Page:Walker - An Unsinkable Titanic (1912).djvu/77

AN UNSINKABLE TITANIC a new position, with the water in the damaged compartments at the same level as the sea outside. This position is shown in Fig. 2, page 57. It must be carefully noted, however, that this condition can exist only if the bulkheads are carried high enough to prevent the water in the damaged compartments from rising above them and flowing over the tops of the bulkheads into adjoining compartments.

In addition to lateral and longitudinal subdivision by means of vertical bulkheads, the hull may be further subdivided by means of horizontal partitions in the form of watertight decks—a system which is universally adopted in the navies of the world. For it is evident that if the ship shown in Fig. 2, page 57, were provided with a watertight deck, say at the level of the water-line, as shown in Fig. 1, page 57, the water could rise only to the height of that deck, where it would be arrested. The amount of water entering the vessel would be, say, only one-half to two-thirds of that received in the case of the vessel shown in Fig. 2.

If ships that are damaged below the water-line always settled in the water on an even keel, that is to say without any change of trim, the [ 55 ]