December 7, 1893] 



NATURE 



i25 



further to say upon the subjects dealt with in this portion 

 of the Minute, which appears to accord with the evidence, 

 and also with the known effects that would be produced 

 by filling the compartments that were opened up directly 

 to the sea, or into which water could pass freely through 

 open doors, hatches, &c. 



The Admiralty Minute next expresses the opinions 

 of the Board upon the following points ; and we 

 will take these in the order named in the concluding 

 paragraph of our former article : (i) The effect of longi- 

 tudinal bulkheads upon the capsizing of the ship ; (2) 

 what would probably have happened if the doors and 

 ports in the upper-deck battery had been closed ; (3) 

 what would probably have happened if all doors, hatches, 

 &c. had been closed before the collision took place ; (4) 

 the efficiency of -the water-tight doors to the bulkheads, and 

 the means of closing them quickly ; (5) the value of 

 an armour belt at the ends for resisting damage ; (6) 

 the sufficiency of the stability possessed by the ship ; and 

 (7) the steps that should be taken "to prevent the recur- 

 rence, under similar circumstances, of the conditions 

 which, after the collision, resulted in the loss of the 

 ship." 



I. The effect of longitudiytal bulkheads iipon the cap- 

 sizing of the ship. — Mr. White points out that there was 

 no continuous central longitudinal bulkhead in the Vic- 

 toria. In the stokeholds and engine-room there were 

 two such bulkheads on opposite sides of, and each several 

 feet from, the centre line ; but these were far abaft the 

 damaged portion of the hull, and do not appear to have 

 been reached by water that entered the ship up to the 

 moment of sinking. There were a few longitudinal parti- 

 tions in the fore part of the ship ; but some of these were 

 inoperative because of damage or open doors. The effect 

 of tilling the compartments formed by these longitudinal 

 partitions has been calculated, and it is stated that this 

 would only cause an inclination of about 5° in the intact 

 condition of the ship. This result does not, however, 

 bear directly upon the actual effect produced in such cir- 

 cumstances as are being considered, because the damage 

 caused by collision not only admitted water into the 

 ship, but it reduced, at the same time, her power to 

 withstand the heeling effect of the excentric compart- 

 ments that were thereby filled. The ship would only 

 have heeled about 5" with these compartments filled, if 

 the hull had been uninjured ; but if the hull had been 

 uninjured, the compartments would, of course, not have 

 been filled. Mr. White goes on to say : " It appears on 

 investigation that in the damaged condition and at the 

 extreme position which the Victoria occupied before the 

 lurch began, the flooding of the compartments enumer- 

 ated, and the accumulation ot water on the starboard 

 side, account for the observed angle of heel, 18 to 10 

 degrees." This inclination — -which is what was really 

 due, in the circumstances, to water being held over to 

 starboard by the longitudinal partition above referred to ; 

 as the accumulation of other water to starboard was 

 merely the consequence of the heeling thus caused^ 

 must have allowed the sea to enter the ports and 

 door of the upper deck battery sooner than it otherwise 

 would have done, and thus have hastened the capsizing of 

 the ship. Tne Admiralty Minute states that "the evid- 

 ence clearly shows that the existence of longitudinal water- 

 tight bulkheads in the Victoria was not the cause of 

 her capsizing. There were only a few minor longitudinal 

 partitions in the fore part of the ship. Many of these 

 were inoperative because of damage or open doors." 



This conclusion is doubtless correct so far as it relates 

 to the continuous longitudmal central bulkhead to which 

 the capsizing of the ship was prematurely, though con- 

 fidently, attributed by certain hasty critics, because such 

 a bulkhead did not exist in the forward part of the ship 

 that was aftected by the collision. It clearly does not 

 apply, however, to the minor longitudinal partitions above 



NO. 1258, VOL. 49] 



referred to, because these must have been contributory 

 to the disaster according to the extent by which the water 

 they held over towards one side caused the heel of the 

 ship to increase as the bow became immersed, and the 

 stability diminished. It is a question that could 

 only be settled by further investigation, whether the 

 reduction of stability and the heeling effect thus caused 

 was greater or less in this particular case than would 

 have occurred if the water had been free to pass from 

 side to side of the ship within the fore-and-aft limits of 

 the compartments it entered. 



2. What Tvould probably have happened if the doors 

 and ports in the upper-deck battery had been closed. — Mr. 

 White says: " It is not possible to state absolutely that 

 the Victoria., with turret and battery closed, could have 

 been kept afloat permanently under the actual circum- 

 stances of the collision " ; and he points out that there are 

 many compartments into which water might have found 

 its way eventually, through doors and hatches that were 

 probably open. He considers, however, that " her 

 capsizing would have been improbable even if she had 

 eventually foundered." The Admiralty endorse this 

 opinion in their minute, which states : " The great weight 

 of water thus gradually admitted into the forward part of 

 the ship might eventually have caused the ship to 

 founder by the head." 



We see no reason to believe that the ship could pos- 

 sibly have been saved by the closing of these doors and 

 ports. By the time the sea had reached them the fore 

 end of the ship was so deeply submerged, and there were 

 so many openings by which water could then find its 

 way into compartments not already filled, that it is 

 difficult to conceive how even the rate at which she was 

 so rapidly sinking could be checked. When the sea had 

 reached the height of the turret ports and the upper-deck 

 battery ports and doors, the ship was inevitably doomed. 

 She might possibly have sunk by the head without 

 capsizing, although this appears improbable. With 

 her stability reduced to the extent described in the 

 Admiralty Minutes, when the bow was under water, and 

 the heel to starboard was great, it would appear that the 

 effect of the increasing quantities of water in the ship 

 would certainly be to capsize her very soon. But whatever 

 might have been the precise manner in which she would 

 have gone down, there appears no doubt that the vessel 

 v/ould have gone to the bottom almost immediately after 

 she did, even if the turret and upper-deck battery ports 

 and doors had been closed. 



3. What would probably have happened if all doors, 

 hatches, &^c., had been closed before the collision took 

 place. — We agree upon this point with the opinion, based 

 upon the calculations of the Construction Department, 

 which is expressed in the Admiralty Minute as follows : 

 " While the loss of buoyancy must in that case have been 

 considerable, yet, making all due allowances for probable 

 damage, the ship would have remained afloat and under 

 control, and able to make port under her own steam. 

 Her bow would have been depressed about to the water 

 level, her heel to starboard would have been about one- 

 half of that observed before the lurch began {i.e. 9 or 10 

 degrees), her battery ports would have been several feet 

 above water, and she would have retained ample 

 stability." 



4. The efficiency of the water-tight doors to the bulk- 

 heads, and of the means of closing the/n quickly. — This 

 question is one of the greatest importance in the present 

 case, because, as we have seen, the Victoria might appar- 

 ently have been navigated safely into port if all the 

 water-tight doors, hatches, (S:c. had been closed soon 

 enough to prevent water passing from compartments 

 directly opened up by the collision into others from which 

 they were separated by water-tight bulkheads or decks. 

 The Admiralty expresses strong and unqualified opinions 

 upon this point. Their lordships say " the detailed evi- 



