Page 11 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 19 - 22

The Commissioner: Where shall I see the transverse section of the “Titanic”? Mr. Rowlatt: This is very good, my Lord, very good and very big (Pointing to the plan on the wall.) The Commissioner: You mean up there on the wall? Mr. Rowlatt: Yes. What I was asking Mr. Wilding was this; the top line of the double bottom runs pretty well straight across till it meets the side of the ship. The Commissioner: Yes, I see that. Mr. Rowlatt: As the other ship is a little sharper, so to speak, and has not got such a rectangular bilge, to get to the turn of the bilge you have to run up the side a little, and therefore there is a corner and a different shape. So that it appears to be more different than it is. The Commissioner: That is to say, the sweep at the bottom of the transverse section in the “Mauretania” is much greater than the sweep there. Mr. Rowlatt: Yes, my Lord, it comes sharper. At that corner, as I understand it, it is cut off. The Commissioner: That is what I mean by saying the sweep is longer. The sweep, or curve, in the “Mauretania” is longer, so that it is a longer line to reach the perpendicular line of the outside skin of the ship. 20206. (Mr. Rowlatt.) Is that right, Mr. Wilding? - Yes, that is right. 20207. Now also in this ship, in the “Mauretania,” the bilge keel is fitted where the bottom is still double, if I make myself clear? - Yes, and so it is in the “Titanic.” 20208. I could not see it in the “Titanic.” Is there a bilge keel on the “Titanic”? - Yes. The Commissioner: The bilge keels are marked in both. Mr. Rowlatt: Yes. I had not that one in my hand, my Lord. The Commissioner: Does anything turn upon the bilge keel? Mr. Rowlatt: No, my Lord, because they are the same. The Commissioner: They are both inside? Mr. Rowlatt: Yes, my Lord. The Commissioner: They both project through what you may call the double bottom? 20209. (Mr. Rowlatt.) Yes, my Lord. (To the Witness.) Now, if you look at the plan of the ship - the plan as opposed to the section - at the bottom here of this same piece of paper, you see there are longitudinal watertight compartments all along the side of the ship? - Yes. The Commissioner: I see that. 20210. (Mr. Rowlatt.) And is the same shown in section in this transverse section at this end here, where “W.T. Compartment” is written? - Yes. 20211. That hard line? - Just outside the boiler. It shows the section of the same watertight bulkhead. The Commissioner: So that every coal bunker on the “Mauretania” is a watertight compartment? 20212-3. (Mr. Rowlatt.) That is so, and laterally in the roof too, as I understand it? - Yes, that is shown so, at any rate. 20214. As I gather the wings outside the engine room casing are also longitudinal watertight compartments. They are shown so? - You say “outside the engine room casing.” It is really bulkheads separating different engine rooms. 20215. (The Commissioner.) I do not hear you? - It is really the bulkheads separating different engine rooms, not as Mr. Rowlatt worded it. 20216. (Mr. Rowlatt.) If your Lordship will look at the plan, your Lordship will see my question was inaccurate, because there is a big parallelogram marked “engine room” amidships, and I treated that as the only engine room. The wings outside it are also marked “engine room,” and, therefore, my question was inaccurate in form. (To the Witness.) But what I want to know is; as shown here are the engine rooms and other spaces outside the big engine room space also