Titanic Tours of the Wreck – The Decks
Titanic Tours of the Wreck – The Decks Yesterday Nick looked at Titanic’s decks, today we’ll look at some features of these areas on the wreck. There was a thermotank (essentially a ventilator) situated at the base of the fourth funnel as wee saw in Nick’s post. There was a thermotank also on the starboard side of this funnel and the image number 1 shows remnants of a thermotank on Titanic’s debris field. This came either from the port or the starboard side of the fourth funnel. (NOAA) Image number 2 shows this same thermotank up close from the 2010 expedition and we can see that a soup tureen lies at the base of the thermotank. (RmsTitanic,inc) In the first class smoking room, there was also a bar which had two skidlights (portholes) that provided light and air into the smokeroom bar. These skidlights were found on the raised roof structure. The smokeroom is almost completely destroyed, and these skidlights are one of the few still recognizable features of this location. We see these skidlights in the image number 3. (NOAA) Titanic’s swimming pool is unfortunately inaccessible because of closed watertight door, so we can’t explore that on the wreck. However, i looked wreck footage and i believe we see few of the swimming pool portholes on the image number 4. This is not completely certain that these belongs to swimming pool, but anyways these are F deck portholes around the area where the swimming pool was located. (NOAA) During OceanGate’s Survey expedition in 2021, they explored the debris field and came across a floor tile from first class bathroom. Similar tiles would have been found in Titanic’s swimming pool area. Image number 5 (OceanGate). Post by Sauli
Did You Know… All About Titanic’s Design “D”
The Intended Exterior of Design “D” For the Olympic Class Did You Know… …that the original design accepted for the Olympic and Titanic, known as “Design D,” had a number of major differences from the two ships that were eventually launched in Belfast? While there are no known drawings of what presumably would be called Designs A, B, and C, we do have the existing Design D drawings, which are the ones upon which Harland and Wolff would have presented to the White Star Line when the two agreed upon the building of the two ships (with the possibility of a third to be completed later). The presumption has always been that the three “missing” designs would be scaled-up versions of the Big Four liners, particularly Adriatic, the last of that grouping. We can only wonder at what the first conceptions of White Star’s new mammoths might have been. Design D, however, shows not so much a scaled-up Adriatic but a design that is in some ways a radical departure from that of ships of the time and in others very reminiscent of other contemporaneous designs. Perhaps that most noticeable thing about Design D, given how important they would later be to Titanic, are the ship’s lifeboats. The design shows 14 full-size lifeboats with two smaller cutters at the front. This, at least, matches the initial compliment on Olympic and Titanic save for the additional four Engelhardt collapsible boats. All 16 boats, however, are placed aft on the boat deck, with the cutters being just abaft the second funnel and each followed by seven evenly-spaced regulation lifeboats. This would have drastically changed the appearance of the new ships. While the placement of the lifeboats would’ve been different to our eyes, it would’ve followed the practices seen in the Big Four. Adriatic’s boats were situated after just as Design D shows them for the Olympic-class ships. A more radical change in the design, however, would be the omission of a mainmast. While not necessarily the first thing noticed in the drawings, a closer inspection shows only the foremast. This would have completely altered several aspects of the Olympic-class ships and been a complete departure from contemporary designs of the time. The new Lusitania and Mauretania each had two masts, while the Big Four ships each had four. A single mast would not become vogue until near the end of the ocean liner era in the 1950s and 1960s. Beyond the visual changes, the Olympic-class ships would have had to make alternative arrangements for their wireless aerial, which could no longer be suspended between two masts. It is likely that, as with some later vessels such as the Empress of Britain in the 1930s, that this aerial could have been suspended between two of the funnels. As wireless was still in its infancy in 1907 and 1908 when these designs were coming together, this was likely not a primary concern to Harland and Wolff, but if followed through on, it could’ve had an important impact on the Titanic during her ill-fated maiden voyage. The rest of the outward design, as far as we can tell, is likely to be very similar to what we have come to know. Four buff, black-topped funnels, the graceful counter stern, the classic bow shape, and even the overall shape of the superstructure are all there very close to the way we remember them. There’s no complete exterior drawing to show exactly what she would’ve looked like, but it’s safe to say that she would’ve looked similar on the outside. The one other exception is the center anchor and hawse pipe, which do not make an appearance on either the overhead drawing of the forecastle or the starboard elevation. The compass platform might also have been located elsewhere, as a dome over the first class lounge appears to be in that spot in Design D. Internally, however, the ships would be quite different. Next time, we’ll take a look at the internal differences between Design D and the Olympic-class as they were built. The first page of the original drawings for Design D, showing a starboard elevation and overhead looks at the Boat Deck, A Deck, and B Deck (including the forecastle and poop) Previous Next
Wreck Thursday – First Class Cabin D-33 Henry Sleeper Harper
Wreck Thursday – Henry Sleeper Harper’s First Class Cabin D-33 Cabin D-33 was a ‘typical’ 1st Class cabin aboard Titanic, and by ‘typical’ we refer to the fact that, unlike most cabins located on the Titanic’s upper decks, this cabin had bare riveted steel ceilings, and was furnished with a variety of furniture found in several different other staterooms. Despite these details, the 1st Class cabins on D-deck were comfortable and above standards for other competitive Atlantic liners. D-33 was classified as a ‘Three-Berth’ cabin and was occupied by Mr. Henry Sleeper Harper and party. Mr. Harper, the director of the ‘Harper Publishing Company’ (Who most famously published ‘Harpers Weekly’), boarded the Titanic in Cherbourg, France, accompanied by his wife Myra, her dog ‘Sun Yat Sen’ (An award-winning Pekinese), and their Egyptian interpreter Hammad. Comically enough, it seems like all four of them were in D-33, including their dog, who had its own ‘contract ticket’ for the sum of £1 19s (7d). Mr Harper is perhaps one of the most ‘eccentrically fascinating’ passengers aboard the Titanic. He had survived a prior shipboard encounter with an Iceberg about ten years before Titanic, so it is no wonder that when he received word to don lifejackets and head up to the deck that he did so, and yet.. he evidently led his party to the comparative warmth of the ships Gymnasium for awhile before leading his party over to the Starboard wide where they boarded Lifeboat #3. Boat #3 left the ship at 1am with all four of them safely. When dawn rose on the morning of the 15th, he was overheard remarking on how small the Carpathia was compared to Titanic, and then on the way to New York, he encountered a friend amongst the Carpathia’s passengers and seemed keener to speak about his friends ‘Youthful appearance’ as opposed to talking about the disaster he’d just survived. Hidden deep within the heart of Titanic, it was on September 7th, 2001, that bots Jake & Elwood both captured the first images of Henry Sleeper Harper’s cabin since April 15th, 1912. The cabin, though largely destroyed, revealed an incredible discovery… Let’s take a look at the ruins of D-33 and see this discovery for ourselves! **Please See Images for Additional Information** Post by: Matthew Smathers Information & Images Courtesy Of:Encyclopedia Titanica,Daniel Klistorner,CyArk Archive,Titanic: The Ship Magnificent,Bruce Beveridge,Ken Marschall,Peggywirgau.comStoried Treasures Collection,Harland & Wolff Archive, Previous Next
A Titanic Wreck Tour: First Class Dining Room
A TITANIC WRECK TOUR – THE FIRST CLASS DINING SALOON Situated aft of the Grand Staircase on D-Deck, and located amidship between the 2nd & 3rd funnel was the spacious 1st Class Dining Saloon. The massive room, which measured 113ft in length, and took up the whole of the ships 92ft width, could accommodate 554 passengers at once. The patrons to be seated at any number of the 115 separate tables, with each table having anywhere from 2-12 seats. The seats themselves were green & brown, with the cushions and backrest made of rich green leather, with legs and arms of polished oak. The Floor was made of intricately patterned gold, red, and blue linoleum tile, which shone brightly from the illumination of 400+ bulbs which lit the room not only from above but also from the sides behind the many leaded glass windows which flanked either side of the room. The walls were of intricately detailed oak, painted white, and in the center of the room was a massive brown oak and mahogany sideboard which housed a piano (used for Sunday services). When the great ship tore herself apart on the morning of April 15th, 1912, this room suffered catastrophic damage. The ship tore itself in two directly in front of the boiler casing for Boiler rm #1&2 ((The 3rd funnel)) and as a result, this room was split apart right on the back wall. When the ship struck the seafloor this area suffered heavy structural collapse. Seen for the first time in 2001 during James Cameron’s ‘Ghosts of the Abyss’ documentary, there were faint traces spotted, but on the whole, not much remained.Or did it?Lets take a look for ourselves! Post by: Matthew SmathersImages & Information courtesy of:James Cameron – Lightstorm entertainment, IFREMER, Rms Titanic Inc. Discovery Channel, Titanic: Honor & Glory, Encyclopedia Titanica, Ken Marschall, Bruce Beveridge – Titanic: The Ship Magnificent
