Blog 142 - THE TITANIC - PART II - DESIGN, PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION

Could there have been flaws in the design and construction of the ‘Titanic’ that could have caused it to sink in 2+ hours?

This was an era when the only means of crossing the Atlantic from England or Europe to the US, was by ship.

This was also an era where tremendous innovations, fueled by the Industrial Revolution, were taking place. For example, the invention of Scotch Boilers in 1830 and its rapid increase in capacity by the turn of the century, provided steam power - at higher and higher pressures - to operate larger and larger machinery. In fact, with the increase in steam production, machinery for multiple uses were invented at an astonishing rate. Steam Engines were one such and they kept increasing in size and power. 

Two of the shining examples of the speed of evolvement of technology which kept pace with the by-now well known power that steam can produce was 

1. The Triple Expansion Engine, which was now being designed and manufactured literally as a made-to-measure item, to suit each customer’s needs. The Titanic had an HP, IP, and Two LP cylinders. (HP - High Pressure. IP - Intermediate Pressure, LP - Low Pressure)

2. The advantages of the use of steam also produced an invention that had a far reaching impact beyond centuries and is still having an impact after 140 years - the Parsons Turbine, invented in 1884 by an Irish Engineer, Sir Charles Algernon Parsons. 

Parsons' design was based on the Second Law of Thermodynamics and Carnot's Theorem, which states that higher steam temperatures lead to greater power plant efficiency. His turbine's design allowed for the extraction of kinetic energy while preventing the turbine blades from over speeding.

(An aside - one of the wings of the Marine Engineering College Hostel, my alma mater - dmet - was named after Parsons).

A Simple Double Acting Triple expansion Engine, with HP, IP and LP Cylinders

Parsons Steam Turbine Balanced Pistons

Ever since wooden sail boats had given way to steel hulled ships, propelled by (initially) steam engines - the first iron steam ship was built in 1822 - ships had only gotten bigger. As the number of passengers increased, so did the size of the ship and the quality of refinements for the comfort of the passengers.

A Declaration

At the outset, let it be known that I have accessed scores of ‘You Tube’ documentaries, commentaries, research papers, Google, Wikipedia, Britannica, as  also a few books (for instance ‘What Really Sank the Titanic’ authored by Jennifer Hooper McCarty and Tim Foecke)  on the subject in order to gain an eagle’s view of the events that  led to the tragedy. ‘Ocean Liner Designs’, ‘Britannica’ and the book ‘What Really Sank the Titanic’ were of immense value in being the source of many accurate facts.

These articles of mine on the Titanic are delved purely from research of material already in the public domain. Nothing is original. Perhaps some conjectures of mine may be original, based more on the experience of 44 years of sailing / working on ships and managing ships.

What I have done is collate material, categorise them and present them. I have tried to keep away from outright speculation, conspiracy theories and bizarre theories - of which, I found as I delved deep, a confused mass of unsubstantiated details.

As a measure of those times, I am keeping to the ‘FPS' (Foot, pound, second) units that were in vogue at the turn of 20th century.

THE COMPETITION TO BE THE BEST AND FASTEST ACROSS THE ATLANTIC

A migration was taking place from Europe to the Americas. Seeing the wealth that slavery had brought to the US of A, though ignoble, it prompted a multitude of Europeans - Germans, Dutch, British (the Irish being the major race in  this migration), French to cross the Atlantic. The rich went over to further enhance their wealth and set up business empires. The skilled artisan went over to be one of the pioneers in his trade, across the Pond, finding himself stalemated in his own country. The poor went across as the last ditch effort of his family, with an optimistic and dreamy prospect of a better life in the US and, once settled, planned on calling his family over.

Some migrations had a religious background. Ever since Martin Luther pinned his 95 Theses on to the Church door on 31st Oct 1517, it created strong, ever widening, ripples that tore asunder a Papal Church. The protests brought about strict retribution to force the populace to abide by the Vatican. The Spanish Inquisition (1438 ~ 1834), Papal Bulls and similar draconian measures forced people to flee to the safer pastures of the US, where he hoped the Papacy would have no influence.

The migration started as a ripple, swelling to a flood by the mid 1600s and continued for centuries. Shipping companies’ coffers jingled. 

A race was on to see who was the fastest across the Atlantic. A race between nations, a race between shipping companies. An unofficial ‘Blue Riband’ was pasted on the ship with the fastest average speed, first in 1838, which continued for more than a century.

For nearly a century, in the 1800s upto the turn of the century, Britain ruled the roost in the Trans Atlantic trade, having established themselves through the triangular slave trade of the 19th century. But in 1897, their might was challenged by a German Company’s ship, the ‘Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse’ that won the Blue Riband. The British had their nose ground down, in a sphere where they had thought themselves supreme and invincible.

Ever since then, the Germans, the Dutch, the French, the Americans and the British threw themselves in to the fray to build faster, better, more luxurious ships. The competition reached its peak, just as the continent was heading into the First World War.

Cunard Lines brought out their ‘Mauritania’ and ‘Lusitania’, both powered by steam turbine engines.

Hamburg America had their moments of glory with ‘Prinzessin Victoria Luise’ and ‘SS Deutschland’.

The White Star Line, not to be outdone, built their ‘Olympic’ Class of three vessels, the ‘Olympic’, the ‘Titanic’ and the ‘Britannic’ at Harland & Wolff Shipyard in Belfast, Ireland. The emphasis, however, was to be on comfort and luxuries, rather than speed. (The 'Britannic' was originally named - at the time of construction - as 'Gigantic'. After the sinking of the 'Titanic', it was felt that name would be inappropriate, perhaps too pompous in light of the tragedy).

Trans Atlantic trade and the carrying of passengers became a matter of pride and prestige for several shipping companies, Cunard Lines and White Star Lines being amongst the leaders, both British. The two faced stiff competition from a German company, Hamburg America, and a Dutch company, Norddeutscher Lloyd. Some smaller companies were also in the fray, run by French and US Owners.

To cross the Atlantic in one of the passenger liners became a status symbol. More so when they travelled First Class. All companies that plied the Atlantic passenger trade pulled out all the stops to entice passengers to travel on their Company ships, especially the First Class, as they proved to be the golden eggs in terms of profit.

How much of a prestige symbol such crossings generated could be found in the press releases either end of the Pond. News papers listed the arrivals and departures of the ships. They also listed the arrival or departure of passengers, Class wise, which stroked the egos of the hoi-polloi.

(The geographical setting of the 4 companies should be noted, as it is a stark reminder of the mix of Irish, Dutch, German and French settlers who have made the USA and Canada their home).

One must remember that these were pre - First World war times where, for the rich elite, opulence was taken for granted. Wealth was in abundance as far as the upper classes were concerned, bled from the numerous colonies scattered around the world. This held true for not only the British, but also the Germans and the Dutch, who were as big colonisers as the British.

Rich passengers, who could afford to travel First Class, were in abundance, who used to cross ‘the Pond’, as the Atlantic was then nicknamed, to visit their cousins, to start or expand their businesses, to travel. They were the ones that the shipping companies tried to attract to occupy their First Class cabins and, by advertisements and word of mouth, popularise the comforts and opulence aboard their liners. This class of passengers were the ones that kept the shipping companies’ coffers filled. 

But there was another breed of people who were suffering the pangs of unemployment and oppression after the Industrial Revolution, who were  trapped upon their unprofitable farms and agricultural land, sometimes having to deal with famines. These were in huge numbers - and they travelled Third Class (sometimes called 'steerage class'), buying their tickets with the sale of their last few possessions. They were Irish, German, Dutch - all in search of a dream.

An unofficial award (title), ‘the Blue Riband’, was started in 1838 and given to the ship with the fastest ‘average’ speed per day across the Atlantic. Separate awards for west bound and east bound ships were in vogue, as ships went against the current (Gulf Stream) when west bound and found a favourable current when east bound.

Crossing the Atlantic Ocean on ‘Zeppelins’ were a little more than a decade away, let alone commercial flights in heavier-than-air machines, when the ‘Olympic’ Class of three passenger ships - ‘Olympic’, ‘Titanic’ and ‘Britannic’ - were conceptualised in 1907.

Even the introduction of rigid air ships, the so-called Zeppelins - post World war I, did not deter the Passenger Liner trade. For example, the Air Ship ‘Hindenburg’ would normally carry 50 passengers and 45 crew. Whereas the passenger ships could carry passengers in excess of 2000, with a crew of 600 odd. A simple matter of economics.

The stepping away from coal fired boilers to the introduction of oil fired boilers - for steam ships - drastically reduced the number of crew that a ship carried. A further reduction took place with the introduction of Diesel Engines for propulsion.

WHITE STAR LINES - A Brief History

Though formed in 1870 / 1871, they had been operating under different names from the 1830s. They had an established Australian route after having populated Australia by the tens of thousands on the discovery of gold, and also an Argentinian route.

Their initial ships were sail boats that, later, evolved into Clippers. Clippers were actually a faster, sleeker form of sailing ships, with more sail area.

Unlike some other companies, White Star Line did not invest in wooden ships with paddles, which were - then - using steam engines to operate the paddles.

The White Star Line that, later, operated the ‘Olympic’ Class of vessels (Olympic, Titanic and Britannic) actually came into existence in 1870, although the same Owners had operated ships under other names.

They had a chequered past, having decent periods of success and grandeur to, at other times, a less than stellar performance, losing ships  and nearly getting reduced to bankruptcy. 

1873 - The ‘Atlantic’ ran aground off Halifax. It had nearly run out of coal due to fighting a storm and were forced to divert to Halifax.

1893 - The largest Live Stock Carrier of that era, the ‘Naronic’, disappeared without a trace in  the Atlantic Ocean.

1899 - The liner ‘Germanic’ turned turtle in New York Harbour during a blizzard, due to accumulation of snow and ice.

1907 - The ‘Suevic’ ran aground off Cornwall, England and lost a portion of her forward section.

1911 - The ‘Olympic’ - the elder sister of the ‘Titanic’, the first of the series of three ships, lost a sizeable portion of her bow to a collision with HMS Howe, a British Navy ship. Captain EJ Smith of the ‘Olympic’ was, then, transferred to command the ‘Titanic’ when the ‘Olympic’ went in for major repairs. She was, for months, under repairs (nearly) alongside the under-construction ‘Titanic’. After repairs, she would have one more accident in which she collided with an obstruction in the North Atlantic and lost a propeller.

This was followed by the loss of the Titanic.

THE CONTRACT

We take up the story from the year 1907, when the idea of the Titanic - and two other ships, Olympic and Britannic - was mooted and incubated. As in most things British, it (supposedly) happened over a private dinner party held at Downshire House, Belgravia, London. Some have refuted the 1907 dinner meeting, as the Ship Builder, Harland & Wolff were already in the process of building the huge gantry crane that was needed for a ship the size of the Olympic class.

The two men of consequence who met up at that dinner party were Joseph Bruce Ismay, Chairman and Managing Director of White Star Line and William James Pirrie, Chairman and Owner of Harland and Wolff. They agreed on working together to build the largest ship of those years, even if not the fastest, with the added intention of making the passenger’s accommodation and facilities the most lavish the world had ever seen.

The relations between White Star Line and Harland & Wolff was already more than 40 years old, when the historic meeting at Belgravia, London, took place, as the latter had already built several ships for the White Star Line. 

As in today’s world of the ISM Code where a Shipping Company needs to spell out its aspirations and code of conduct in the preamble to the Safety Management System, so did White Star Line emphasise - even without ISM nudges - the accent on the comfort of passengers, rather than the speed of the ship across the Atlantic. 

As a rejoinder, some of the ships that competed for the Blue Riband were found to be subject to excessive vibrations and noise, making the passengers’ stay uncomfortable.

Three contractual agreements were signed by Chairman Ismay on 31st July 1908 for the construction and delivery of three ships from Harland & Wolff. They were called the ‘Olympic’ class of vessels - as the first of them was christened the ‘Olympic’ - and were designed for the Atlantic trade routes. There are conflicting dates given. It is likely that an MOA was signed on 31st July 1908 and the ‘Construction Agreement’ on 17th Sept 1908, based on the design submitted by Harland & Wolff.

The Managing Director and head of the Design Department of Harland & Wolff was Thomas Andrews, the nephew of H&W Chairman Pirrie. The drafting of the designs came under his stewardship.

HARLAND & WOLFF

The ship building division of Harland & Wolff was formed in 1861 when Edward Harland bought over a small shipyard. He made his assistant, Gustav Wolff a partner, hence the name.

As in modern times, the company expanded into various other ship related fields and also other venues, as their Belfast HQ was nearly at the centre of Irish nationalism, which were eventful even during those years.

Having been in operation since 1861, many keels had passed over their slipways, gaining them a reputation as one of the best in the ship building industry. 

Edward Harland had, initially, worked with Robert Stephenson - English civil engineer and designer of locomotives - and had struck out on his own at quite a young age. In his own right, he was an extremely good and innovative designer. With the starting of H&W, his designing was put to the test, with his unconventional ship designs. 

Their crowning glory was the building of the three Olympic’ class vessels which, unfortunately, marginally spoilt their reputation with the sinking of the Titanic.

Unlike the shipyards of today, more than 90% of the components were manufactured by H&W in-house. The yards of today sub contract or outsource their requirements.

For example, the Triple Expansion Engines, Parson’s Turbines, Boilers of various sizes, ship’s fittings, port holes, all wood work were all manufactured by their own staff. The raw steel plates, rivets etc were from outside sources, but the final shaping of the hull plating were done in-house.

Besides the steam engines, H&W were also famous - in later years - for their Diesel Engines, giving stiff competition to MAN and Sulzer.

A look at one of H&W shops of that era

Workshop dedicated to producing portholes only

Dedicated workshops for manufacturing boilers 

Design Section of Harland and Wolff

Solid Floors being readied for the 'Olympic' Class of vessels

Hand held hydraulic tool for riveters - not very successful

Riveters were paid by the rivet

With the migration of ship building away from Europe to Asian countries like Japan, South Korea in the 1960s and, later, China, Harland & Wolff lost their pre-eminent position as one of the best. Today they stand relegated to ship repairing and other ancillary activities.

The Design and  Construction of the Titanic -Special Features

The earliest pictures of the Titanic under construction

• The Chief of Design was Thomas Andrews. It was actually a collaborative effort on the part of two others of the team of three - Alexander Carlisle and Edward Wilding.

• Due to the sheer size - in those days the Olympic Class of vessels were the largest in the world - of the 3 vessels that H&W were to build, H&W needed two new ship yards in Belfast’s Queen Island, now known as Titanic Quarters.

• A massive 228 feet high gantry crane, built by a Scottish company, Sir William Arrol & Co, became a part of the shipyard. (A tidbit of information that I read somewhere, I know not where, was that the same company built the famous London Bridge).

• Titanic : 883 feet long, 92 feet wide, 175 feet tall (from keel to top of funnel), 52,310 long tons weight (53,150 metric tons), 34 feet 7 ins draft.

• Funnels : 4 funnels, each 65 feet in height. In actuality, the original design had only three funnels - all for exhaust gases of the 29 boilers. A fourth funnel was added for symmetry, used as a ventilation duct for certain machinery spaces and galley exhaust.

• Decks : There were ten decks, 8 of them for passengers.

• Water tight compartments ; The Titanic had 16 compartments, referred to by the designers as ‘water tight’. This claim, in a large part, contributed to its reputation of being ‘unsinkable’. More on this later, as the claim proved to be a misnomer. The vertical bulkheads terminated about 10 ft. above the waterline.

Shows some of the watertight bulkheads

The crucial forward area

• How the myth of invincibility was perpetuated much before the construction began:

  

• Shipping agents, booking in passengers, used this ‘unsinkable’ phrase often, to assure passengers who were in two minds. A classic example was Lady Duff-Godson who, although having travelled to the US by other ships, was a little apprehensive on undertaking a crossing on a ship that was on her maiden voyage, with no ‘sea time’  under her belt (my phrase), but was convinced by the Booking Agent about the ‘unsinkable’ Titanic. She travelled First Class, survived the sinking and also testified at one of the hearings on the circumstances leading to the sinking.

Lady Duff-Godson

• Capt EJ Smith, who was transferred from the ‘Olympic’ (after her accident / collision with HMS Howe) to the ‘Titanic’ had this to say 

Ominous words - tempting Fate

• Could it have been money and budgetary considerations that stopped the ‘water tight’ bulkheads from reaching the inevitable continuous shelter deck? Let me investigate further.

 Note: Original Drawing : The vertical bulkheads reach upto the Upper Deck only

Another Original Drawing

Some lesser known facts: 

• Around 15,000 workers, mostly Irish, formed the work force that built the Titanic.

• There were a total of nine fatalities during construction and launch, with about 248 injuries, 28 of them serious.

This is the second of my series of articles on the ‘Titanic’.

The first was "Titanic - the Wreck and the Remains" - Blog 141

AR