Page:Walker - An Unsinkable Titanic (1912).djvu/147

AN UNSINKABLE TITANIC Whatever may have been the depth of the injury, it is certain from the evidence that the six forward compartments were opened to the sea. Immediately after the collision the whistling of air, as it issued from the escape pipe of the fore-peak tank, indicated that the tank was being filled by an inrush of water. The three following compartments, in which were located the baggage-room and mail-room, were quickly flooded. Leading fireman Barrett, who was in the forward boiler-room, felt the shock of the collision. Immediately afterwards he saw the outer skin of the ship ripped open about two feet above the floor, and a large volume of water came rushing into the ship. He was quick enough to jump through the open door in the bulkhead separating boiler-rooms 6 and 5, before it was released from the bridge. The damage just abaft of this bulkhead admitted water to the forward coal-bunker of room No. 5, which held for a while, but being of non-watertight and rather light construction, must have soon given way; for the same witness testified to a sudden rush of water coming across the floor-plates between the boilers.

In spite of the frightful extent of the dam- [ 127 ]