ago were far more about practicality and serviceability than they were about style. Take the case of the period and public rooms, where it would have been easier to hide things like electrical wiring and small bore plumbing; all walls and ceilings were covered and the partitions were two layers of paneling with furring in between the panels in addition to that which was bolted to the surrounding steelwork. In between panels, this provided a gap through which to run small stuff such as wiring and water pipes. Yet, the bulk of the plumbing for these rooms was still situated in the private baths between suites -- not in the staterooms proper -- and was still exposed, both where it came through the deck and ran along the walls and, when ever possible, where it ran along the deck head above.
Take the combined pride of those who designed or paid for this equipment, as well as with the natural caution and suspicion with which all of this new-fangled technology was regarded by those charged with its care. Then, add in the factors I describe above; in this I suspect you will have found the reasoning
behind the plumbing being left exposed where ever possible.
Regards,
Scott Andrews
