Mountain advocate. (Barbourville, Ky.) 1904-1935, 1912-05-03

meht VIII anect the STABILITY OF a
ship in the inverse ratio of her size
or, should the water-tight doors
fail to close, the ship will stay a.
float for length of time approx
imately proportional to her size.
And so, for many and good rea.
sons, the ships company who set
sail from southampton on the first
and last voyage of the worlds
greatest vessel believed that she was
unsuitable.
And unsuitable she was by any
OF the the seemingly possible accid-
ents Of wind and weather or deep.
sea collision. She conld have taken
the blow Of a colliding ship on bow,
quarter or abeam and remained
ahoat, or even made her way to
port. Bow on, and under the half
speed called for by careful seaman.
ship, she could probably have come
without fatal injury through the or.
deal of head.on collision with an
iceberg.
But there was just one peril Of
the deep against which this mighty
ship was as helpless as the smallest
Of coasting steamers-the long,
glancing blow below the waterline,
due to the projecting shelf Of an ice
berg. j. was this that sent the
Titanic" to the bottom in the
brief space Of 21s hours, and it was
her very size and the fatal speed at
which she was driven, which made
the blow so terrible.
The Titanic, with the sister YES
sci Olympic" set the latest mark
in the growth of the modern ocean
liner toward the ship one thousand
feet in length. The Britannia" of
1910 was 207 feet long; the Scotia"
of 1862 was $40 feet and the
"Bothnia" OF 1874, 42O feet long.
The 'Servia" in 1881 was the first
ship to exceed 500 feet with her
length of SIS feet. In 1898 the
"Campania" carried the length to
625 feet; and the first liner to pass
700 feet was the Oceanic" whose
length on deck was 7O4 feet. The
"Mauretania" was 10 feet short of
800 feet; and then with an addition
of nearly 100 feet the "Olympic"
and Titanic" carried the overall
length to ss21a feet; the tonnage to
$4,000 and the displacement to 60,
0o0 The indicated horsepower of
the Titanic" was $4,000. develop
ed in two reciprocating engines
driving two wing propellers and a
single turbine driving a central pro-
peller. The ship had accommodate
tions for a whole townful of people
| 1886, as a matter OF fact), of
whom 750scould be accommodate
ed in the first class, 80 in the sec
ond, and 1900 in the third. The
balance of the company was made
up of 63 officers and sailors, 800
engineers. hremen, oilers. and
AL stewards, walters, etc
When the Titanic" LETT South
ampton on her fatal voyage she had
on board total OF 2,340 passeng-
ers and crew. The voyage was un-
eveutful until Sunday, April 14th,
when the wireless operator received
and Acknowledged a message from
the America" warning her of the
exis tance OF large field Of ice into
which her course would lead her to-
ward the close of the day.
The Titanic" had been running
at a steady speed OF nearly % knots
having covered 545 miles during
the day ending at noon April 14th;
vet, in spite OF the grave danger
presented bv the ice field ahead, she
seems to have maintained during
Sunday night a speed of not less
than 81 knots. This is made clear
by the testimony of MIR. Ismay. of
the White Star Line. who stated at
the Senate investigation that the
revolutions were y as against the
] 20 .a..,l,e,,ua mich ....... L. 4 II