Erik,
I am trying to understand the exact time frame involved immediatley after Titanic collided with the iceberg. Especially involving Mr. Boxhall's inspections in the forward compartments.
My theory is that his first inspection of the forward compartments took about 10 - 12 minutes to complete. That is from the time the Captain ordered him to go below and inspect for damage, until he returned and gave his report to the captain.
This is intriguing to me because Mr. Boxhall testified that he made 3 inspections of the forward compartments after the collision. First alone and finding no damage, 2nd down to the mail room to find rapid flooding, and 3rd with the capt. and others to tour the entire forward sections of the ship.
It doesn't make sense to me that they could make 3 inspections and then be back on the bridge in time to order to swing out the lifeboats around midnight. What makes more sense to me is if the captain sent Mr. Boxhall below, and about 10 minutes later,(11:50 -11:55), Mr. Boxhall returns and reports no damage. Then the captain sends him to find the ship's carpenter and within 1 - 2 minutes the carpenter appears on the bridge and reports rapid flooding in the mailroom. The captain now has two conflicting reports from senior members of the crew. Another 10 - 12 minutes passes until Mr. Boxhall again returns and reports rapid flooding in the mail room.
So the captain, in my opinion, probably asks Mr. Boxhall why he didn't report this rapid flooding the first time. Mr. Boxhall explains that he only inspected the single watertight compartment and saw no damage there. By now,(@ 12:05 - 12:10), the Captain has spoken with the chief engineer and knows that boilerroom 6 is taking on water but pumps are being used to fight the flooding, and that there is rapid, uncontrolled flooding in the compartment where the mail room is located, but that in the compartment just forward of that there is no flooding seen. Whats a captain to do?
Captain Smith decides to see for himself along with a group of the ship's experts now present on the bridge. They all head off to inspect the entire forward sections. About 10 - 20 minutes later, (and thats clearly an fast inspection of 5 compartments for a man in his 50's), the group is back on the bridge and immediately the order is given to prepare to abandon ship. Probably about 12:15 - 12:25, in my opinion.
I just can't see how all that descending stairs, ascending stairs,walking down corridors, turning corners and searching about the sides of the ship in the forward sections, not to mention the conversations that were no doubt taking place along the way, could all have happened in only the 20 minutes after the collision. My common sense tells me it should have taken longer. Probably about twice as long. So I think it makes more sense to assume the decision to abandon ship occurred somewhere around 12:20 - 12:30.
Thats why I wanted to know how long it takes to actually go from a bridge to the bottom of the ship and back.
Thanks for your insight Erik.
Have you ever thought of acting out the movements of the officers on Titanic on your ship. Just as sort of a way to visualize what really happened.
(I don't mean having your crew like role play or call you Capt. Smith or anything.) I mean that if I was a captain of a large ship, I couldn't resist just coming on to the bridge in the middle of the night and ordering the helm 'Hard astarboard!' and running the engines at full astern. While checking a stopwatch to see how long it takes to actually stop and what compass heading the ship now lies after coming to a halt.
Just my odd fantasy I suppose.
Yuri