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Message: [QUOTE="Michael H. Standart, post: 87512, member: 79064"] Hi James, given the damage, to keep on steaming would have been the worst possible thing they could have done that night. The water was already coming in a 7 tons a second and forging ahead would have forced it in at a faster rate. Since this would have meant keeping up steam and stoking the fires, this would have magnified the risk of a boiler explosion once the water flooded the boiler rooms. Lets not forget also that Boiler Room Six was flooded from the very start. Also, steaming ahead would have made it impossible to safely launch the lifeboats. A fact which was graphically illustrated when two lifeboats were launched from the sinking Britannic three years later while the ship was still had way on. The lifeboats were chopped to bits by the propellers. Ah...so were some of the unfortunate blokes who were in it. Mo, I'm afraid that the chap in the MG was screwed the minute he chose to take a chance on the water. You were lucky, VERY lucky to make it to the other side. I'm betting you were driving a heavier car and that was probably your salvation. The depth...as you pointed out, was an unknowable factor...and the current in even reletively shallow floodwaters is a proven killer. I hope you never chance it again. I hate reading the obituary of a freind. Still shuddering at the thought, Michael H. Standart [/QUOTE]