[Transcriber's Note: Underscores are used as delimiters for _italics_] AN UNSINKABLE TITANIC [Illustration: Photo by Brown Bros., New York STOKE-HOLE OF A TRANSATLANTIC LINER] AN UNSINKABLE TITANIC EVERY SHIP ITS OWN LIFEBOAT BY J. BERNARD WALKER Editor of the Scientific American [Illustration] NEW YORK DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 1912 COPYRIGHT, 1912, BY DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY Published, July, 1912 THE QUINN & BODEN CO. PRESS RAHWAY, N. J. To THE MEMORY OF THE CHIEF ENGINEER OF THE _TITANIC_, JOHN BELL, AND HIS STAFF OF THIRTY-THREE ASSISTANTS, WHO STOOD AT THEIR POSTS IN THE ENGINE- AND BOILER-ROOMS TO THE VERY LAST, AND WENT DOWN WITH THE SHIP, THIS WORK IS DEDICATED PREFACE It is the object of this work to show that, in our eagerness to make the ocean liner fast and luxurious, we have forgotten to make her safe. The safest ocean liner was the _Great Eastern_; and she was built over fifty years ago. Her designer aimed to make the ship practically unsinkable--and he succeeded; for she passed through a more severe ordeal than the _Titanic_, survived it, and came into port under her own steam. Since her day, the shipbuilder has eliminated all but one of the safety devices which made the _Great Eastern_ a ship so difficult to sink. Nobody, not even the shipbuilders themselves, seemed to realise what was being done, until, suddenly, the world's finest vessel, in all the pride of her maiden voyage, struck an iceberg and went to the bottom in something over two and a half hours' time! If we learn the lesson of this tragedy, we shall lose no time in getting back to first principles. We shall reintroduce in all future passenger ships those simple and effective elements of safety--the double skin, the longitudinal bulkhead, and the watertight deck--which were conspicuous in the _Great Eastern_, and which alone can render such a ship as the _Titanic_ unsinkable. * * * * * The author's acknowledgments are due to the "Scientific American" for many of the photographs and line drawings reproduced in this volume; to an article by Professor J. H. Biles, published in "Engineering," for material relating to the Board of Trade stipulations as to bulkheads; to Sir George C. V. Holmes and the Victoria and Albert Museum for data regarding the _Great Eastern_, published in "Ancient and Modern Ships"; to Naval Constructor R. H. M. Robinson, U.S.N., for permission to reproduce certain drawings from his work, "Naval Construction," and to Naval Constructor Henry Williams, U.S.N., who courteously read the proofs of this work and offered many valuable suggestions. The original wash and line drawings are by Mr. C. McKnight Smith. J. B. W. NEW YORK, _June_, 1912. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTORY 1