Percy HILLHOUSE,
naval architect,
Recalled.
By Mr. Aspinall:
1819. Did you hear Mr. Reid criticise the area of the Empress’ rudder in its proportion to the size of the ship?
- I did.
7820. Is it a just criticism?
- I think not.
7821. Why not?
- Because the area compares favorably with that of other large vessels and with standard practice.
7822. Could you give me the names of other large vessels?
- I have taken out the mean percentage for thirteen large vessels, including the Campania and some of the Union Castle liners, and so on, and the average is 1.265 per cent. For the new rudder fitted to the Empress of Ireland the figure is 1.53 and for the Aquitania 1.45, a little less than the 1.53 per cent of the new Empress rudder.
By Lord Mersey:
7823. But that is later than the one you were quoting here?
- Yes.
7824. Have you found any that run above 2 per cent?
- In war vessels it is quite common to have two per cent or two and a half per cent, even up to three per cent, because greater manoeuvring qualities are required.
By Mr. Aspinall:
7825. Does Sir William White deal with the question in his work on naval architecture?
- Yes, he says that “two per cent would probably be a fair average for steamships of war.” In merchant ships much smaller rudders are used and values as low as one per cent have been met with.
Lord Mersey:
There are a few questions that Mr. Welch would like to put to you.
By Mr. Welch:
7826. I think you promised to put some plans of the Empress in?
- Yes, I have the plans here, I hand in the rigging plan, the hold plan, the lower and orlop decks, the main and upper decks, the shelter and lower promenade decks, the upper promenade and boat decks as the boat deck was originally built and a plan showing the curves of displacement, metacentres and centres of buoyancy.
7827. Did the builder make any calculations of stability the results of which were afterwards handed over to the owners?
- Yes, the vessel was inclined as usual and a certain number of stability curves were provided.
7828. Were they given to the owners?
- They were given to the owners.
. 7829. Are they put in?
- I have one copy here. It is my only copy.
Lord Mersey:
You must part with it.
The Witness:
This shows the stability curves.
By Mr. Welch:
7830. Can you give us any more information with regard to the lower bunkers? Taking the coal bunker abreast of the forward boiler room, is there any subdivision at the middle line of the cross bunker?
- Yes, there is a non-watertight middle line bulkhead in the forward cross bunker.
7831. How high does that extend?
- It extends to the under side of the lower deck.
7832. In what sense is it non-watertight?
- It is pierced by two large manholes, about 36 inches by 18 inches each; the plating is heavily stiffened to resist water pressure.
7833. In the upper bunkers there is no such division?
- No such division.
7834. Between the two boiler rooms there is a passage-way?
- Yes, there are two passageways, one for access at the hold level and another for carrying steam pipes underneath the lower deck level.
7835. Is one passage immediately above the other?
- One is immediately above the other, and the two are connected by a non-watertight partition, also containing manholes.
7836. What would be the total depth of those two passageways?
- In the neighbourhood of 15 feet.
7837. So far as depth is concerned, does that apply also to the steam pipe passage at the forward end?
- That particular steam pipe passage is above the level of the lower deck; the access passage is on the hold level as between the boiler rooms.
7838. So that below the level of the lower deck is this non-watertight partition?
- Yes.
7839. You heard the evidence given on this point; can you tell from that evidence whether the watertight door in the forward end of the bunker at the starboard side of the engine room was open or closed?
- I think that question was asked of one of the engineers and he replied that he did not know whether that door was open or closed.
7840. If it were open, of course that would accentuate the list?
- Certainly.
7841. Then, in the bulkhead between the two boiler rooms and in the upper bunkers there were watertight doors?
- Yes, sir.
7842. Do you know or have you heard whether these doors were open or closed?
- No, there has been no evidence regarding those two doors.
7843. I think, Mr. Hillhouse, that you have calculated the metacentric height of this vessel as she left Quebec?
- As she was at Father Point.
7844. Is that calculation amongst the documents which you have produced?
- No, sir.
7845. Can you produce it?
- That is the calculation. (Paper handed to court.)
7846. So that that statement, of course, will show the amount of water in the double boiler?
- Yes, it gives all the water there was on board.
7847. Can you say how much of that water was fresh and how much salt?
- Yes, it is shown in that paper. I understand that a good deal of fresh water is usually carried, as it is found that it is required, and that in cases where a great amount of cargo is not available, salt water ballast tanks are filled, but not if a large quantity of cargo is obtained.
7848. So that on this occasion the deep water ballast tank was being used for cargo?
- Yes.
Witness discharged.