The Royal Mail Ship Titanic: Did a Metallurgical Failure Cause a Night to Remember? Katherine Felkins, H.P
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Feature Archaeotechnology The Royal Mail Ship Titanic: Did a Metallurgical Failure Cause a Night to Remember? Katherine Felkins, H.P. Leighly, Jr., and A. Jankovic The Titanic. (Photo courtesy of the Titanic Historical Society.) Another view of the 1986 expedition. (PhotoTitanic courtesy during of a The bow of the ship as it appeared Woods Hole Oceanographic Insti- during a 1986 expedition. (Photo cour- tution.) tesy of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.) The ship during a 1986 expedition. (Photo courtesy Editor’s Note: A hypertext-enhanced version of this and Wolff, met with J. Bruce Ismay, of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.) article can be found on the TMS web site at http:// managing director of the Oceanic www.tms.org/pubs/journals/JOM/9801/Felkins- 9801.html. Steam Navigation Company, better INTRODUCTION A metallurgical analysis of steel taken known as the White Star Line (a name from the hull of the Titanic’s wreckage taken from its pennant). During this In the early part of this century, the meeting, plans were made to con- only means of transportation for trav- reveals that it had a high ductile- struct three enormous new White elers and mail between Europe and brittle transition temperature, making Star liners to compete with the North America was by passenger it unsuitable for service at low Lusitania and Mauritania on the North steamship. By 1907, the Cunard Atlantic by establishing a three-ship Steamship Company introduced the temperatures; at the time of the weekly steamship service for passen- largest and fastest steamers in the collision, the temperature of the sea gers and mail between Southampton, North Atlantic service: the Lusitania ° England, and New York City. This and the Mauritania. Each had a gross water was –2 C. The analysis also decision required the construction of tonnage of 31,000 tons and a maxi- shows, however, that the steel used a trio of luxurious steamships. The mum speed of 26 knots. In that year, was probably the best plain carbon first two built were the RMS Olympic Lord William James Pirrie, managing and the RMS Titanic; a third ship, the director and controlling chair of the ship plate available at the time of RMS Britannic, was built later (the Irish shipbuilding company Harland the ship’s construction. fate of the sister ships is described in Over the last 30 years, there has been a discernible increase in the number of scholars who have focused their research on early industrial organizations, a field of study that has come to be known as Archaeotechnology. Archaeologists have conducted fieldwork geared to the study of ancient technologies in a cultural context and have drawn on the laboratory analyses developed by materials scientists as one portion of their interpretive program. Papers for this bimonthly department are solicited and reviewed by Robert M. Ehrenreich of the National Materials Advisory Board of the National Research Council. 12 JOM • January 1998 the sidebar). tons per day The Titanic be- when the ship gan its maiden was underway. voyage to New Stokers moved York just before the coal from the noon on April 10, bunkers into the 1912, from Sou- furnaces by hand. thampton, Eng- The bunkers held land. Two days enough coal for a later at 11:40 P.M., ten-day voyage. Greenland time, The remodeled it struck an ice- shipyard at Har- berg that was land and Wolff three to six times was large enough larger than its for the construc- own mass, dam- tion of two large aging the hull so ships simulta- that the six for- neously. The keel ward compart- of the Olympic ments were rup- was laid Decem- tured. The flood- ber 16, 1908, ing of these com- while the Titanic‘s partments was keel followed on sufficient to cause March 31, 1909. the ship to sink The Olympic was within two hours Figure 1. The Titanic under construction at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Ireland. (Photo launched on Oc- and 40 minutes, courtesy of the Titanic Historical Society.) tober 20, 1910, with a loss of and the Titanic on more than 1,500 lives. The scope of the ing machines, and stationary bicycles, May 31, 1911. In the early 20th century, tragedy, coupled with a detailed histori- all supervised by a staff of professional ships were constructed using wrought- cal record, have fueled endless fascina- instructors. The public rooms for the iron rivets to attach steel plates to each tion with the ship and debate over the first-class passengers were large and el- other or to a steel frame. The frame itself reasons as to why it did in fact sink. A egantly furnished with wood paneling, was held together by similar rivets. Holes frequently cited culprit is the quality of stained-glass windows, comfortable were punched at appropriate sites in the the steel used in the ship’s construction. lounge furniture, and expensive carpets. steel-frame members and plates for the A metallurgical analysis of hull steel The decor of the first class cabins, in insertion of the rivets. Each rivet was recovered from the ship’s wreckage pro- addition to being luxurious, differed in heated well into the austenite tempera- vides a clearer view of the issue. style from cabin to cabin. As an extra ture region, inserted in the mated holes THE CONSTRUCTION feature on the Titanic, the Café Parisienne of the respective plates or frame mem- offered superb cuisine. bers, and hydraulically squeezed to fill The three White Star Line steamships The designed speed for these ships the holes and form a head. Three million were 269.1 meters long, 28.2 meters maxi- was 21–22 knots, in contrast to the faster rivets were used in the construction of mum wide, and 18 meters tall from the Cunard ships. To achieve this speed, the ship. water line to the boat deck (or 53 meters each ship had three propellers; each out- The construction of the Titanic was from the keel to the top of the funnels), board propeller was driven by a sepa- delayed due to an accident involving the with a gross weight of 46,000 tons. Be- rate four-cylinder, triple expansion, re- Olympic. During its fifth voyage,3 the cause of the size of these ships, much of ciprocating steam engine.2 The center Olympic collided with the British cruiser, the Harland and Wolff shipyard in propeller was driven by a low-pressure HMS Hawke, damaging its hull near the Belfast, Ireland, had to be rebuilt before steam turbine using the exhaust steam bow on the port (left) side. This occurred construction could begin; two larger from the two reciprocating engines. The in the Solent off Southampton on Sep- ways were built in the space originally power plant was rated at 51,000 I.H.P. tember 20, 1911. The Olympic was forced occupied by three smaller ways. A new To provide the necessary steam for the to return to Belfast for repairs. To accom- gantry system with a larger load-carry- power plant, 29 boilers were available, plish the repairs in record time and to ing capacity was designed and installed fired by 159 furnaces. In addition to pro- return the ship to service promptly, to facilitate the construction of the larger pelling the ship, steam was used to gen- workmen were diverted from the Titanic ships. The Titanic under construction at erate electricity for various purposes, to repair the Olympic. the shipyard is shown in Figure 1. distill fresh water, refrigerate the perish- On April 2, 1912, the Titanic left Belfast The ships were designed to provide able food, cook, and heat the living space. for Southampton and its sea trials in the accommodations superior to the Cunard Coal was burned as fuel at a rate of 650 Irish Sea. After two days at sea, the Ti- ships, but with- tanic, with its out greater speed. THE LIVES OF THE SISTER SHIPS crew and officers, The first on- The RMS Olympic made more than 500 round trips sunk. Immediately, the design was changed to provide arrived at Sout- board swimming between Southampton and New York before it was a double hull and the bulkheads were extended to the hampton and tied pools were in- retired in 1935 and was finally broken up in 1937. In upper deck. Before the Britannic was completed, World up to Ocean Dock stalled as was a 1919, it became the first large ship to be converted from War I broke out, and the vessel was converted into a on April 4. Dur- gymnasium that coal to oil. On May 15, 1934, as the Olympic approached hospital ship. On November 21, 1916, it was proceeding ing the next sev- New York, it struck the Nantucket light ship during a north through the Aegean Sea east of Greece when it included an elec- heavy fog, cutting it in half. Of the crew, four were struck a mine. Because the weather had been warm, eral days, the ship tric horse and an drowned, three were fatally injured, and three were many of the portholes had been opened, hence rapid was provisioned electric camel, a rescued.1 flooding of the ship occurred. The ship sank in 50 and prepared for squash court, a The third ship of the series, the Britannic, had a short minutes with a small loss of life; one of the loaded life its maiden voy- number of row- life. While it was being constructed, the Titanic was boats was drawn into a rotating propeller. age. 1998 January • JOM 13 Hackett and Bedford6 using the same Table I.