How did the engine room start to flood before that compartment was submerged?

A

Aither_2017

Member
For the last 20 minutes of the tragic disaster, and about the Morse code messages sent to nearby ships on April 15th 1912.
The last few messages sent to the nearby ships were as follows:
"CQD, SOS. MGY (titanic) to all stations. Engine room flooded up to the boilers"
And:
"CQD, SOS. MGY to all stations. Engine room is flooded.
Shortly after that, most of the boile rs stopped producing steam and the dynamos (like an alternator) shut down, the backup turbine was automatically activated. The Titanic's power was just only strong enough to keep the lights on dim, Titanic's transmissions kept failing after that. Other ships could faintly make out "SOS......"SOS" then the transmissions stopped. A few minutes later RMS Titanic started broadcasting at about 2:09am, the messages were unintelligible. Transmissions completely stopped after that, and other ships picked up this eery signal, showing that the great ship is going "V..........V..........V...............V..................V." No other broadcasts were ever heard from the titanic and the wireless room started to flood...
My question is:how did the engine room flood even when it was above water level?
Did they mean the last boiler rooms?
 
Harold Bride gave an exclusive account for the New York Times and was paid $1,000. He said:

'Phillips told me the wireless was growing weaker. The captain came and told us our engine rooms were taking water, and that the dynamos might not last much longer. We sent that word to the Carpathia.'

He used the plural to describe the 'engine rooms were taking water' which could really mean the boiler rooms. This wireless message puzzled the Inquiry and they asked Captain Rostron for his understanding of the message.



Captain Rostron
"That was the last message we got. It was either "Engine room nearly full," or "Engine room full," or "Engine room filling." The exact words I could not give you. The impression was quite enough for me, as to the condition the ship was in."


Sir Robert Finlay
"The suggestion was made that “engine room” there, must have been used in a loose sense. It did not refer to the engine room proper, but to the boiler section."

The Commissioner
"That may be, and I think that is right, but what does “full up to boilers” mean? Does it mean the water was above the boilers or under the boilers?"

Sir Robert Finlay
"Well, it reached the boilers."

The Commissioner
"Reached a set of the boilers?"

Sir Robert Finlay
"I think so."

The Attorney-General
"Including all the boiler sections?"

Sir Robert Finlay
"Yes."

The Commissioner
"It is suggested to me, Mr. Attorney, that it means this, that the water had travelled along the ship, from forward, aft as far as the boilers."

Sir Robert Finlay
"I think that is what it must mean."

The Attorney-General
"As far as the boilers? But, according to the evidence, it was there long before this. In some of the boiler sections. Is there any evidence that before this time, which was 1.45, the water had reached as far aft as the last boiler?"

The Attorney-General
"No, not before that."

The Commissioner
"It is suggested by one of my colleagues that the meaning of this expression is that water aft had got as far aft as the aftermost boiler."

The Attorney-General
"In other words, that the water was in all the boiler sections?"

The Commissioner
"Yes."

The Attorney-General
"Yes, of course it might mean that. There are no boilers in the engine room proper, and, therefore, it cannot mean those."

The Commissioner
"No, that is so."

The Commissioner
Question directed at Captain Rostron - "How do you understand that message? You have got the message in your mind?

Captain Rostron
"Well, I really understood that message to mean that there was water in the engine room probably as high as the boilers, on a level with the boilers."



.
 
Yes, I remain convinced it wasn't gossip per say. It was the conveyance of what was important for the radio operators: They were going to lose power soon.
 
mitfrc said:
Yes, I remain convinced it wasn't gossip per say. It was the conveyance of what was important for the radio operators: They were going to lose power soon.
Click to expand...

mitfrc >>>>>>>>>>

So your saying the radio operators knew they were going to lose power but didn't know what was happening below decks. Before they had to abandon their post they knew water was on A deck and just 8 feet below.
I think They were communicating with the bridge, they did know if a compartment failed since they monitored over the whole ship. I think the telegraph operators were just exaggerating the situation to other ships. A flooding engine room is a serious problem on ships, and titanic was in an equally problematic point in time. I guess they just wanted other ships to know how bad it was on the titanic.
 
Aither_2017 said:
mitfrc >>>>>>>>>>

So your saying the radio operators knew they were going to lose power but didn't know what was happening below decks. Before they had to abandon their post they knew water was on A deck and just 8 feet below.
I think They were communicating with the bridge, they did know if a compartment failed since they monitored over the whole ship. I think the telegraph operators were just exaggerating the situation to other ships. A flooding engine room is a serious problem on ships, and titanic was in an equally problematic point in time. I guess they just wanted other ships to know how bad it was on the titanic.
Click to expand...

I'm not saying they didn't have some idea of the ship's condition, but rather merely that as professionals doing their jobs they were told information which was important to their job and had neither the time nor effort to worry about the precise details around it.
 
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