Page:Walker - An Unsinkable Titanic (1912).djvu/148

AN UNSINKABLE TITANIC age, the Titanic, because of the great height to which her plated structure extended above the water-line, and the consequent large amount of reserve buoyancy which she possessed, would probably have remained afloat a great many hours longer than she did, had the deck to which her bulkheads extended been thoroughly watertight. As it was, this deck (upper deck E) was pierced by hatchways and stairways which, as the bow settled deeper and deeper, permitted the water to flow up over the deck and pass aft over the tops of the after bulkheads and so-called watertight compartments. See page 129.

Now, it so happened that for the full length of the boiler-rooms there had been constructed on upper deck E what was known as the "working-crew alleyway." On the inboard side of this passage six non-watertight doors opened on to as many iron ladders leading down to the boiler-rooms. Not only were these doors non-watertight, but they consisted of a mere open frame or grating, this construction having been adopted, doubtless, for purposes of ventilation. Unfortunately, although there was a watertight door at the after end of this alleyway, there was none at its forward end. The water which [ 128 ]