How the Plating of the Inner Bottom of Such a Ship as the _Titanic_ May Be Carried up the Side Frames to Form an Inner Skin 107 Twenty of the Twenty-nine Boilers of the _Titanic_ Assembled Ready for Placing in the Ship 111 The Last Photograph of the _Titanic_, Taken as She was Leaving Southampton on Her Maiden Voyage 117 Swimming Pool on the _Titanic_ 121 The _Titanic_ Struck a Glancing Blow Against an Under-Water Shelf of the Iceberg, Opening up Five Compartments 125 Comparison of Subdivision in Two Famous Ships 129 The Vast Dining-Room of the _Titanic_ 133 The United States Battleship _Kansas_ 137 Plan and Longitudinal Section of the Battleship _Connecticut_ 143 Midship Section of a Battleship 149 Safety Lies in Subdivision 155 The 65,000-Ton, 23-Knot _Imperator_, Largest Ship Afloat 159 Longitudinal Section and Plan of the _Imperator_ 163 The Rotor, or Rotating Element, of One of the Low-Pressure Turbines of the _Imperator_ 167 The 26,000-Ton, 23½-Knot _Kronprinzessin Cecilie_, a Thoroughly Protected Ship 171 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY Among the many questions which have arisen out of the loss of the _Titanic_ there is one, which, in its importance as affecting the safety of ocean travel, stands out preëminent: "Why did this ship, the latest, the largest, and supposedly the safest of ocean liners, go to the bottom so soon after collision with an iceberg?" The question is one to which, as yet, no answer that is perfectly clear to the lay mind has been made. We know that the collision was the result of daring navigation; that the wholesale loss of life was due to the lack of lifeboats and the failure to fill completely the few that were available; and that, had it not been for the amazing indifference or stupidity of the captain of a nearby steamer, who failed to answer the distress signals of the sinking vessel, the whole of the ship's complement might have been saved. But the ship itself--why did she so quickly go to the bottom after meeting with an accident, which, in spite of its stupendous results, must be reckoned as merely one among the many risks of transatlantic travel?