Page 43 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 19 - 22

bulkhead in front of boiler section 6, you say was about what height? - Forty-four feet from the tank top. Sir Robert Finlay: I think Question 2106 makes it perfectly clear. The Commissioner: Will you read it, Sir Robert? Sir Robert Finlay: I will read from Question 2104. “(Q.) The water is coming through the skin of the ship into the bunker? - (A.) Yes. (Q.) And the bunker is about 9 feet along the side of the ship. Now I want to know, was the water coming in at this level right across the bunker, or only in part of it? - (A.) Water was coming in about two feet abaft the watertight bulkhead. (Q.) Do you mean that it was coming in from the watertight bulkhead and for two feet back? - (A.) No; only from the ship’s side. The watertight bulkhead was not damaged.” Mr. Edwards: That, you will remember, was at quite an earlier stage, in which Barrett had given evidence as to coming up out of Section 6 and going down into Section 5. It refers to a much earlier time. The Commissioner: As I understand the evidence at present, it does not indicate any breaking of any watertight bulkhead. I am aware of the uninstructed question and the answer to it. However, go on to these dimensions, which are more important. 20629. (Mr. Edwards - To the Witness.) The bulkhead in front of Section 6, you say, was of a height of 44 feet? - Yes. 20630. Now what was the thickness of the bulkhead plating on the lower decks? Take the thickness at the stokehold. The Commissioner: Does the thickness vary as the bulkhead goes on? Mr. Edwards: Now I am giving information, my Lord. According to Lloyd’s requirements, it does. The Commissioner: And I suppose it gets thinner the higher it goes up. 20631. (Mr. Clement Edwards.) That is so, my Lord. (To the Witness.) What is the thickness? - Between which decks? 20632. Take the boiler section: What thickness is it in the boiler section? - Pardon me, the boiler section is the whole height of the bulkhead. You must take it in sections. This is one of the bulkheads with a deck coming up against it. 20633. You shall take it, if you will, in different decks if there is a variation. What is the greatest thickness at the lowest deck? - Pardon me, at the lowest deck or at the tank top? 20634. Take the lowest deck. The Commissioner: No, he had better take the tank top first, had he not? Mr. Edwards: I do not mind how it is done. The Witness: I want to give you the information you are really looking for. 20635. I have no doubt you do. Now, do you mind giving me first of all what is the thickness of the bulkhead on the level of the floor where the boilers are? - That is down on the tank top. 20636. Very well? - The plating of the bulkhead down on the tank top is 0.56 - 56-hundredths of an inch. 20637. Now will you give me the thickness at F deck? - That is between F and E decks? 20638. Yes, that is so; the wall of F deck? - Yes, the wall that extends from E to F deck. 20639. To the roof of F deck? - 30-hundredths of an inch. 20640. What spaces are there on these bulkheads between the stiffeners? - I think it is 30 inches - very nearly 30 inches; about a quarter of an inch less. 20641. Now is it a fact that for bulkheads of this height the minimum requirements of Lloyd’s are 30 inches? - I think Lloyd’s specify for stiffeners 30 inches. 20642. Thirty-inch spaces between? - We are about 29 7/8. 20643. So that in that particular respect, for what it is worth, you are something less than Lloyd’s requirements? - No, we are something better than Lloyd’s requirements.