Page 45 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 19 - 22

there is not in existence anything in the nature of detailed rules and regulations for the construction of ships similar to those laid down by Lloyd’s in the volume which you have before you? - Not published. 20656. Is there unpublished to your knowledge a document - The Commissioner: I think he has told us that he does not know and that you had better ask the questions from the Board of Trade. Mr. Edwards: With great respect, my Lord, if I had thought that was his answer I should not have pursued it. I did not gather the witness said he did not know. The Commissioner: I thought he said so. You asked him whether there were any requirements of the Board of Trade similar to those of Lloyd’s, and he said, “No he did not know.” 20657. (Mr. Clement Edwards.) I did not catch it. (To the Witness.) You have heard what his Lordship has said. He understood you to say that you did not know whether there were any in existence? - I do not know what exists in the Board of Trade Office. Mr. Edwards: Then you do not know whether there are such regulations. That is quite sufficient. 20658. (The Commissioner.) What I understand you to say you do know is this; that they have a practice, and that judging by their practice as applied in previous ships in your yard you are able to comply with their practice? - In the matter of bulkheads, my Lord, in particular, they are guided very much by the standard laid down, which is a partial publication, I know, of the Bulkhead Committee of 1891, referring to bulkheads. 20658a. (Mr. Clement Edwards.) That only refers to bulkheads? - We have been discussing bulkheads so much. 20659. It does not apply to everything? - It does not apply to everything, no. 20660. Now, I ask you whether you were familiar with the requirements of Lloyd’s. Can you say in what other respects the scantlings of the “Titanic” were superior to the requirements of Lloyd’s? - No, I cannot, the reason being that Lloyd’s have no published requirements for ships 800 feet long. 20661. (The Commissioner.) That is what I was asked to ask you: Are there any published rules of Lloyd’s which would apply to vessels of the size of the “Titanic”? - Nothing whatever; they stop at about 650 feet. Mr. Edwards: So that when Mr. Sanderson said he put it on the information of the shipbuilders that in certain respects the construction of the “Titanic” was superior to the requirements of Lloyd’s, he must either have been in error, or, apart from the builders, he must have submitted the plans to Lloyd’s and got some pronouncement upon them. The Commissioner: Your logic is wrong. The Witness: May I point out this, for example. You are referring to bulkheads, and you did not pursue the question. If you had done you would have found that the thicknesses of the plating were between 10 and 20 percent in excess of Lloyd’s requirements. That is not an immaterial matter, any way. 20662. (Mr. Clement Edwards.) That is for a bulkhead of the height of 44 feet? - Yes. 20663. Now as to the operation of the automatic float in connection with the watertight doors. Have you considered what might have been the effect on that automatic float? We have had it in evidence that the watertight doors were open for the engineers to get through; assuming that to be correct and assuming that at a given moment there was a great rush of water from section 4 through sections 3, 2 and 1 on the level of the boiler room, have you given any consideration to what would have been the effect on the automatic float, or what possible volume of water could have got through sections 3, 2 and 1 before the watertight doors came down? - In general terms, yes. The float, as I have pointed out, is under the stokehold plates. It is therefore protected from the rush, and, as I explained, the float is rather lighter than a piece of cork. The float, not being