The famous movie said that the reason the Titanic was steaming at full speed through known iceberg waters at night, was because the owners and captain wanted to impress people with the ship's speed, arriving a day earlier that planned into New York.
But some say the real reason they were going so fast, was because there was a smoldering coal fire in one of the ship's fuel bunkers. Apparently testimony was given by sailors who were assigned to the bunkers, to the effect that a fire was there, and they were instructed not to talk about it to passengers for fear of alarming them.
Going at full speed was done for two reasons: (1) to reach port more quickly where firefighting equipment and personnel were available, and (2) to use up the coal in the upper part of the bunker so they could get down to the burning portion, shovel it into the boiler fires, and get rid of the problem.
Smoldering coal fires were not unusual in the days of coal power. The most common way of dealing with them, especially on a passenger ship where there was no other place to put the coal, was to use up the coal until the burning parts could be reached and shovelled into the boilers, as in point (2) above.
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http://titanic-model.com/db/db-03/CoalBunkerFire.htm
Coal Bunker Fire
The fire in Titanic's coal bunker continues to smolder long after the ill fated ship sank beneath the waves. Over the years authors have speculated that the fire might have weakened the ship, hastening her demise. In this day we cannot conceive of a ship setting sail with a fire aboard, but the reality is that minor, smoldering fires were a fact of life in the age of coal. This paper looks at the testimony of some of the participants in an effort to return the discussion to the facts.
Two papers by The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers are widely used by Titanic researchers. They state that the fire in the coal bunker was so severe that "there was there was talk among the stokers that ... New York City fireboats might have to be called to help extinguish it":
Spontaneous combustion of coal had caused a stubborn fire in the starboard bunker in the aft corner of Boiler Room No. 6. Fireman J. Dilley testified before the American inquiry held by Senator Smith of Michigan[3] that he had been among 12 men assigned to fight this coal bunker fire. The coal on top of the bunker was wet, but the bottom of the pile was dry. The coal pile began to smolder. The fire was detected from its sulfurous odor during the ship's departure from Southampton on her maiden voyage. It is uncertain how long this fire had burned, but from testimony of surviving stokers at the inquiries, it appears that it burned for at least 72 hours. The 12-man crew made every effort to put it out. Those fighting the fire were alarmed at their inability to extinguish it. The engineering officers instructed these men not to converse with the passengers so as not to alarm them.
Mr. Dilley indicated in his testimony before the Mersey Inquiry, concerning this fire, that while it was still burning, there was talk among the stokers that once the passengers were put ashore, New York City fireboats might have to be called to help extinguish it. As a precautionary measure to prevent a coal pile fire in the forward starboard bunker of Boiler Room No. 5 through heat transfer, the coal there was also fed into the furnaces. It is believed that the fire was extinguished during the evening watch (4-8 P.M.) on Saturday, April 13, by a combination of wetting down the coal pile with a fire hose and ultimately removing the burning coal into the furnaces.
During the period the fire burned, steel in the lower corner of the transverse watertight bulkhead between Boiler Room Nos. 5 and 6 ultimately became cherry red[4]. ...
Notes:
[3] Pages 96-102 of "Wreck and Sinking of the Titanic" by Marshall Evertt, [copyright] L. H. Walter, 1912.
[4] From the testimony of Leading Fireman Charles Hendrickson at the Mersey Inquiry.
Source:
Garzke, et al, Titanic, The Anatomy of a Disaster -- A Report from the Marine Forensic Panel (SD-7), The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, Annual Meeting Technical Sessions, 1997, page 1-4. document in PDF format
what you and soco think!
yep another good one.
