2.4 Titanic's final moments w/ Violet

2.4  Titanic’s final moments w/ Violet Jessup

Now we go back to the actual sinking of the Titanic during its final moments.  A number of survivors recalled hearing a tremendous roar go up as the ship went under (including Violet).  Some have explained the “roar” having been caused by equipment (i.e. boilers) breaking loose and cascading down a vertical or nearly vertical hull destroying bulkheads in the process.  This will be discussed later.  One survivor sketched a view showing both the bow and stern pointing upward with the majority of the hull under water.  Other survivors remembered the stern portion first sinking then falling back to the surface giving them some hope for refuge, only to see it seemly pulled down almost vertically as depicted in the movie “Titanic”  These witness accounts will be addressed later.  Here is what Violet remembered as she wrote her memoir years later.  The following is her account of the initial impact:

”Crash!....Then a low, rending, crunching, ripping sound, as Titanic shivered a trifle and the sound of her engines gently ceased”; (page 125 of John’s book).

The accounts of what happened during and after the crash by other survivors differ in detail from Violet’s recollection she had years later.

 Next we have her remembrances aboard lifeboat #16:

“…… I sat paralyzed with cold and misery, as I watched Titanic give a lurch forward.  One of the huge funnels toppled off like a cardboard model, falling into the water with a fearful roar.  A few cries came to us across the water, then silence, as the ship seemed to right itself like a hurt animal with a broken back.  She settled for a few moments, but one more deck of lighted ports [portholes] disappeared.  Then she went down by the head with a thundering roar of underwater explosions, our proud ship, our beautiful Titanic gone to her doom.” (page 133 in John’s book).

Author Maxtone-Graham inserts an additional detail on page 140 of his book—(ref. 1): but first some remembrances by Violet that triggers his detail.

“It is only when something is over, when your mind is detached from immediate surroundings, that you visualize actual details. One of these surviving officers had gone down with the ship and then been blown up with the explosion; he somehow managed to get clear and was picked up by one of the boats. “

Maxtonel-Graham then inserts the following comment:

“This was, of course, Second Officer Herbert "Lights" Lightoller who, struggling in the water near the sinking ship, had been drawn down and affixed atop an engine room grating as sea water flooded into it. But that same flow of water proved the instrument of his salvation. It apparently struck a still-hot boiler, fracturing it. The ensuing explosion miraculously blew Lightoller clear of the wreck and he managed to clamber aboard an overturned Englehardt collapsible lifeboat that had been launched inverted when Titanic went down. His subsequent leadership throughout the night on that overturned boat with thirty precarious survivors standing atop it remains one of the most heroic sagas of the wreck.”

There you have it—a seasoned veteran of the seas using the words explosion(s) and an authoritarian naval historian backing her up with the same words.  These passages triggered my return to writing of this disaster and subsequent re-analysis based on the explosion premise.  It is ironic that it was Lightoller’s testimony during the hearings that the Titanic sank intact, and this is what I think led to the dismissal of boiler explosions being involved in the sinking.  I find it remarkable, perhaps even incredible, that the other technological experts, and there are many involved, refrain, for reasons best known to them, from even considering boiler explosions in their forensic analysis of the Titanic disaster. 

INERTIA IMPULSE AND RABBIT HOLES

TITANIC CONCLUSIONS

Titanic's Fatal Flaw
Mystery Unsolved  

Copyright August 2016 by Ronald D. Grose

What do rabbit holes have to do with inertia and impulse?  Very little actually, nor very little to do with the Titanic story either, but there is a commonality.  There are so many fascinating facets to the Titanic story that it is difficult for a person like me to keep on track.  I will call this tendency to wander off on side issues the “rabbit hole factor or by the acronym “RHF” (not to be confused with Rh Factor).  Since RHF is not a common acronym, its meaning will periodically be brought forth.  Some, who may not be rabbit hole knowledgeable, like myself, may want to know the significance of RHF.  This just happens to take us into the story of Alice In Wonder Land which is pretty far afield from the Titanic story.  But there you have it—an example of RHF.  I mean, have locked in urbanites even seen a large field let alone a rabbit hole in one ?  Relatively speaking I’m a rural kind of guy  and I’ve only seen one rabbit hole in my life and that was because it had a horse leg sticking out of it—but that leg story is probably an RHF on an RHF etc. etc.!

[For those of you who are too busy to look it up—a rabbit hole leads to a “borrow” which has a number of subsidiary passage ways for purposes we need not get into.  The borrows themselves can be interconnect into what are called “warrens”.]

So much for glowing examples of RHF—the rabbit hole factor.  I personally favor the Urban Dictionary definition of rabbit hole which in part states: “metaphor for conceptual paths to the true picture of reality, infinitesimally deep and complex….”  Infinitesimally is a bit strong for my tastes but the essence of this definition is what I’m endeavoring to accomplish in this writing on the Titanic. There just has to be a limitation established on the RHF(s).

INERTIA

We will consider two kinds of inertia.  Inertia obviously derives from the word inert which means, according to our English dictionary, powerless to move (in essence).  The etymology for inert is not helpful.  The two ways I wish to use the word inertial are physical and mental.  Here my large dictionary is even less helpful when it comes to inert and I quote “tendency to be physically or mentally inactive; dull, slow.  The synonyms chosen are equally negative—like lazy.  This is not the connotation I wish to express.  We do better with inertia- in summary it is a “resistance or disinclination to motion, action or change”.  This is not necessarily bad.  When it comes to mental we call inertia “mindset”.

Let’s consider mindset in context with the Titanic.  As mentioned previously, boiler explosion has not been considered in previous forensic analyses I have read and the reason for this seems to be best known to the analysists themselves.  Perhaps it may hark back to the inquiries held immediately after the tragedy in 1912..  Second Officer Lightoiler’s, testimony was held in high regard as well it should have been; after all he was the highest ranking officer to survive the sinking  He alone is mentioned by name in the British final report on the their investigation.  To illustrate, the following is an excerpt from the full report furnished in Ref. pg. ???:

“…..Very shortly afterwards, the vessel, according to Mr. Lightoiler’s account seemed to take a dive, and he just walked into the water.  When he came to the surface all the funnels were above the water.

Her stern was gradually rising out of the water and the propellers were clear of the water.  The ship did not break in two and she did eventually attain the perpendicular when the second funnel from aft about reached the water.  There were no lights burning then, though they kept alight practically until to the last

Before reaching the perpendicular when at an angle of 50 or 60 degrees, there was a rumbling sound which may be attributed to the boilers leaving their beds and crashing down on to or through the bulkheads….”

Three other witnesses agreed with Lightoiler’s recollection but fourteen other witnesses thought they had seen the ship split apart before it sank.  The fourteen were not navel experts and their view was obviously subordinated.

There you have it.  For almost seventy years that official view of the sinking held—Titanic sank intact (which implies no boiler explosion of significance), the funnels were intact (at least until it disappeared), the “roar” reported was due to the ship being perpendicular (hull keel vertical instead of horizontal) and equipment, e.g. boilers, falling through bulkheads.  This view held because the Brits were the foremost ship builders in the world. 

It held until 1985 when Dr. Ballard’s team made their famous discovery. Even up to the mid twentieth century artistic representations showed an intact vessel.  There was a book cover showing a salvaged Titanic shooting up out of the ocean surface bright and shiny as new with everything intact including the relatively delicate antennae wires strung between the two masts.  [I have made a post regarding artistic impression on my blog: lusitaniaconclusions.blogspot.com.]

The British experts were wrong; modern experts now agree --the Titanic broke apart near the surface; some funnels fell off before it sank completely; and the roar was not due to boilers falling through bulkheads.  Beyond that, there are competing theories on what really happened.   Still no boiler explosions though!

What is the boiler evidence discovered since 1985.  In summary it would appear that all boilers in the forward portion of the hull are intact—this would be boilers in rooms 3 through 6.  Five intact boilers lie on the sea floor well apart from other major wreckage pieces.  I presume these are the five double boilers from boiler room 2.  Others do not seem to agree and apparently think they are single ended boilers from boiler room 1. Is this disagreement a consequence of mindset?   If so—by whom?

Enough on mental inertia now consider the physical.  There are two kinds of physical—physical and physical.  As you can tell they are closely related like my two brothers; Bill and is identical twin sister Billy—just kidding; RHF.  For the most part we will be talking about the non-biological physical; and for those of you who majored on both kinds you will want to skip over this discourse; but for those of you, like me, who were deprived of this intellectual enterprise, the following is fundamental to understanding the dynamics of what happened to the handsome Titanic; (handsome would seem to me a mixed metamorphic adjective).  But then dear Violet said (wrote) it well.  Remember she had been on Titanic just a few days and was well ship acquainted; yet she already had formed a special attachment to it; quote: Then she went down by the head with a thundering roar of underwater explosions, our proud ship, our beautiful Titanic gone to her doom...   There it is—physical to physical.  But alas I have drifted off the subject.

Before we can get into the sinking scenario we have nagging questions which require the use of the physical side of inertia—Sir Isaac Newton’s inertia theory developed well before the ships of Titanic’s size were conceived.  Oh!; I’m sorry, I must apologize to those readers who don’t want to remember high school or college physics, I must also consider a topic related to inertia—namely “impulse”.  Those of you who know more about inertia and impulse than I do can skip over the next section, but I, and the rest of us, need to review the following or look it up on google.

TO BE CONTINUED

Background Part 4 Titanic's Final Moments w/ Violet Jessop

2.4  Titanic’s final moments w/ Violet Jessup

Now we go back to the actual sinking of the Titanic during its final moments.  A number of survivors recalled hearing a tremendous roar go up as the ship went under (including Violet).  Some have explained the “roar” having been caused by equipment (i.e. boilers) breaking loose and cascading down a vertical or nearly vertical hull destroying bulkheads in the process.  This will be discussed later.  One survivor sketched a view showing both the bow and stern pointing upward with the majority of the hull under water.  Other survivors remembered the stern portion first sinking then falling back to the surface giving them some hope for refuge, only to see it seemly pulled down almost vertically as depicted in the movie “Titanic”  These witness accounts will be addressed later.  Here is what Violet remembered as she wrote her memoir years later.  The following is her account of the initial impact:

”Crash!....Then a low, rending, crunching, ripping sound, as Titanic shivered a trifle and the sound of her engines gently ceased”; (page 125 of John’s book).

The accounts of what happened during and after the crash by other survivors differ in detail from Violet’s recollection she had years later.

 Next we have her remembrances aboard lifeboat #16:

“…… I sat paralyzed with cold and misery, as I watched Titanic give a lurch forward.  One of the huge funnels toppled off like a cardboard model, falling into the water with a fearful roar.  A few cries came to us across the water, then silence, as the ship seemed to right itself like a hurt animal with a broken back.  She settled for a few moments, but one more deck of lighted ports [portholes] disappeared.  Then she went down by the head with a thundering roar of underwater explosions, our proud ship, our beautiful Titanic gone to her doom.” (page 133 in John’s book).

Author Maxtone-Graham inserts an additional detail on page 140 of his book—(ref. 1): but first some remembrances by Violet that triggers his detail.

“It is only when something is over, when your mind is detached from immediate surroundings, that you visualize actual details. One of these surviving officers had gone down with the ship and then been blown up with the explosion; he somehow managed to get clear and was picked up by one of the boats. “

Maxtonel-Graham then inserts the following comment:

This was, of course, Second Officer Herbert "Lights" Lightoller who, struggling in the water near the sinking ship, had been drawn down and affixed atop an engine room grating as sea water flooded into it. But that same flow of water proved the instrument of his salvation. It apparently struck a still-hot boiler, fracturing it. The ensuing explosion miraculously blew Lightoller clear of the wreck and he managed to clamber aboard an overturned Englehardt collapsible lifeboat that had been launched inverted when Titanic went down. His subsequent leadership throughout the night on that overturned boat with thirty precarious survivors standing atop it remains one of the most heroic sagas of the wreck.

There you have it—a seasoned veteran of the seas using the words explosion(s) and an authoritarian naval historian backing her up with the same words.  These passages triggered my return to writing of this disaster and subsequent re-analysis based on the explosion premise.  It is ironic that it was Lightoller’s testimony during the hearings that the Titanic sank intact, and this is what I think led to the dismissal of boiler explosions being involved in the sinking.  I find it remarkable, perhaps even incredible, that the other technological experts, and there are many involved, refrain, for reasons best known to them, from even considering boiler explosions in their forensic analysis of the Titanic disaster. 

Background Part 2 Maritime Incidents w/ Violet Jessop

Background Part 2 Maritime Incidents w/ Violet Jessop

While the spotlight in this blog is on the Titanic, the personal, human interest spotlight is on our star witness Violet.  It will be helpful I think to have a list, a chronology, of the maritime incidents involving Violet that have a bearing on the unfolding of the Titanic drama.  This will give perspective on the timeline and tie together the Titanic story as well as the other disasters considered in my other blogs.  Violet spent some forty years at sea so there well have been other incidents in her long career that I am unaware of.  The following are the ones I know about and which have a bearing on my blogs.  First I should state that her maritime career began near the end of October in 1908 when, at age 21 she became a stewardess on the Royal Mail liner Orinoco.  A year later she  began employment with the White Star line on board the Olympic.

Incident 1 September 20, 1911  12:45 pm  (Olympic and Hawke)

Violet was now a stewardess on the almost brand new White Star liner Olympic that had been launched in 1910 and had its maiden voyage in May of 1911.  Leaving the port of Southampton in a tricky channel a string of bad luck for the White Star line began to unravel.  There was a collision between the Olympic, under the command of the port pilot, and the British warship HMS Hawke.  A cruiser, considerably smaller than the Olympic, Hawke had a reinforced bow designed for ramming and sinking enemy vessels.  Damage to the Hawke was extensive, but the Olympic barely quivered.  Violet never mentions the collision in her memoir probably because she was busy getting her passenger responsibilities taken care of and was not an eye witness.  There can be no doubt she later became aware because the voyage was canceled and Olympic had to return to South Hampton. Consequently Violet was transferred to the Titanic but not without losing several months’ pay.  While not in command during the collision, Captain Smith was on the bridge of the Olympic; he too was transferred to the Titanic.

The gash in the Olympic’s hull was large; not much different than from a torpedo of that era.  This damage will be considered relative to other shipwreck damage in section 2.3.

Besides the gash, the Hawke was turned like a toy after her bow pieced the Olympic’s hull and Hawke's hull then collided with Olympic’s starboard propeller damaging both it and the driveshaft.  The replacement driveshaft was taken from the Titanic during it’s construction, delaying Titanic’s launch by a month, thereby setting the stage for its disastrous sinking.  After Olympic repairs were completed, Violet made a number of “sailings” on the Olympic with Captain Smith to New York and back and then, with construction completed, they both had the honor of being selected for the Maiden Voyage

Incident 2  April 10, 1912  12:01 pm  (Titanic and New York)

Leaving the dock area in Southampton, the Titanic passes several ships moored semi- permanently because of a coal strike.  One, the New York, is pulled to the Titanic by the Titanic’s propeller suction and snaps its restraining hawsers.  The two ships nearly collide but quick thinking by Captain Smith (perhaps as a consequence of the Hawke collision) averts it.  No damage is done but the incident is given bad press by the superstitious.   Apparently Violet is not one of these because no mention of the incident is found in her memoir.  As was in the prior case, Violet would not have been an eye witness but it is very doubtful that she would not have heard about it.
   

Incident 3  April 14, 1912  11:45+  (Titanic and iceberg)

We know all about this one.  Violet was put into lifeboat 16 (furthest aft on the port side) to induce other reluctant women to climb aboard. One of the last to be launched, it was lowered about an hour and a half after the collision .

Incident 4     October 27, 1914   “early morning”    (Olympic and Audacious)

The HMS Audacious was a brand new battleship for the Royal Navy when during gunnery practice it struck a German mine which did more harm to the ship then it should have.  By chance, the Olympic with Violet onboard, was in the vicinity and was able to rescue most of the crew with her lifeboats (other nearby vessels also helped in the rescue).   Understandably, Violet must have thought that it could have just as well have been the Olympic hitting the mine instead of the Audacious.  With the Titanic sinking still a fresh memory, Violet decided to become a Red Cross nurse on land.

[Although she was not on board the Lusitania when it sank on May 7, 1915, the sinking may have influenced her employment decision.  On this part of her life I find John’s book a little confusing and it may be a consequence of wartime secrecy.  According to her memoir, incident 5 concluded her sailing on Olympic until after incident 6.  There is a gap in John’s listings from 4/25/14 to 11/12/16.  From 4/25/14 until 10/27/14 she sailed on both Olympic and Clyde.  Her memoir definitely states her being on board the Olympic in August of 1914.  It is unclear when she took up Red Cross nursing.]

Incident 5     November 21, 1916  8:12 am       (Britannic and underwater mine)

Violet’s star seems to be as cursed as that of the White Star.  She finds herself assigned to a hospital ship as a Red Cross nurse (refer to Introduction).  If she felt any apprehension about possible ship disasters her memoir doesn’t reveal it; instead she is looking forward to reuniting with her brother serving in the military.  Besides the ship reminds her of the Olympic—huge and safe looking; it’s the sister ship to the Olympic after all—it’s the Britannic.  Not to be so lucky!  The Britannic hits a mine, sinks out of sight in fifty five minutes and this time Violet is nearly killed.  Now she has had enough of sea dangers and human suffering so at this point in her life she takes a desk job on land.

 The details of the Britannic disaster are considered in my blog:

                                               “britannicconclusions.blogspot.com”.   

                                                                                                               

Background Part 3 Shipwrecks

Experts seem to now agree that it is impossible to design a ship or even a boat that is totally unsinkable; one that Mother Nature cannot somehow conspire to cause the unexpected.  After all, it took a remarkable set of coincidental circumstances to do in the people on the Titanic, but, nonetheless, they did occur.

I had an experience with a supposedly unsinkable craft myself.  It was a simple 16 ft. outboard propelled runabout with a retractable canvas canopy and which, in prime condition, could manage to tow a single water skier.  I purchased it for fishing but never managed to catch a single one in the several years I used it.  A well respected brand, it came with complete underdeck Styrofoam flotation.  It was purported to be unsinkable.  I purchased it used; it was an older model.  To make a long story shorter—I was unaware there was a crack in the hull below the waterline.  For months on end I left it moored at the private dock near Sandpoint Idaho where I was renting a place on Lake Ponderay.  I didn’t notice the boat was gradually going lower in the water.  One weekend I went on an extended hiking excursion in the mountains leaving the canopy down.  While I was gone there had been a fierce rainstorm and when I returned I found the boat had sunk at the dock; the builder of this particular boat had mistakenly (I presume) used open cell foam instead of closed cell foam.

There have been countless shipwrecks over the centuries and it is not the purpose here to even touch on the matter.  I have read estimates that claim millions of shipwrecks have occurred and a great amount of information on the subject is available on the internet.   A few wrecks in the twentieth century and since have some relevance and are considered next. The sinking of the Costa Concordia is a contemporary example of a large passenger vessel unexpectedly sinking.

 

In particular, we will be looking at the extent of damage, type of damage, cause of damage, and the rate of sinking.  Only large ships are considered and only those with a relevance to the titanic sinking.. 

Costa Concordia

I’m sure most readers know that the Cruise ship Costa Concordia’s hull was subjected to forces well beyond design standards when the ship hit a rock outcropping which sliced open her port hull like a can opener.  The engine room was immediately inundated with sea water and the diesel-electric propulsion system failed due to this immersion.  Despite his other errors, the captain wisely used the emergency electrical power plant to enable the bow thrusters to turn the ship 180 degrees around.  However the bow thrusters could not provide forward movement.  Presumably, a fortuitous on shore breeze moved the ship some distance towards the safety of a nearby harbor area at the tiny Italian island and community called Giglio. Ironically this same breeze then pushed the ship against underwater rock outcroppings in the harbor shore puncturing the hull so that the ship capsized on its starboard side opposite the side where the initial damage was done.  (I have been unable to locate a forensic analysis so this is my hypothesis as to why it capsized on the starboard side.)

The relevance of the Costa Concordia sinking to the Titanic’s sinking lies in what scuba divers saw on the ocean bottom near the rock outcropping that had initially opened the hull.  Those readers who have seen these images will recall that the divers found a ribbon of the ships steel hull neatly folded in a serpentine/accordion fashion.  I remember it being about a foot wide; i.e. about ten times wider than thick.   As mentioned in the introduction, my exposure to forensic situations has been very limited so this plastic folding of steel while immersed in cold water was eye opening.  The forces necessary to do this must be rather large and the restraining conditions unique.  Amazingly, recent underwater expeditions to the Titanic’s stern have returned images of similar accordion bending of hull pieces; even images of sharp bends where the rivets didn’t fail.  I surmise from this that unusually high forces were exerted on Titanic’s stern shell as well.  The implications of this will be considered latter.

Andria Doria

Like other large passenger liners of her era, the English Queens, the American United States and the French Normandy, the Italian Andria Doria was steam turbine powered.  It sank as a result of a high speed collision with the Norwegian passenger liner Stockholm in fog off the US coast after she left the port of New York.  The Stockholm’s bow pierced the starboard side to almost the center-line; well beyond the Andrea Doria design specifications, which were in accord with established standards.  While both ships were using radar, radio communication was not used; a big factor in causation—both crews have been found to be at fault but no blame was ever affirmed in court and the shipping companies settled out of court.  The Andrea Doria stayed afloat for almost half a day and could have lasted even longer had there not been a design error with the omission of an automatically closing bulkhead door to the generator room bulkhead in the service tunnel.  The generators had to be shut down immediately and only emergency power was available which didn’t help matters any in the ships interior, especially with the exterior shrouded in fog.  The Norway was not endangered and helped in the rescue of passengers.  What is pertinent in this disaster is what happened during and immediately after the collision. 

Reportedly, the Andrea Doria steam-turbine engines continued to run after the collision.  This was in accord with what I have read concerning the instructions mandated to steam ship captains; one of the three which read to the effect: keep engines running in such emergencies.  But I have not read of boiler shut down procedure(s) initiated at the bridge in an emergency situation.  On the Titanic it is documented that the chief engineer in boiler room #6 ordered the boiler dampers closed following the alarm bell which announced watertight doors were closing.  I presume this was also the case on the Andrea Doria.

The captain of the Titanic seems to have followed the engine procedure as well; signaling “half speed ahead” after stopping the engines from full astern.  This maneuver continued for several minutes until it became apparent that moving forward increased the rate of sinking and the engines were silenced forever.  I have not read, so I must guess that this continuation was done to quickly reduce steam pressure in the boiler(s) and prevent an explosion.  There is no evidence of a boiler explosion on the Andrea Doria and it appears (perhaps because of this procedure) that ship boiler explosions are very rare indeed

[during peacetime that is; Erik Larson notes in his book the following: “[quoting a submarine captain following the torpedoing of a ship how the air forced out by incoming water] “…escapes with a shrill whistle from every possible aperture, and the sound resembles the shriek of a steam siren.  This is a wonderful spectacle to behold.”—[Larson continues]: Often at this point stricken ships gave one last exhalation as water filled their boiler rooms, causing a final explosion and releasing  a cloud of black smoke and soot, known to U-boat commanders as “the black soul””.  There is no mention of boiler explosion in the Titanic hearings.]

Underwater images of the Andrea Doria produced soon after the accident show the sunken hull (now port side up) to be relatively undamaged despite hitting the ocean floor at a non-negligible velocity.  This attests to the ship being well built, exceeding even today’s standards—a double hull and bulkheads up to “A” deck; and no evidence of boiler explosion.  However, impact damage from the collision and additional hull damage to the starboard side on impacting the ocean bottom seems to lessoned structural integrity and the ship’s superstructure and interior are now disintegrating into the mud.

The damage to the Andrea Doria was extensive.  The hull was split open to a width at least that of the Stockholm’s bow 40 ft. back; or I would guess a width somewhat less than maximum or about  sixty-five feet.  [Due to the rotation of the Stockholm after the collision the width may have been increased even more.]   Vertically, the gash was from top to bottom, including the double bottom from bilge to nearly the keel: a vertical height of about 100 ft..  The fireman’s tunnel was pierced, allowing an unknown flow rate (at least to me) of sea water into the tunnel.  Again for reasons unknown to me, this inflow proceeded unimpeded through the rest of the ship and caused her eventual sinking as noted previously. [Since the bulkheads rose to the bottom of “A” deck, the initial list to starboard of less than 20 degrees would not have caused sea water to flow over the top of the bulkheads as some have maintained.]

Despite the huge hole in the hull and damage to the double bottom, it took eleven hours for the ship to sink.   This length of time is undoubtably due to the fact that watertight bulkheads on either side of the gash retained their integrity and equally important, the bulkhead watertight doors were closed.  [I presume (since at this time I have not been able to verify) that these doors were hydraulically forced closed and not gravity operated like those on vessels of the Titanic generation.], 

Wilhelm Gustloff

So why is it that the Titanic disaster remains at the forefront of public attention for 100 years now and counting—for that matter why am I blogging about it.  One reason for it is rather obvious—the great drama-- with high society on board and their heroic and in some cases notorious conduct.   And there is mystery and, as mentioned, unusual degree of coincidence.  The interest is not necessarily do to the large number of people who did not survive, but instead perhaps the “who” that didn’t survive.  In terms of numbers alone it pails into insignificance compared to natural disasters where hundreds of thousands perish in an instant but are little remembered by the general public within a few years.  Even in terms of maritime disasters it ranks only as third.  The record number of victims is held by the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff.

The Wilhelm Gustloff, needless to say a German vessel, was a large passenger liner built just prior to WW II and was diesel powered (so no boilers of importance in this case) but its relevance is a bit more than in fatalities.   Overcrowded to the gills with refuges from the Russian front which was going badly for the Germans, the ship was torpedoed three times by a Russian submarine, one torpedo exploded in the engine room immediately disabling the vessel and it sank rather quickly drowning over 9,000 people, about half of them children, in the ice cold Baltic sea.

Despite the torpedo explosions, the hull lies broken but relatively intact.  As we all know now—not so with the Titanic where the hull is broken into widely separated pieces and a large portion of the hull is missing entirely.  Accurate information on the torpedo damage to the Wilhelm Gustloff does not seem to exist, but since the sinking time is approximate then speculative damage estimates may be allowed (I hope).  Three torpedoes strike the ship; one between the bow and the bridge, a second somewhere under the bridge, and the third hit the large engine room probably in the bilge region.  On average, torpedo damage (from torpedoes of that era) extended over an area with dimensions roughly thirty feet.  All three torpedoes may have detonated near the double bottom since the hull broke into three pieces presumably from the bottom up when the ship struck the ocean floor vertically upright,  It took the Wilhelm Gustloff seventy minutes to sink out of sight in less than 200 ft. of water.

Lusitania

In 1915, about three years after the Titanic sinking, another English large ocean liner went to the bottom; a victim, this time, of a German submarine; this was of course the Lusitania.  Sailing from New York to England, the Lusitania supposedly was carrying only passengers and ordinary freight (at least as far as the passengers knew).  Despite a German warning, the ship was fully loaded with ordinary passengers.  The freight was a different matter entirely—certainly not ordinary.   Not all the passengers were ordinary though, there were a few that weren’t; like the multi-millionaire A.G. Vanderbilt, but still nothing resembling the glamour aboard the Titanic.  The German military had proclaimed a war zone around the British Isles and any vessels, including passenger liners could be vulnerable to underwater mines and even submarine attack.  Most of the ordinary passengers would have been unaware of the warning and even those that were, like Vanderbilt, dismissed it because of the liners great speed (the Lusitania was then the fastest passenger vessel on the seas).

Cunard personnel lied to passengers that passage would be made at normal full speed in an attempt to assuage their anxiety if they had any.  Captain Turner had no such intent and some boilers were never lit.  Lusitania’s speed never exceeded 22 knots as a consequence.  Although it was publicly stated by the Brits that the speed reduction was to conserve fuel, I suspect there was another reason for shutting down boiler room # 4.  But was it boiler room # 4 in which the boilers were shut down?  

In short, speed didn’t matter and bad luck coincidences overwhelmed it in any event.  It took a major set of coincidences for a torpedo hit to occur to begin with.  Call it luck if you will—good for the Germans and bad for the English.  There were tremendous explosions initially, and at least one muffled explosion about  a minute later, that ripped apart the hull and the Lusitania disappeared quickly with over a thousand lives lost forever.

The relevance to the Titanic lies in the extent of damage done by the explosions on the Lusitania.  Despite sinking below crushing depth, the hull, although badly broken and distorted, is still relatively intact; intact despite the explosions and despite depth charge bombing by the Brits apparently to destroy evidence.  Again; this is not so with the Titanic. 

I have become so intrigued with the Lusitania sinking that I’m devoting a separate blog to it.  There are mysteries and unanswered questions still remaining after a hundred years.  There is a high probability they will never be solved or answered satisfactorily or conclusively.  Besides the boiler room # question there are others like why did Captain Turner not shut down the engines, why did it sink in eighteen minutes?  And there is the mysterious second explosion, the muffled explosion, and depth charging.  To read about my analysis of the Lusitania disaster, see my blog:

                                                  “lusitaniaconclusions.blogspot.com”

Oceanos

The cruise ship Oceanos was a relatively recent victim of a disastrous sinking, monetarily that is; a consequence of faulty design and poor maintenance.  Its relevance is that these were not factors in the Titanic sinking.  Despite accusations by some that the Titanic was poorly designed or improperly manufactured there is little evidence of this and I side with those who provide arguments to the contrary.  There are those who argue that the coal bunker fire was poorly handled (sort of a maintenance issue).  Many authorities disagree; and while I admit it may have hastened the end, in my analysis to be presented, other sources for the ship’s rapid flooding precluded the timely arrival of rescue ships anyway.

In the case of the Oceanos, the openings to the sea were evidently small initially.  But because the crew abandoned ship early on, portholes were left open so that the ship eventually sank.  Like the Andrea Doria, the sinking took place over a much greater time span than that for the Titanic.  Following a “muffled explosion” at 8:45 pm, the ship gradually took on water, the ship was stopped and the electric generator was shut down.  It took over six hours for the sinking when, at 3:30 the following afternoon, the Oceanos capsized and went down (on her starboard side of course) 

Britannic

Britannic was the last built and, in small ways, the largest of the three White Star liners—the Olympic the first built and smallest.  It, the Britannic, has the dubious distinction of still being the largest passenger liner on the ocean floor.   Besides the fact that Violet Jessop was on board, the interest in this disaster lies in the unexplained rapidity of its sinking from a single mine explosion.  Even though it sustained a hull opening not much larger than the Olympic sustained, within 55 minutes after the explosion the ship sank out of sight.   The Olympic barely quivered (see below). Because of the mystery surrounding this sinking, a separate blog is devoted to the Britannic and Violet’s involvement.  See my blog:

                                        “britannicconclusions.blogspot.com” 

Other Ships

Two other ships need brief mention and will also be considered latter on; the Audacious which was not a passenger liner and the Olympic which did not sink.

Audacious

Audacious was a British warship newly commissioned when it encountered a German laid underwater mine and rather rapidly sank much to the embarrassment of the British Admiralty.   It had a design flaw; longitudinal coal bunkers which were favored at the time as added resistance to shell bombardment but with unfortunate greater vulnerability to mines and torpedoes.  The ship quickly listed to starboard (another one) but then stabilized.  Now the relevance to Titanic: by coincidence, a nearby passenger liner could render assistance by sending lifeboats to rescue the sailors before the Audacious sank.  The liner was even involved in a futile attempt to tow the stricken warship to relatively nearby shallow water where salvage would have been possible.  There was no chance for this because the Audacious turned turtle amid a fearsome explosion which sent a geyser of water and chunks of metal hundreds of feet into the air.  One chunk of metal flew 800 yards and killed a sailor on a nearby ship.  Authorities at the time explained the explosion was due to armament falling as the ship capsized.  Despite the mortal wound the Audacious remained afloat for a considerable time; from 8:45 am when it struck the mine until 8:45 pm when it capsized and sank.

It is doubtful the Violet witnessed the violent ending of the Audacious.  In her memoir she reports seeing the sinking ship at sunset. The rescue of sailors took place before that time and Captain Smith would not have lingered around with submarines lurking.  By 8:45 pm the Olympic would have probably been many miles away precluding any eye and ear witness by Violet.  Nonetheless through some experience or other Violet would distinctly relate that there were underwater explosions in addition to the “roar”.

Olympic

The Olympic must again return to the spotlight because the damage it sustained in the Hawke collision is so pertinent to my analysis.  The Hawke although quite a bit smaller than the Olympic was reportedly traveling near its maximum speed; over 20 knots when it struck the Olympic near the stern (on the starboard side of course).   The Hawke had a reinforced bow for enemy ship ramming so the resultant hole in the Olympic’s hull was not negligible.

                                                                 TO BE CONTINUED 

INTRODUCTION

TITANIC CONCLUSIONS

There were elements of serendipity to it.  A librarian staff member had placed it on an open part of a shelf containing books of little interest to me, but that one was.  “TITANIC SURVIVOR” the cover shouted.  I took it home.  Not an especially new book it turned out (but I was unaware of its existence)…why it was placed there on exhibit I have not pursued but I am thankful that our local library did so or this wouldn’t have been written in all probability.  Reading the book has brought back memories and thoughts I wish to share.

Violet Jessop was her name, this survivor of the sinking of the largest moving object mankind had constructed up to that time, and she had written of this great tragedy in a memoir that had never been published.  It took a measure of more serendipitous coincidences for it to see the light of day for book readers.  A naval historian, John Maxtone-Graham, fortuitously happened upon it years after he, and he alone, had interviewed Violet shortly before her death at age 84 (no writer of any kind ever had before).  John edited, annotated and introduced Violet’s writing in this book of his.

As an aside; John Maxtone-Graham left this veil of tears in 2016 at age 85.  I want to think that perhaps he can now continue his dialog with Violet.]

I must refrain from even summarizing the remarkable nature of the coincidences that brought the memoir manuscript into John’s possession because the memoir is not the subject matter here but I must give you just a taste of the memoir and I quote from John’s introduction….”Much of Violet’s prose flows beautifully and she knows how to tell a good yarn.  It has been my experience that everyone employed aboard passenger vessels—from master to cruise director—inevitably threatens to write their memoirs.  But very few do and never before, to my knowledge, has a stewardess.  So that is the greatest plus of all, that an articulate witness to memorable maritime events –one of which has fascinated the world ever since—has left an unique record.” 

Yes, Violet Jessop was a stewardess aboard the Titanic and also aboard the two sister ships, the Olympic and Britannic.  She was aboard the Britannic when, as a hospital ship during WWI, it struck a submerged mine and rapidly sank.  Although she was uninjured in the Titanic sinking she was in the latter.  By her account It would seem miraculous that she wasn’t badly injured or killed as many were.  Her forty some years of maritime duty where she not only witnessed but was involved with the destruction of large ocean liners and other vessels gives her, in my opinion, unique authority in the description of these events.

A picture in the book of the 21 year old “trim” Violet aboard her first charge bore a striking resemblance to the petite English lass I had a crush on in high school (crush was the street word we used back then to express unrequited affection).  I was reminded of my unsuccessful pursuit of the object of my fantasies; unsuccessful in that we never ever even dated.  John’s book’s relates the unhappy romantic life that was Violet’s lot and it had certain resemblance to my own which further strengthened the ties, but it was those memories stirred by the book of my fascination with maritime foundering’s which are pertinent here.  Following HS graduation, I and “crush” parted ways never to see each other again much like what happened to Violet and her first love.  I went on to get an engineering degree at the University of Wisconsin in beautiful Madison where the campus is located on the shores of picturesque Lake Mendota.  In my later years I was employed in the research laboratory of a large rather well known corporation where I exhibited certain skills related to fluid dynamics and mathematics, and publishing technical papers which showed forth those skills.  More to the point here I also was found to have some latent skill in analysis related to what today is called forensic engineering.  Some of my duties involved the investigation of explosions for which I presented my findings at trial.  So perhaps it is understandable that I have retained an interest in such matters since retirement.

                                                         

Background - Part 1. Violet

While the intent here is to focus on technical material (most reader will no doubt recall the human side of the Titanic tragedy through exposure to books, movies, television and so forth so no attempt will be made to even summarize the extensive human story), some note will be made on the human side viz. a viz. Violet Jessop who many may not have been aware of as I was.  I wish not to take away from John Maxtone-Graham’s book so I will only briefly summarize what I feel are the most pertinent aspects of Violet’s remarkable life.  Ms. Jessop is as close as we will get to a hero/heroine character in this blog and she is, at least, our star witness.

[As an aside; John Maxtone-Graham left this veil of tears in 2016 at age 85.  I want to think he perhaps can now continue his dialog with Violet.]

Violet was born in Australia to Irish immigrants who were seeking a better life by raising sheep.  Much of her childhood was fighting various diseases which left her with diminished lung capacity; a fact which makes her underwater survival in the Britannic disaster even more remarkable.  Being eldest, and despite her ill health at times she found herself in charge of the numerous brood her petite and frail mother was unable to cope with.  Her father’s death (perhaps premature from an operation gone awry) forced a return to London England and close relatives.  The financial situation became precarious so to support the family, mother took a job as an ocean going stewardess while the surviving children were placed in a Catholic orphanage/school except for Violet and her very young child sister who eventually (after much begging of Mother) found refuge together in a convent/boarding school.

It seems that the happiest period of Violet’s life was that spent at the convent.  Here I would like to quote John’s appraisal of her life as brought forth in the Memoir—[in the convent] “Violet patently cherished a taste of the normal adolescence of which she had, for too long, been so deprived”.   Her memoir leads one to believe Violet was a bright student who was inherently attracted to education both in Argentina and England.  But parenting responsibilities ingrained in early youth overwhelmed her and she reluctantly gave up her studies for an “examination” which she felt would “open many doors” and instead took up where her ailing Mother had left off—she became an ocean going stewardess (her mother had been forced to quit her job for health reasons and supporting Mother financially became urgent).  Here I quote Violet:”I must confess that in closing my books for good, something completely went out of my life, leaving an ache behind.”  She was twenty one.

Violet did quite well at her chosen career despite the fact she disliked almost every aspect and made no secret of it.  For the first two years she worked for the Royal Mail ship line and did so well she was able to land a position with prestigious White Star despite her youth.  Within one year she was promoted to the ultimate of ships—the luxurious Olympic.  Again in one year she made a number of voyages as stewardess on the Olympic—for those of you who have a superstitious mindset the number of voyages was thirteen—and then she was transferred to the even more luxurious Titanic!

[I am indebted to John for including in his book Appendix I which lists Violet’s voyages aboard various vessels which he distilled from each of her voyages “Certificate of Discharge”]

Titanic was not the first maritime incident Violet was to be a witness of.  She was stewardessing on the Olympic when it collided with the much smaller English warship (cruiser) Hawk.  Details of the collision later.  Violet does not mention this incident in her memoir nor that regarding the near collision between the American liner New York and the Titanic on the latter’s maiden voyage out of the Southampton channel.  There can be little doubt that Violet knew of these incidents, the first cost her more than two month's pay, and their omission from her memoir is a bit mysterious; but then they were insignificant when compared to the more traumatic Audacious sinking which will be mentioned in a bit.

Yes, Violet was well thought of by White Star management so much so that she was a stewardess for those sensitive well-to-do folks in First Class.  Following her short lived duties on Titanic, Violet “steamed” on several different ships one of which was again the Olympic.  She was reluctant to do so and I quote: “I knew that if I meant to continue my sea life, I would have to return at once.  Otherwise I would lose my nerve, for I had no love for it.  But I needed the work.”  One voyage was as a stewardess on P&O’s Malwa while the Olympic was in dry-dock for ‘Titanic mandated’ upgrades.  This voyage she had arranged purposely to visit with her true love, Ned and his family.  Naively hoping the visit would culminate in a formalization of their romance; the result was tragic instead.  Violet was almost twenty six.

During World War I, Olympic was laid up because of the slump in sea traffic and Violet took up nursing as a “junior nurse” on shore.  Just prior to this, on her fourteenth voyage on the Olympic following the Titanic sinking, Violet witnessed the sinking of the brand new British battleship HMS Audacious which had struck a German mine.  [Audacious sank in October of 1914 but this record is not found in John’s listing which suggests the record was a victim of war time secrecy concerning the sinking.]  The losses of life of those aboard the Audacious were few if any thanks to lifeboats from the Olympic [more on this Audacious sinking later].  It is problematic whether or not this witness factored into Violets decision to become a “V.A.D.”; she does not say.  According to her Nieces who John interviewed, Violet was a natural born nurse; however she went back to better pay and more adventure at sea.  But before that, after a little more than a year in training as a Volunteer Aid Detachment or V.A.D., and after first sailing to New York so as to recuperate from an infection related to nursing a patient (She had been also advised to recuperate from physical exhaustion and I suspect she found caring for military wounded more traumatic than the screams from those dying from hypothermia).  The return to England found Violet aboard the ill-fated last voyage of the sister ship to the Titanic—the Britannic!  Again we shall deal with the Britannic sinking in detail latter.

Injured in this sinking, Violet was “repatriated” (later awarded medals), and took a job in a bank for a number of war years.  At wars end she again joined White Star for five years on the Olympic and Majestic whereupon she was laid off during the depression.  Next, at age 34 and at last, she encountered her best sea life doing world cruises, first with the Red Star line on the Belgenland, in many ways her favorite ship, and then other ships for a total of thirteen years.  During World War II she again was ashore for almost ten years doing clerical work.  At age 61 she went back to sea for a two year stint and then gave up sea life entirely until her death in 1971 at age 84. 

It is interesting to note that in her memoir she never mentions her many voyages aboard the Majestic; thirty eight in total according to John’s record keeping.  This is second only to the Olympic where she had at least sixty two voyages.  Besides those already mentioned, Violet sailed on seven other vessels and made no comment about them either, with the exception of the Titanic where she and other stewardesses personally expressed  appreciation to the designer, Thomas Andrews, for upgrading their living quarters from that on the Olympic.  In her memoir she lashes out at both passengers and crew.  John notes that Belgenland was Violet’s favorite ship because of the crew.  




It is interesting to note that in her memoir she never mentions her many voyages aboard the Majestic; 38 according to John’s record keeping.  This is second only to the Olympic where she had 62+.  Besides those already mentioned, Violet sailed on seven other vessels and made no comment about them either, with the exception of the Titanic where she and other stewardesses personally expressed  appreciation to the designer, Thomas Andrews, for upgrading their living quarters from that on the Olympic.  In her memoir she lashes out at both passengers and crew.  John notes that Belgenland was Violet’s favorite ship because of the crew.