Page:Walker - An Unsinkable Titanic (1912).djvu/200

AN UNSINKABLE TITANIC possible is proved by the fact that the first of the large ocean liners, the Great Eastern, built over half a century ago, so far fulfilled these conditions, that, after receiving injuries to her hull more extensive than those which sank the Titanic, she came safely to port.

V.It is not to the point to attribute the financial failure of the Great Eastern to the costly character of her construction. She failed because, commercially, she was ahead of her time, passenger and freight traffic being yet in their infancy when the ship was launched. Cheap steel and modern shipyard facilities have made it possible to build a ship of the size and unsinkable characteristics of the Great Eastern, with a reduction in the cost of twenty to thirty per cent.

VI.The principles of unsinkable construction, as formulated by Brunel and worked out in this remarkable ship, have been adopted in their entirety by naval constructors, and are to be found embodied in every modern warship. These elements—the double skin, transverse and longitudinal bulkheads, and watertight decks—are the sine qua non of warship con- [ 180 ]