Page:Walker - An Unsinkable Titanic (1912).djvu/173

AN UNSINKABLE TITANIC bodily into the ship. She was taken into the inner harbour, where the injured portion of the hull was enclosed by a timber caisson in the manner shown in the engravings on page 155. The caisson—a rectangular, three-sided chamber—was built of 9-in. by 9-in. timbers, tongued and grooved and carefully dovetailed. The floor of the caisson abutted against the bilge keel. The outer wall, which was at a distance of about 10 feet from the hull, had a total depth of about 34 feet, the total length of the caisson being about 75 feet. Knee-bracing of heavy timbers was worked in between the floor and the walls, and the construction was stiffened by heavy, diagonal bolts, which passed through from floor to outside wall, as shown in the drawing. Watertight contact between the edge of the caisson and the hull of the ship was secured by the use of hemp packing covered with canvas. The whole of the outside of the caisson was covered with canvas, and upon this was laid a heavy coating of hot tar. The caisson was then floated into position and drawn up snugly against the side of the ship by means of cables, some of which passed underneath the ship and were drawn tight on the port side, while others [ 153 ]