Watertight Door Indicator / Activation Switch

[Parks Stephenson]

Cal,

Well, all I can say is that Bill Sauder and I discussed this a while back and both of us have looked for some indication for either a WT indicator panel or a sensing system of some type and have come up empty-handed. Putting a switch on the back side of a gravity door does not make sense, as you would have to run a feed through the bulkhead, which helps to compromise the integrity of the WT bulkhead.

There's a half-remembered quote by one of the inquisitioners about the simplicity of the WT doors and if that quote can be found, it will probably represent the most anyone can come up with for my side of the argument. Since you are arguing for the existence of such a sensing-indicator system, why don't you look for evidence to support its installation aboard Titanic? If you could find something similar to what you found for Britannic, then you'll have proved your point.

Parks

 

[Bob Read]

I thought I'd chime in on a couple of posts
given above. Forgive me if I have misunderstood either the post or the question but I was left with the impression that the forward facing windows of the navigating
bridge did not have glass in them. If that is the contention of the posts I disagree. There are any number of photos where you can see reflections in the glass of these windows.
If I have misunderstood the posts please disregard this message.

Regards,
Bob Read

 

[Cal Haines]

Parks,

I'm not really arguing that the display system did exist, it just seems more likely than not (but I have scant basis for that). I think I've already listed the articles and such that I have reviewed and I find no mention of an indicator. But based on the photos, etc., that I have looked at, I would be hard pressed to conclude that the wasn't there, either. Perhaps you guys have looked at some sources that I have not, in which case, please point me in the right direction.

Until your post, the whole issue wasn't even on my radar screen. Now I will be alert for any mention, one way or the other. As I look back through H&W's earlier ships I will try to figure out when they first started using the electrically controlled doors. Perhaps the journals will go into more detail then.

For now, I'm filing this one in "don't know" category.

Cal

 

[Parks Stephenson]

Bob,

Your post caused me to read back and discover that I misunderstood Yuri's question. I thought he was asking about glass in the round holes in the storm shutters and responded by saying no. Now that I read his question again, I see he was asking about the square windows, not the shutters. You're right, there was glass in the square windows, but none in the shutters.

Parks

 

[Yuri Singleton]

Thanks for clearing that up Bob and Parks. Now here's the next question. Could those windows be opened? Like the ones along the enclosed Promenade deck. If so, did Cameron include that in his bridge set?

Yuri

 

[Parks Stephenson]

Yuri,

Regarding the ship, I would have to ask Bill Sauder. Regarding the film set, the glass in the windows pivoted on center pinions.

Parks

 

[Dan Cherry]

I do know the side windows on the forward bridge could be opened, as you can clearly see this in several pictures of Titanic in Southampton. They swung aft...

Example picture can be found at:

http://www.eecs.wsu. edu/~dlaw/picpalace/ bridge/Super4.jpg

http://www.eecs.wsu. edu/~dlaw/picpalace/ bridge/Super6.jpg

Also, what evidence is there that the pictured Brian Hawley posted of the wheelhouse is indeed from Titanic or an Olympic-class ship?

Dan

 

[Parks Stephenson]

<font color="#006600">Also, what evidence is there that the pictured Brian Hawley posted of the wheelhouse is indeed from Titanic or an Olympic-class ship?

That's a question for either Ken Marschall or Bill Sauder. Ken told me that he and Bill discussed the picture and as far as they could tell, the picture was what it was claimed to be. I didn't question their judgment, because I had no real reason to.

Parks

 

[Yuri Singleton]

Dan, the pictures show something attached to the outside of the forward bridge windows, positioned directly above the center window. Is it a bell?

Yuri

 

[Dan Cherry]

Yuri,
yes, it's a small bell (if I am not mistaken, it returned the chimes the lookouts rang out during their watch - i.e. six bells, seven bells, etc.)
Do I remember this correctly, anyone?

 

[Parks Stephenson]

Cal,

While reading through Quartermaster Olliver's testimony again, I ran across a half-remembered segment:

<font color="#000066">Senator BURTON. Was there an instrument there to show the doors as they closed? Did you ever see one of those instruments?
Mr. OLLIVER. No; I never saw one.
Senator BURTON. With little lights that burn up as each door closes, and then go out?
Mr. OLLIVER. No, sir.
Senator BURTON. There was no instrument like that on the Titanic?
Mr. OLLIVER. I did not see that.
Senator BURTON. Would you have seen it if it had been there?
Mr. OLLIVER. No doubt I would, sir.

I'm still keeping an eye out for anything having to do with a WT door indicator panel, pro or con, and will post as I run across it.

Parks

 

[Cal Haines]

Parks,

Your quote from Olliver regarding a WT door indicator panel pretty well settles the issue. Good work! Olliver's duties would have involved his knowing the location and function of every instrument on the bridge, plus he had last served aboard Olympic, so it's not as if he only had a few days to learn the layout. And I can think of no reason why anyone would lie about such a detail, so until RMSTI recovers an indicator panel from the debris field, I'll have to conclude that it didn't exist.

Cal

 

[Mark Chirnside]

Hi!

I’ve run across a new source as regards the watertight door indicator. This thread is pretty much dead and has been for a while so if we’re unlucky it will be ignored, however…

Olympic definately did not have a watertight door indicator on her bridge for the maiden voyage, but it was considered that one would be an improvement. In itself, this is nothing new. This might not be of much interest, yet Chief Engineer Bell wrote:

quote:

(I consider that a “tell tale” indicating [sic: indicator] on the bridge when doors are closed would be an improvement).

Many of Bell’s suggestions were carried out for Titanic, although of course this may not have been -- and apparently wasn't. It certainly points to the desirability of an indicator — and indicates why one might have been fitted to the Olympic in 1913 and Britannic in 1914-15. Another official has highlighted this comment in the report by drawing a line down alongside this paragraph.

Anyway, I thought this would be of some interest. Any thoughts as to why this suggestion was not carried out, when others were?

Best regards,

Mark.​

 

[Mark Chirnside]

P.S. Cap'n Erik: if you're listening in, is this the kind of stuff you want?t

 

[Erik Wood]

Mark,

This is exactly what I am looking for.

Thanks,