British Wreck Commissioner's Inquiry
Day 20
Testimony of Leonard Peskett
Examined by Mr. RAYMOND ASQUITH.
21039. Are you Naval Architect to the Cunard Company?
- I am.
21040. Did you design or assist in designing the "Mauretania" and the "Lusitania"?
- Yes.
21041. Before those ships were designed, did you carefully consider the question of bulkhead subdivisions?
- Yes.
21042. Did you consider the question both of longitudinal divisions and of transverse divisions?
- Yes.
21043. And was the result that you decided to combine the two systems in the "Mauretania"?
- That is so.
21044. Have you a plan before you of the "Mauretania"?
- Yes.
21045. In the "Mauretania" as you designed it there are transverse bulkheads - I think 13 in number?
- That is so.
21046. How high do the highest of those bulkheads run up - to what deck?
- The peak bulkhead goes to the B deck.
21047. That is the third deck. There is the boat deck, which is the highest deck, then A deck and then B deck?
- That is so.
The Commissioner:
Let me follow that. Is it marked on the plan?
Mr. Raymond Asquith:
I do not think it is marked.
The Commissioner:
There is the boat deck and then the promenade deck. Is that what you call A deck?
Mr. Raymond Asquith:
Yes; and the deck below the promenade is B deck.
The Commissioner:
It is called on this plan centre deck.
Mr. Raymond Asquith:
That is so.
The Commissioner:
Then is the upper deck called C?
Mr. Raymond Asquith:
Yes.
The Commissioner:
And the main deck is called D?
Mr. Raymond Asquith:
That is right.
The Commissioner:
And the lower deck is called E; and that is the end of them?
21048. (Mr. Raymond Asquith - To the witness.) Going aft, all the other bulkheads go up only to C deck?
- That is so.
The Commissioner:
Then the bulkhead nearest the stem goes up to B deck, and that is the highest?
Mr. Raymond Asquith:
Yes, that is the highest.
The Commissioner:
All the rest go up to C deck. How many bulkheads do you say there are in those vessels?
Mr. Raymond Asquith:
Thirteen transverse bulkheads.
The Commissioner:
Which is the first going to the forward part of the ship? Is that the one that goes up to B deck?
Mr. Raymond Asquith:
Yes.
The Commissioner:
Then the next one is the one that goes up to the chain locker?
Mr. Raymond Asquith:
I do not think they are lettered or numbered in any way on the plan.
The Commissioner:
No, they are not, but I want to do it. The first is just aft of what is called the trimming tank?
Mr. Raymond Asquith:
Yes.
The Commissioner:
The next is just aft of what is called the chain locker?
Mr. Raymond Asquith:
Yes.
The Commissioner:
The next is just aft of No. 2 hold.
Mr. Raymond Asquith:
Yes.
The Commissioner:
The next is just aft of the cross bunker?
Mr. Raymond Asquith:
Yes.
The Commissioner:
The next is just aft of No. 1 boiler room?
Mr. Raymond Asquith:
Yes.
The Commissioner:
. Is the next just aft of No. 2 boiler room?
Mr. Raymond Asquith:
Yes.
The Commissioner:
And is the next aft of No. 3 boiler room?
Mr. Raymond Asquith:
That is right.
The Commissioner:
The next is aft of No. 4 boiler room.
Mr. Raymond Asquith:
Yes.
The Commissioner:
The next is aft of the main engine room.
Mr. Raymond Asquith:
Yes.
The Commissioner:
Where is the next?
Mr. Raymond Asquith - To the Witness:
Where do you say the next is?
21049. (The Commissioner.) The one I have just mentioned is aft of the main engine room, and that is No. 9. Is that the watertight bulkhead that is just aft of the condenser room?
- Yes, that is the next one; the one abaft the condensing room only goes to -
21050. I see that it only goes up to the second class accommodation; but what I want to know at present is, is it a watertight bulkhead?
- A watertight bulkhead.
The Commissioner:
That is No. 10.
Mr. Raymond Asquith:
No. 11, I think.
The Commissioner:
No, No. 10.
Mr. Raymond Asquith:
Counting the one that goes up to B deck as No. 1, that would be No. 11 - the one aft of the condenser room.
The Commissioner:
No, it is not. We must begin again. No. 1 is aft of the trimming tank.
The Witness:
Yes.
The Commissioner:
No. 2 is aft of the chain locker.
Mr. Raymond Asquith:
Yes.
The Commissioner:
No. 3 is aft of No. 2 hold; No. 4 is aft of the cross bunker; No. 5 is aft of No. 1 boiler room; No. 6 is aft of No. 2 boiler room; No. 7 is aft of No. 3 boiler room; No. 8 is aft of No. 4 boiler room; and No. 9 is aft of the main engine room. Is that right?
Mr. Raymond Asquith:
Yes, that is right. Your Lordship is quite right.
The Commissioner:
Then No. 10 is aft of the condenser room.
Mr. Raymond Asquith:
Yes.
The Commissioner:
No. 11 is aft of the auxiliary machinery and mail room.
Mr. Raymond Asquith:
Yes.
The Commissioner:
Where is the next one?
21051-2. (Mr. Raymond Asquith - To the witness.) Where do you say the next one is?
- I do not quite follow that counting. If No. 11 is abaft of the auxiliary machinery room, you do not count the one at the fore side of the chain locker as No. 1; that is a transverse bulkhead up to a watertight deck.
21053. (The Commissioner.) Then you have allowed me to miss out the short bulkhead abaft No. 1 hold?
- Yes.
Sir Robert Finlay:
That had better be No. 1A.
The Commissioner:
We will call that No. 1A. That does not even go up to B deck, but goes up to the Orlop deck?
The Witness:
That is right.
The Commissioner:
What is the next after No. 11?
21054-5. (Mr. Raymond Asquith - To the witness.) What is the next after the one abaft of the auxiliary machinery?
- The one on the foreside of the auxiliary steering gear. There are two there in reality, one before and one abaft the auxiliary steering gear that is carried along the watertight deck and carried up to C deck, watertight.
21056. (The Commissioner.) Then you call the bulkhead forward of the auxiliary steering gear a separate bulkhead?
- It is up to the Orlop deck; but then the bulkhead which is continuous is the one abaft that again.
21057. I only want to know where you get your No. 13. We will call that 12, and then there is the final one, which is a bulkhead forward of the watertight trunk?
- Yes, that is one watertight bulkhead, and another is the one abaft it.
21058. One abaft it?
- I thought you alluded to the auxiliary steering gear.
21059. Is it marked on the plan as watertight?
- I am not sure if it is marked. The thick lines represent watertight bulkheads.
21060. But there is no thick line aft of the watertight trunk?
- No, not abaft that, but on the foreside only.
The Commissioner:
I have got 14 now.
Mr. Raymond Asquith:
Yes, I think that is so, counting the small one.
The Commissioner:
I thought you said there were 13.
Mr. Raymond Asquith:
So I understood.
The Commissioner:
Now that you have introduced that small thing in the forepart of the ship and given it the number 1A, I have 14.
Mr. Raymond Asquith:
That is so.
The Commissioner - To the Witness:
Will you come round here and explain the plan?
(The witness explained the plan to his Lordship.)
The Commissioner:
I think I understand it now.
21061. (Mr. Raymond Asquith - To the Witness.) Now, will you go to the longitudinal divisions and explain what those are. They begin, I think, at the forward end of the engine room?
- They begin at the afterend of the engine room and extend to the fore end of the No. 1 boiler room.
The Commissioner:
Will you begin at the forward part?
21062. (Mr. Raymond Asquith.) Begin at No. 1 boiler room; that is where they begin forward, is it not?
- Yes.
21063. And they run down each side of the ship to the afterpart of the engine room?
- That is so.
21064. Between those longitudinal bulkheads and the skin of the ship are the bunkers?
- Yes.
21065. Are there also small transverse bulkheads running between the skin of the ship and the longitudinal bulkheads dividing off the bunkers?
- Those are also watertight.
21066. Those wing bulkheads are the ones which are marked on the top section in dotted perpendicular lines?
- That is so.
21067. What is the space between each of those transverse wing bulkheads?
- Not more than 40 feet in any case.
21068. (The Commissioner.) Who built these ships?
- Messrs. Swan and Hunter built the "Mauretania"; Messrs. John Brown and Company, Clydebank, built the "Lusitania."
21069. Were they built to tender or were they built as the White Star boats are built, upon the cost of material and labour, with an added percentage for profit?
- That is so.
21070. Which way were these built?
- On the same principle.
21071. (Mr. Raymond Asquith.) Then, if you go aft to the engine room, I see there is another longitudinal division in the part of the ship devoted to auxiliary machinery?
- That is so.
21072. In addition to those longitudinal and transverse bulkheads, are there also some watertight decks?
- Yes, there are watertight decks immediately above.
21073. Beginning again on the fore part of the ship, is there a watertight deck over No. 1 hold?
- First of all, there is the watertight deck immediately above the trimming tank in the peak.
21074. And another one over No. 1 hold and the chain locker?
- Yes.
21075. (The Commissioner.) Which deck was watertight?
- In the peak tank it is on E deck; in No. 1 hold it is on F deck.
21076. Which is F deck; is that the Orlop deck?
- The Orlop deck.
21077. (Mr. Raymond Asquith.) Going further aft, when do you come to the next watertight deck?
- Abaft of the transverse bulkhead No. 3.
21078. Between 3 and 4, is it?
- That is so.
21079. Then you go further aft, to bulkhead No. 10?
- Yes.
21080. The whole of that part of the ship from bulkhead No. 10 back to the stern is enclosed on the level of E deck with a watertight deck?
- That is so.
The Commissioner:
Where is that indicated on the plan?
Mr. Raymond Asquith:
It is indicated by a black line drawn over the three aftermost compartments of the vessel in the profile plan, beginning at the transverse bulkhead No. 10 and running to the stern.
The Commissioner:
It goes under the mail room, and under the stewards' accommodation.
21081. (Mr. Raymond Asquith.) Yes, that is the line. (To the witness.) There is also a double bottom to the ship?
- Yes.
21082. Carried up to a height of 8 feet above the bottom of the ship?
- That is so.
The Commissioner:
I think we have had that before.
Mr. Raymond Asquith:
Yes, My Lord, we have. (To the witness.) Will you give us your view about the comparative merits of the systems of longitudinal and transverse divisions?
21083. (The Commissioner.) You have a combination of both in those ships?
- For ships of this class, I think that the transverse and longitudinal combined is best for all purposes, for very large ships.
21084. (Mr. Raymond Asquith.) That combination is best?
- Yes, that combination is best.
21085. Were you in Court when Mr. Wilding was asked his views about some of the difficulties of longitudinal divisions?
- Yes, I was.
21086. Did you hear him mention, I think, two difficulties, one of them being that there might be a tendency, if the ship was wounded at the side, for water to get in and cause a list, because there would be a difficulty in the water getting out again?
- Yes, I heard that. That can be counteracted.
21087. In what way?
- Supposing that any two compartments were flooded on either side, the opposite side could be filled in several ways; also you could flood the engine room and the compartment immediately abaft it; also the shaft tunnel aft.
21088. (The Commissioner.) But that is rather heroic, is it not?
- There would be less trouble in doing that latter part than any of the other parts.
21089. (Mr. Raymond Asquith.) Have you made any experiments to see how far that is practicable?
- No, no experiments have been made.
21090. Another objection which Mr. Wilding mentioned was that there had to be watertight doors in the bunkers and that these doors had to be open, of course, continuously during the voyage?
- That is so.
21091. Do you regard that as an objection, or as a serious objection?
- It is an objection, but not a serious one. The doors are all closed by hydraulic pressure, or rather all the principal doors are closed by hydraulic pressure on the Stone-Lloyd principle. The pressure is applied at the door frame; that is, the cylinder operating the door is adjacent to the frame, so that any distortion of the bulkhead does not interfere with the operation of closing the door.
21092. Are you speaking now of the doors in the bunkers?
- Yes, in the principal bunkers the doors are closed by the Stone-Lloyd system, and also all the doors in the transverse bulkheads and all the doors in the machinery spaces - that is, referring to the engine spaces.
21093. Another objection which was mentioned to having these doors in the bunkers was that the coal dust and so forth might get into them and prevent their working effectively?
- Inside the bunker doors are iron screens, which prevent very much coal from falling down, but where the hydraulic doors are fitted the coal on many occasions has been allowed to come to the angle of rest from a full bunker and the door has closed down through the lot. It has never been known to fail.
I was not putting to you that the coal might get in the way of the door and prevent it shutting, but that, owing to there being a lot of dust and grit about, the door might not work very easily.
21094-5. (The Commissioner.) It gets clogged?
- The doors are constantly working, and we have never found any difficulty in closing the doors at any time.
21096. (Mr. Raymond Asquith.) You always find that they work quite easily?
- Yes, quite easily.
21097. (The Commissioner.) How often do you close these doors?
- This is, of course, a matter for our Marine Department, but when I have been at sea in the ships I know, as a fact, that the doors are closed every day at 12 o'clock.
21098. As a matter of precaution?
- As a matter of precaution.
21099. (Mr. Raymond Asquith.) You were telling me about the system of the watertight doors. Are these watertight doors in the bunkers closed by an hydraulic system?
- Not all. The principal doors are so closed. All the transverse doors are so closed, and all the large bunkers amidships are closed by the Stone-Lloyd system.
21100. Are you familiar with the Stone-Lloyd system of closing these doors?
- Fairly familiar.
21101. Can you give us a general idea of how it works?
- Yes. There are two pumps in the engine room, which are kept under a pressure of 700 lbs. per square inch; and pipes are led to the various doors along the centre of the ship and can be operated and the doors can be closed from the bridge, and they can be opened and closed locally. That is, if a man is inside a bunker or inside a confined space, he can work the door just as well from the inside as from the outside; but the door cannot remain open if the pressure is on from the bridge.
21102. But if the pressure is not on from the bridge, then it can be raised by hand?
- Yes, raised and lowered by hand. I might add that all these doors are operated from the top deck; that is compulsory by the Board of Trade. They are geared up by rods and gearing to the upper deck.
21103. Are you speaking still of Stone -Lloyd doors?
- Yes, I am speaking of all doors. All doors which are below the waterline are worked from the upper deck.
21104. If the pressure is not on from the bridge doors can be raised from any point?
- They can be raised and lowered locally.
21105. (The Commissioner.) What is it you say obliges you to have all these doors moved from the upper deck?
- The Board of Trade compel us not to rely upon any method other than that of gearing from the top deck.
21106. Is that a printed requirement?
- I think so.
21107. Are you able to refer me to it?
- I do not know that I can here, I shall have to look it up; but I know we are compelled by the Board of Trade to do that.
21108. What I want to know is, is it something that they require under their rules?
- Yes.
21109. Or is it something that they require you to do by correspondence or criticism upon the plans. Is it something to be found in the Rules?
- I think it is found in the Rules, but I am not sure.
21110. Perhaps between now and 2 o'clock you will find out, so that I can see it when I come back?
- I will, My Lord.
(After a short adjournment.)
21111. (The Commissioner.) Have you found the Rule?
- Yes.
21112. Show me what it is?
- It is on page 10 of the Regulations issued to Surveyors. (Handing same to the Commissioner.)
21113. This is not quite what I wanted, Mr. Peskett. I understood you to say that there was a Rule which required that these watertight doors in the bulkheads could be worked by hand gear from the upper deck?
- That is so.
21114. This does not say anything about hand gear?
- It says it is to be worked from the upper deck.
21115. Yes, that is just the difference. The watertight doors in the bulkheads of the "Titanic" below the waterline were automatically worked from the bridge, were they not?
- I believe so, My Lord.
21116. By electric gear?
- By electric gear.
21117. Now, where is there anything in these Rules which says that they must also be workable by hand gear?
- I do not know. I did not know that the Board of Trade would allow them to be worked in any other way than by hand gear - worked by rods and gear.
21118. I am pointing out to you that this requirement which you have referred me to says nothing at all about hand gear?
- I do not see how they could be worked in any other way from the upper deck.
21119. But they were in the "Titanic"?
- I understood, I have not examined that, that that merely relates to a clutch, but did not work it. If the clutch did not work the door would not work.
21120. But that releases the clutch, and then the doors close automatically. Is not that so?
- I would like to ask whether that door is not also operated by a rod and gear from the upper deck.
Sir Robert Finlay:
It is.
21121. (The Commissioner.) But is that what you meant when you were giving your evidence before lunch? I thought you meant that there was a requirement of the Board of Trade by which these watertight doors were to be capable of being worked by hand gear as distinguished from electric gear, or whatever the gear is that worked it on the "Titanic"?
- It may not be worded in that way in that particular book, but that is a requirement of the Board of Trade, that they will not allow you to work a door by any other means than hand gear. That must be one of the gears to work the door; it must be by hand gear from the upper deck.
21122. Then can you account for the Board of Trade having passed the plans for the "Titanic"?
- I cannot account for that.
Sir Robert Finlay:
Your Lordship recollects that those doors may also be opened and closed by hand. The lowest set of doors are closed from the bridge by pressing the button for the electric current, and then they may also be opened and closed by hand unless they have been shut from the bridge, in which case they could not.
The Commissioner:
But the question is whether they can be worked from the upper deck by hand gear.
Sir Robert Finlay:
No, except by the electric current.
The Commissioner:
That is not what I call hand gear. That is the point. It may be quite immaterial, and I daresay it is, but I did not understand the witness. I gathered from what he said before lunch that there was a Board of Trade requirement by which these doors were to be workable from the upper deck by hand gear. Now, I do not find anything in the Rule that he has given to me to support that statement.
Sir Robert Finlay:
I do not think there can be any such Rule, My Lord.
The Commissioner:
And if there were any such Rule, I cannot understand how the Board of Trade came to pass the plans.
Sir Robert Finlay:
Except, My Lord, working by the electric switch from the bridge is another matter.
The Commissioner:
Yes, that is another matter, and if you call the electric switch hand gear, then, of course, there is hand gear on the upper deck. I do not call that hand gear.
Sir Robert Finlay:
I did not understand your Lordship to be using the expression "hand gear" in that sense, as including the electric switch.
21123. (The Commissioner.) I was not. I was regarding the two things as different. (To Mr. Wilding.) Were there any contrivances by which the doors could be worked from the upper deck by hand gear?
Mr. Wilding:
Yes, My Lord.
21124. What were they, because I have heard nothing of it?
Mr. Wilding:
There was a rod going down as nearly vertical as possible to the door. The rod had on its lower end a worm, and that was geared into a worm wheel on the door shaft, and the door could be lowered or raised by that means.
21125. (The Commissioner.) Oh, well, that is hand gear.
Mr. Wilding:
Hand gear entirely, My Lord
21126. (The Commissioner.) What deck was that hand gear workable from?
Mr. Wilding:
From two positions, one down beside the door itself, and the other from the deck above the top of the watertight bulkheads.
21127. (The Commissioner.) There was no hand gear that could be worked from the upper deck.
Mr. Wilding:
It was D deck aft and E deck forward, but not from the bridge.
The Commissioner:
Then it depends upon what the "upper deck" means.
Sir Robert Finlay:
If your Lordship will look at page 14 of the descriptive statement that Mr. Wilding has handed in, it is in the portion of the statement beginning "Watertight doors," if I may read a sentence or two: "The doors (12 in number) at the inner bottom level in engine and boiler room spaces were of Messrs. Harland and Wolff's latest type, working vertically. The door plate was of cast iron of heavy section, strongly ribbed. It closed by gravity, and was held in the open position by a clutch, which could be released by means of a powerful electro magnet controlled from the Captain's bridge, so that in the event of accident, or at any time when it might be considered desirable, the Captain or Officer on duty could, by simply moving an electric switch, immediately close all these doors. The time required for the doors to close was between 25 and 30 seconds. Each door could also be closed from below by operating a hand lever fitted alongside the door."
The Commissioner:
That is not what is meant.
Sir Robert Finlay:
No. Then I need not read about the floats, but if your Lordship will go on to the paragraph next but one you will see: "The watertight doors on E deck (upper) were of horizontal pattern with wrought steel door plates. Those on F deck (middle) and the one aft on the Orlop deck were of similar type, but had cast iron door plates of heavy section strongly ribbed. Each of the 'tween deck doors and each of the vertical doors on tank top level could be operated by the ordinary hand gear from the deck above the top of the watertight bulkhead."
21128. (The Commissioner.) Is that a deck which would be described as an upper deck?
The Witness:
May I explain the upper deck is always considered by technical people to be the deck immediately above the watertight bulkheads.
Continued >
