It will thus be seen that all the six compartments forward of No. 4
boiler room were open to the sea by damage which existed at about 10
feet above the keel. At 10 minutes after the collision the water seems
to have risen to about 14 feet above the keel in all these compartments
except No. 5 boiler room. After the first ten minutes the water rose
steadily in all these six compartments. The forepeak above the peak tank
was not filled until an hour after the collision, when the vessel's bow
was submerged to above C deck. The water then flowed in from the top
through the deck scuttle forward of the collision bulkhead. It was by
this scuttle that access was obtained to all the decks below C down to
the peak tank top on the orlop deck.
At 12 o'clock water was coming up in No. 1 hatch. It was getting into
the firemen's quarters and driving the firemen out. It was rushing round
No. 1 hatch on G deck and coming mostly from the starboard side, so that
in 20 minutes the water had risen above G deck in No. 1 hold.
In No. 2 hold about 40 minutes after the collision the water was coming
in to the seamen's quarters on E deck through a burst fore and aft
wooden bulkhead of a third-class cabin opposite the seamen's wash place.
Thus, the water had risen in No. 2 hold to about 3 feet above E deck in
40 minutes.
In No. 3 hold the mail room was afloat about 20 minutes after the
collision. The bottom of the mail room which is on the orlop deck, is 24
feet above the keel.
The water-tight doors on F deck at the fore and after ends of No. 3
compartment were not closed then.
The mail room was filling and water was within 2 feet of G deck, rising
fast when the order was given to clear the boats.
There was then no water on F deck.
There is a stairway on the port side on G deck which leads down to the
first-class baggage room on the orlop deck immediately below. There was
water in this baggage room 25 minutes after the collision. Half an hour
after the collision water was up to G deck in the mail room.
Thus the water had risen in this compartment to within 2 feet of G deck
in 20 minutes, and above G deck in 25 to 30 minutes.
No. 6 boiler room was abandoned by the men almost immediately after the
collision. Ten minutes later the water had risen to 8 feet above the top
of the double bottom, and probably reached the top of the bulkhead at
the after end of the compartment, at the level of E deck, in about one
hour after the collision.
In No. 5 boiler room there was no water above the stokehold plates,
until a rush of water came through the pass between the boilers from the
forward end, and drove the leading stoker out.
It has already been shown in the description of what happened in the
first 10 minutes, that water was coming into No. 5 boiler room in the
forward starboard bunker at 2 feet above the plates in a stream about
the size of a deck hose. The door in this bunker had been dropped
probably when water was first discovered, which was a few minutes after
the collision. This would cause the water to be retained in the bunker
until it rose high enough to burst the door which was weaker than the
bunker bulkhead. This happened about an hour after the collision.
_No. 4 boiler room._--One hour and 40 minutes after the collision water
was coming in forward, in No. 4 boiler room, from underneath the floor
in the forward part, in small quantities. The men remained in that
stokehold till ordered on deck.
_Nos. 3, 2, and 1 boiler rooms._--When the men left No. 4 some of them
went through Nos. 3, 2, and 1 boiler rooms into the reciprocating engine
room, and from there on deck. There was no water in the boiler rooms
abaft No. 4 one hour 40 minutes after the collision (1.20 a. m.), and
there was then none in the reciprocating and turbine engine rooms.
_Electrical engine room and tunnels._--There was no damage to these
compartments.
From the foregoing it follows that there was no damage abaft No. 4
boiler room.
All the water-tight doors aft of the main engine room were opened after
the collision.
Half an hour after the collision the water-tight doors from the engine
room to the stokehold were opened as far forward as they could be to No.
4 boiler room.