Why, in addition to pumping, did they not have an assembly line of people with buckets to bail water out of two of the engine rooms in the bow of the ship? I read that the ship could float with three of it's five rooms full of water, but not all five. Would the method above work?

Thanks, Kristen the Angelic

-- Kristen the Angelic (hermina07@aol.com), September 01, 2004

Answers

Sorry, but that would not have worked at all. There was more than just one hole in the ship, and each hole had an enormous amount of water coming in with very high pressure. Even with a hundered people bailing the water, it wouldn't have bought the ship 20 seconds. Even the pumps helped by only a few minutes. And the passengers and crew had found out the ship would sink about when the 4th or 5th water tight compartment had flodded, so it wouldn't have worked anyway. After the ship hit the iceberg, there was absoulutly nothing anyone could have done to keep the Titanic from sinking.

-- Rachel Andersson (mfwalker@erols.com), September 01, 2004.

I forgot to mention that it would also be too dangerous to send people down there. The water was so cold (28 f) and rushing in so fast that it would have been deadly to send bailers down there. And the people would not have been able to bail fast enough anyway. It's a good idea in theroy, but it would not have worked.

-- Rachel Andersson (mfwalker@erols.com), September 03, 2004.