Today’s blog steps away from the world of Automotive and Motorsport for a change – to a well known tale with a local connection. The story of RMS Titanic – the ‘infamous’ unsinkable ship.

The Titanic leaving Southampton
By F.G.O. Stuart (1843-1923)

The ship sank on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, succumbing to the waves of the North Atlantic Ocean in the very early hours of the 15 April 1912 – today is the 104th Anniversary of the disaster which claimed more than 1,500 lives from the 2,224 people on board. This was enough to make it one of the most deadly maritime disasters in modern history.

The largest ship afloat at the time, RMS Titanic was the second of three Olympic class liners operated by the White Star Line and was under the command of 62-year-old Captain Edward John Smith RD, RNR, a respected naval reserve officer and the most senior Captain of the White Star Line. He was born on Well Street, Hanley – less than 2 miles from our College Road and Leek Road campuses.

Locally born Captain Edward J Smith
By New York Times

The first four days of the voyage passed without any incident, however First Officer William Murdoch informed Captain Smith that the ship had just collided with an iceberg around 11:40 pm (ship’s time) on the 14th April. Although the ship did have advanced safety features – including watertight compartments and remotely activated watertight doors, the outdated maritime safety regulations at the time meant that she only carried 20 lifeboats on board. This would cater for just over half of those on board during the maiden voyage, and approximately one third of her total capacity.

It soon became clear that the damage was serious, the strike and resulting shock actually resulted in a shearing of the rivets and buckling of hull plates – opening a leak in the hull that was below the waterline. Modern ultrasound surveys of the wreck show the damage to consist of around six narrow openings in an area of the hull that covers 12 square feet (1.1 sq. m). This is slightly different to the original inquiry that indicated openings of around 300 feet (91 m) with the iceberg having sliced the hull.

This lead to five of her sixteen watertight compartments being opened to the sea – the rate of water entering was fifteen times faster than they could pump it out. This started to flood the watertight compartments, each one had a bulkhead which extended well above the water line – however they were not sealed at the top – if too many compartments flooded, water would spill across to the next compartment as the bow settled deeper in the water. This is what happened to RMS Titanic – it was designed to float with, up to, four compartments flooded (in certain combinations, and only two fully), however five meant it’s bow was low enough to submerge the top of the bulkheads. Captain Smith consulted with Thomas Andrews, Titanic’s head designer and builder who was part of the guarantee group, travelling on the maiden voyage to look for various improvements that could be made, he stated that it was a ‘mathematical certainty’ that the ship would sink, given the flooding and that there was only an hour or two before it completely sank. The RMS Titanic sank 2 hours 40 minutes after the collision with the iceberg.

Titanic Wreck
By Courtesy of NOAA/Institute for Exploration/University of Rhode Island (NOAA/IFE/URI). – http://www.gc.noaa.gov/gcil_titanic.html

In the aftermath of the sinking, there were public inquiries set up in both Britain and the US. The two reached similar conclusions on the number of lifeboats, failure to take proper heed of ice warnings and high speeds. Neither inquiry found negligence, as the standard and long-standing practices were carried out. However, the disaster led to major changes in maritime regulations, including an International Ice Patrol to monitor iceberg presence in the North Atlantic and the harmonisation of maritime safety regulations through the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) – both still operating today.

So, what are the lessons for Engineers in all this… We often are called upon to design new and improved technology and these designs are rarely solely for our own exclusive use. We have to consider all sorts of situations and design for things that might never occur. We also have to avoid the tombstone culture – where changes for safety are only made because people are being killed or hurt. In doing this, we make sure our new designs continue to move forward.