The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1912-04-23
TITANIC MAY NOT
REACH BOTTOM
OF THE OCEAN
Density and Pressure of the Water, Say
the Scientists, Will Keep Ship
Suspended and at Mercy of
the Currents.

The Titanic went down in two miles
of water. Will the vessels battered hulk
ever reach the bottom? Or will it float,
suspended, held up by the density of the
water part way DOWN.
1t is a question upon which the sci
entists are not able to reach an agree
ment to-day.
Ii has been explained by experts that
the piercing of the shell or "skin" be-
meath the water line and the subsequent
flooding of two or more adjacent COM
partments caused the vessel to sink. But
the remaining buoyancy cannot be com
puted, for the facts, as known by tho
survivors, tell nothing Of the number OF
intact compartments, the closing of the
watertight doors, the total weight OF
wooden structure, or the natural and ar
tifcial air pockets.
With so many ks" or unknown guam
titles, science refuses to give definite
solution to the problem.
1t is said that the Titanic took an
angle of from 43 deg. to 90 deg on her
final plunge. The projections above her
hull cabins, tunnels, etc, would offer
considerable resistance under water,
while the sides from keel to upper deck,
free of encumbrances, would glide more
smoothly through the water. As re-
suit, her imaginary path would describe
an are of a great circle whose limit would
be reached at point tangent to line
parallel TO the sea level, There gravity
would bring the mass almost to a halt
and slowly, her stern still buoyed up by
air-pockets, her bow would swing about
till she continued on her downward,
curyilinear course in an opposite direc-
ton. In short, she would zigzag. 4
pendulum, constantly lowered while os-
cillating supplies a clear comparison.
In this event would she land directly
beneath the spot of her immersion
Perhaps so, were it not for a weighty
factor hitherto unheeded, /. e., ocean
currents.
1t is calculated that the Titanic sank
AT Al deg. 40 min north, SO deg. IA min
west. The charts trace the Labrador
current, powerful iceberg carrier, as
passing through this region This
mighty force that rises in Baffin bay |
and is augmented at Davis strait, has |
borne many waterlogged derelicts on its
southwark trip and deposited them along |
the Jersey coast. For this il is remark |
able: Just off Newfoundland it dives be. |
enath the Gulf stream, which is heading I
at this point almost due east for the |
mid Atlantic. The latter is really an 4
ocean river with a mean depth Of about
] 500 fathoms and a mean breadth of
ten miles.
At this current junction, the waves
closed over the ill-starred vessel Was
the velocity of her descent such that
she had passed from the Gulf streams
before the increasing density
Of the water could materially retard her
progressf If so. her drift
has been southwark. And if, on the
other hand, the Gulf stream was suffi-
GENTLY deep, her trend is toward the set
ting sun,
Comes the all.absorbing query now:
VIII the Titanic's keel ever make its
impress upon the ocean bottom? Sup.
posing that it did, at the depth OF 1000
there would be a pressure of
300 pounds on every square inch, or on
-he whole bulk pressure Of two and
/ half billion tons Superimpose this
nconeevable weight upon 10000 tons,
he Titanic figure, and let your magma
ion run riot.
At 800 feet under the sea, the density
$ so great that an empty champagne
bottle would collapse like blown egg
hell hurled to the sidewalk.
When the Titanic has sunk to depth
where its apparent weight and the re- Z
ultant OF the fluid pressures, acting in
opposite directions, are exactly equal,
he great vessel, after piteous fashion,
will come again into its own and float.
And the equilibrium established will be
o delicate that current no swifter than
hat of millpond win bear the spent
,rayhound on its breast The explosion
4 a submarine mine a hundred miles
way will set it's barnacled and corrod-
ng sides trembling like the tenderest
eaf in autumn.