The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1912-05-02
FLOATING MANY FAIH)hS
From the Surface the Titanic May
Take Long Voyage Before She
Strikes the Bottom of the Sea.

Washington. May 1.-ScIentists are
still wrestling with the problem of
whether the Titanic which went down
in two miles of water will ever reach
the bottom 1t has been explained by
experts that the piercing Of the she'll
or skin" beneath the water line and
subsequent flooding Of two or more
adjacent compartments caused the
vessel to sink. But the remaining
bouyancy cannot be computed. for the
facts. a. known by the survivors. tell
nothing of the number of intact com
partments. the closing of the water
tight doors. the total weight of wooden
structure, or the natural and artificial
air pockets.
With many ks" or unknown
quantities science refuses to give
definite solution to the problem, says
a writer in The Herald.
1t is said that the Titanic took an
angle of from 43 degrees to 90 degrees
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 incum-
brances, would glide more smoothly
through the water As result. her
ina ginary path would describe an arc
of great circle whose limit would be
reached at a point tangent to a line
parallel TO the sea level. There gravity
would bring the mass almost to
halt and slowly, her stern still bouyed
up by air pockets, her bow would
swing about till she continued on her
downward curvilinear course in an
opposite direction: in short. she would
Zig-zag. y pendulum, constantly low
cred. while oscilating supplies a clear
comparison.
In this event would she land directly
beneath the spot of her immersion?
Perhaps so. were it not for weighty
factor hitherto unheeded-i. e. ocean
currents
1t = calculated that the Titanic sank
at 1 degrees 46 minutes north, so de-
grees "A minutes west. The charts
trace the Labrador current. a power
full iceberg carrier, as passing through
this region. This mighty force, that
rises in Baffin Bay and is augment
ed at Davis Strait. has borne many
water1ogged derelicts on its southwark
trip and deposited them along the
Jersey coast For this it is remark
a able: Just off Newfoundland it dives
beneath the Gulf Stream. which is
heading a this point almost due east
for the midAtlantic. The latter is
really an ocean river, with a mean
depth of about 1900 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
Influence before the increasing density
%
her precipitous progress? If so, her
drift has been southwark. And if, on
the other hand. the Gulf Stream was
sufficiently deep, her trend is toward
the setting sun.
Comes the all-obsorbing query now:
VIII the Titanic's keel ever make its
impress upon the ocean bottom? Sup
posing that it did, al the depth of 1000
fathoms, there would be a pressure of
$500 pounds on every square inch, or
on the whole bulk pressure of two
and half million tons. Superimpose
this inconceivable weight upon $4,000
tons, the Titanic figure. and let your
Imagination run riot
When the Titanic has sunk to a
depth where its apparent weight and
the resultant of the fluid pressure,
acting in opposite directions are exact
1y equal. the great vessel, after
pietous fashion, will come again into
its own float And the equilibrium
esta blshed will be so delicate that a
current no swifter than that of a
millpond will bear the spent grey
hound on its breast. The explosion
of a submarine mine a hundred miles
away will set its barnacled and cor
| roding sides trembling like the ten
derest leaf in autumn.