Page 162 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 19 - 22

moderate weather with any one compartment in free communication with the sea. “This grade should apply to: - “(a.) Sea-going steam vessels not having passenger certificates under the Merchant Shipping Acts and being not less than 300 feet in length. “(b) Sea-going sailing vessels not coming under the fourth grade, and being not less than 275 feet in length. “SIXTH GRADE. - Vessels subdivided in the forebody, so that they may float in moderate weather with any one of the forebody compartments in free communication with the sea. “This grade should apply to: - “(a.) Sea-going steam vessels not having passenger certificates under the Merchant Shipping Acts and being less than 300 feet, but not less than, 260 feet in length. “(b) Sea-going sailing vessels not coming under the fourth grade and being less than 275 feet, but not less than 225 feet in length. “Every vessel coming under any of the above categories should have her foremost bulkhead at a distance from the stem, measured along the loadline, not less than 5/l00ths of the ship’s length. “By way of illustration of the above we give in Appendix A (Diagram 2) some examples of possible subdivision in vessels of various lengths, according to the grades to which they belong. “3. Bulkheads forming watertight compartments may be considered of sufficient strength to withstand the strain, particularly when the vessel is rising or falling in a sea-way, without shoring or other adventitious aid, if constructed in accordance with the table of scantlings given in Appendix B, regard being had to the support of any ‘tween decks or other permanent structure abutting thereto. Such bulkheads should be efficiently secured to the outside plating by means of frames or angle-irons, and also to the deck to which they extend. “4. The Surveyors of the Board of Trade may accept the designs and scantlings contemplated in the tables above referred to as a standard of sufficiency, but other modes of construction may be allowed provided that it be shown to the satisfaction of the Board of Trade that the strength will not be less than it would have been if the bulkheads had been constructed as in Appendix B. In all cases regard is to be had to any collateral support given by decks, partial decks, longitudinal bulkheads, bunkers, trunkways, etc. “5.We recommend that any passage ways through such bulkheads should be subject to the following conditions, viz:- “(a.) That all openings in watertight bulkheads be fitted with efficient watertight doors. That portable plates be inadmissible except in the engine room space, and that an entry be made in the ship’s logbook wherever such a plate is removed, and also when it has been efficiently replaced, and that such entry be afterwards copied in the official logbook. “(b) That all doors forming part of watertight bulkheads - except such as are already shut - be closed before the vessel puts to sea, and be closed subsequently at least once in every twenty-four hours while on the voyage, and the fact entered in the official logbook. In addition we recommend that watertight door drill be a preliminary to the usual fire and boat drill. “(c) That a watertight door may be self-acting or otherwise, but should be workable from above the bulkhead deck, and have an index showing whether such door is open or closed, except in the case of double doors the mechanical arrangement of which necessitates one being closed before the other can be opened, and in the case of doors which are only used when the vessel is loading or discharging cargo, or at a port or place of call; such doors should be closed under the supervision of the officer in charge of the vessel before she is cleared for sea, and an entry to that effect made in the ship’s logbook at the time, and signed by the