The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-03-08

ing that it be humanity possible to 1
get down to her and to attach lines
or cables for her lifting.
OF one thing We are fairly certain
the White Star liner started upon her
plunge bow first because her stern was
the last part to disappear from sight.
This was to be expected inasmuch az
she was wounded below the waterline
forward. and the invading sea first de-
stroyed the buoyancy OF that part Of the
ship and started her bottomward head
first.
once n ship begins her plunge her
journey IL not necessarily straight
down: her course may be slanting or
zigZag, but whatever 1t In the further
she settles the faster she goes. There
fore it may be assumed that IL the tt
tanic struck rocks or the solid ledge she
further crumpled up her wounded hull
or actually broke herself in two. Again.
II the seabed were one Of deep sand
| with possibly an overlay OF fairly soft
mud or silt the ship may have driven
her forward body into the yielding stun
much after the fashion that one ham
mers a stake into the ground.
| The question Is, 50 far as the salver Is
concerned, Which OF these ways was
the one in which the Titanic was finally
halted at the bottom Of the Atlantic?
II she lies upon a rocky bed. then. II
Mr.. Smith can secure his magnets to
her and command sufficient lifting force.
the chance Of her ultimate recovery
brightens considerably. On the other
hand, II the ship has forced n goOdly
part Of her body into the seabed the
situation Is entirely changed. There
is no reasonable hope Of dislodging her
from that anchorage.
As q youngster did you ever dislodge
a brick In a pavement by means Of q
saturated leather disk and cord?
When you stamped the water out Of the
leather ana pressed the disk closer to
| the brick you made an intimate seal, in
| cidentally forcing out by means OF the
exuding water the film of air between
the leather and the brick. What hap
pened? You transferred atmospheric
pressure to only one side Of the disk. the
upper side. and fifteen pounds weighed
down on every exposed square inch Of
that leather. and for the time being
made the brick and the leather one
When you pulled upon your cord YOU
exerted the same force directly upon
the brick and thus dislOdged It,
This smile applies to the case o. the
sunken Titanic provided a kindred In.
innate seal or contact has been effected
between the hull and the bottom sand
or mud. So long as the wreck rests
unburied upon bare rock the task Of
raising her would be that OF providing
sufficiency buoyancy to overcome heI
submerged dead weight-a weight prob
ably considerably less than wheI
aflOat ut the surface.
; But II, on the other hand. the wreck
has been gripped by the surrounding
bottom the problem for Mr.. Smith Il
like that Of lifting q brick where the
brick becomes the whole sea bed and the
leather sucker or disk IL that Of the
hull Of the Titanic. Instead OF atmos-
pheric pressure Of fifteen pounds to the
square inch the salver would have Il
reckon with . hydrostatic pressurs
? equivalent to . column Of water tvs
miles high Weighing down upon every
} superficial square inch exposed vsrti'
} cally TO that crushing force. Have YOU
any idsa what this would mean In thu