Page 26 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 19 - 22

been prolonged at least half an hour longer? - If the hatchway had been trunked? 20384. Yes? - I should just like to look at that. (After referring to the plan.) I have now looked at the plan. As the water was rising up the spiral stair, that is outside the proposed trunk as well as inside the proposed trunk, I do not think it could have lengthened the life of the ship by more than a few minutes, five or ten. 20385. Supposing you had had both the hatchway trunked and the spiral staircase trunked? - The spiral staircase, my Lord, had to be open to give access to the firemen for their accommodation. That is what it was for. You had to let the firemen out from the top of the spiral stair at G deck into their quarters. 20386. You mean to say that you could not seal the top of the spiral staircase with anything that would be watertight? - Not very well. The Board of Trade would probably have refused to allow us to use it in that case for the voyage. 20387. I do not quite see myself how the firemen would have got through the sealed cover unless they could see a sort of horizontal watertight door in it. Do you think that the life of this ship would have been lengthened if the hatchway in No. 1 had been trunked from the Orlop deck up to the G deck? - Up to the saloon deck? 20388. Up to the G deck? - You mean a trunk between? 20389. A trunk between the Orlop deck and the G deck? - That is to say, to prevent the space between the Orlop deck and the G deck being flooded? 20390. Yes? - That is the intention. 20391. Yes? - A few minutes; that is all. I may say that a watertight hatch trunk - a trunk hatch as distinct from a watertight bulkhead - is not as a rule capable of standing any great head of pressure. When once the water got up as high as the top of the trunk it would probably collapse - I mean, in the normal course of things. 20392. Are any of these decks watertight? - None whatever, except the weather deck. 20393. For instance, the Orlop deck is not watertight; the G deck is not watertight. 20394. (Mr. Rowlatt.) The Orlop deck, you told us yesterday, was watertight only just in the forepeak? - Yes, in the forepeak. 20395. And then the after deck? - And in the three after-holds, I think. 20396. You explained that to us yesterday? - Yes. The Commissioner: In the forepeak it is a tank top? Mr. Rowlatt: Yes, my Lord. The Commissioner: I was not talking about the forepeak. I was talking about the watertight compartment just aft of the forepeak. 20397. (Mr. Rowlatt - to the Witness.) None of the decks in No. 1 hold are watertight, are they? - None whatever. There is no watertight deck in any of the cargo holds in the ship. 20398. Now, just a question about the strength of the watertight bulkheads. Were these watertight bulkheads strong enough to resist the pressure of water which would be upon them in the event of one side of them being flooded? - They were; they were so designed. 20399. Just tell me, what does that pressure depend upon? - The height of the top of a bulkhead above its connection to the tank top. 20400. What you have got to calculate for is a depth of water reaching to the top of the bulkhead that you are dealing with? - Quite right. 20401. If it gets above that it is immaterial? - It is immaterial. 20402. (The Commissioner.) It flows over? - If the water can get over the top it does not matter. 20403. (Mr. Rowlatt.) Just to get it quite clear. I think you have told me that it does not matter how much water there is behind the bulkhead, so to speak; it is only the depth that matters for hydraulic pressure? - Yes, the pressure depends entirely upon the depth.