Page:Walker - An Unsinkable Titanic (1912).djvu/104

AN UNSINKABLE TITANIC carries only a single skin, they decided to provide a double skin and construct the ship with two separate hulls, placed one within the other and firmly tied together by a system of continuous longitudinal and lateral web-plates or frames. By reference to the cross-section, published on page 83, it will be seen that the double-skin construction extended entirely around the hull, and was carried up to a continuous plate-iron lower deck, which was from 8 to 10 feet above the water-line, the distance varying with the draft of the ship. The two skins were placed 2 feet 10 inches apart and they were tied together by 34 longitudinal web-members, which ran the entire length of the double hull, and divided the space between the two skins into separate watertight compartments. These were themselves further subdivided by a series of transverse webs which intersected the longitudinal webs. The cellular construction thus provided extended from the aftermost bulkhead right through to the bow, to which it was carried for the purpose of protecting the forward part of the ship against the effect of collision with icebergs, which at that early day were recognised as constituting a serious menace to [ 82 ]