56 



The Review of Reviews. 



SHIP 



THE UNSINKABLE 



The Nautical Mas,azine devotes further space to the 

 lessons of the Titanic disaster, and reviews the question 

 of bulkheads and the issues submitted for settlement 

 to the Board of Trade Committee, which can be briefly 

 summarised : — 



(i) To determine the mmiber of watertight transverse bulk- 

 lieads necessary for efiliciency in passenger antl cargo vessels. 



(2) To investigate the value of lateral watertight subdivision 

 and of horizontal watertight flats. 



(3) To draw up tables of scantlings for 

 watertight bulkhead. 



There has been a flood of wild 

 suggestions which will not divert the 

 committee of experts from their 

 allotted task ; but the force of 

 criticism is already bearing fruit, 

 for:— 



It is said that one famous shipping 

 company has already given the committee 

 a lead here by having the lowermost deck 

 in their latest and largest steamer made 

 watertight throughout its length, the cargo 

 hatchways being trunked to the shelter 

 deck. In way of the machinery space the 

 lower deck is, of course, discontinued, 

 but the deck next above it is made water- 

 tight to the casing sides. 



If all the suggested improvements 

 were applied to shipbuilding, it is, 

 of course, quite possible that it 

 would become increasingly difficult 

 to retain any idea of profit-making, 

 but it should be within the wit of 

 man to obtain the highest efficiency 

 with a minimum risk to life, such 

 as, indeed, the presence of water- 

 tight compartments was held to 

 have secured. The writer, how- 

 ever., notes that " in regard to the 

 strength of watertight bulkheads it 

 is probable the future will see im- 

 portant modifications. Certain por- 

 tions of the TititUc evidence, if 

 accepted at face value, appear to 

 discredit the efficiency of the water- 

 tight transverse bulkheads in that 



ship." 



When all is said and done much 

 remains to " uncharted (-hance," 

 for, as must be admitted, it is not 

 easy to submit every part of a marn- 

 moth vessel to such tests as will 

 enable her to ride through any and 

 every peril. Still, there is evidently 

 much to be done by way of more 

 thorough-going tests, which at 

 •^resent are often of the slightest :— 



Ordinary watertight bulkheads have no such test. In some 

 cases a hose jjipe is played on Ihem : commonly no water test 

 of any kind is applied to ihem. The seams are caulked, cer- 

 tainly, and the riveting is at watertight pitch : the classification 

 surveyor sees that this is done ; but whether the structure will fail 

 or stand up to its work when the day of trial comes rests in the lap 

 of the gods. Surely this is not as it should be. If a bulkhead 

 is to be an efficient watertight subdivision, as well as an element 

 in the structural strength, as in mail boats it ought to be, should 

 it not be tested by water pressure to show that it is so ? 



The "Titanic" : 



How the water rose to " E ' 

 cascade to " F " deck. 



deck and fell in a 



This illustrates how the water entered various parts of the vessel. Joseph 

 Thomas Wheat, an assistant second steward, described the way in which the water 

 penetrated from "E" to "F"deck. He witnessed the water coming in with his 

 own eyes. The water was forced up as shown on the left and flowed over the 

 top of the bulkhead on lo " F " deck. 



