Feature Archaeotechnology The : 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 (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 . 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 , North Atlantic service: the Lusitania ° England, and . 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 . 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 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 shipyard in . (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 .2 The center Olympic collided with the British , the Harland and Wolff shipyard in propeller was driven by a low-pressure HMS Hawke, damaging its hull near the , Ireland, had to be rebuilt before 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 . 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 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. A Summary of Damaged Areas survivors’ information, but allocating the in the Hull by Compartment*6 damage individually to the first six com- Computer 2 partments that were breached is given in Compartment Calculations (m ) Table I. This shows a total damage area Fore Peak 0.056 of 1.171 m2, which is a slightly larger area Cargo Hold 1 0.139 than the estimate by Wilding. Cargo Hold 2 0.288 At the time of the accident, there was Cargo Hold 3 0.307 Boiler Room 6 0.260 disagreement among the survivors as to Boiler Room 5 0.121 whether the Titanic broke into two parts Total Area 1.171 as it sank or whether it sank intact. On September 1, 1985, Robert Ballard5 found * The compartments are listed in order from the bow to- µ ward the stern. a 100 m the Titanic in 3,700 m of water on the ocean floor. The ship had broken into THE VOYAGE two major sections, which are about 600 m apart. Between these two sections On the morning of April 10, 1912, the is a debris field containing broken pieces passengers and remaining crew mem- of steel hull and bulkhead plates, rivets bers came to Ocean Dock to board the that had been pulled out, dining-room ship for its maiden voyage. Shortly be- cutlery and chinaware, cabin and deck fore noon, the Titanic cast off and nar- furniture, and other debris. rowly avoided colliding with a docked The only items to survive at the site passenger ship, the New York (which are those made of metals or ceramics. All broke its mooring cables due to the surge items made from organic materials have of water as the huge ship passed), before long since been consumed by scaven- proceeding down Southampton Water b 100 µm gers, except for items made from leather into the Solent and then into the English Figure 2. An optical micrograph of steel for such as shoes, suitcases, and mail sacks; Channel. After a stop at Cherbourg, the hull of the Titanic in (a) longitudinal and (b) tanning made leather unpalatable for France, on the evening of April 10th and transverse directions, showing banding that the scavengers. The contents of the a second stop at Queenstown (now resulted in elongated pearlite colonies and leather suitcases and mail sacks, having ), Ireland, the next morning to take MnS particles. Etchant is 2% Nital. been protected, have been retrieved and on more passengers and mail, the Titanic restored. Ethical and legal issues associ- headed west on the Great Circle Route side about 4 m above the keel. During ated with the recovery of such items are toward the Nantucket light ship 68 kilo- the next 10 seconds, the iceberg raked described in the sidebar authored by meters south of Nantucket Island off the the starboard side of the ship’s hull for C.R. McGill. southeast coast of Massachusetts. The about 100 m, damaging the hull plates THE STEEL Irish coast was left behind about dusk and popping rivets, thus opening the on April 11. first six of the 16 watertight compart- Composition During the early afternoon of April 12, ments formed by the transverse bulk- During an expedition to the wreckage the French liner, La Touraine, sent advice heads. Inspection shortly after the colli- in the North Atlantic on August 15, 1996, by radio of ice in the steamship lanes, but sion by captain Edward Smith and Tho- researchers brought back steel from the this was not uncommon during an April mas Andrews, a managing director and hull of the ship for metallurgical analy- crossing. This advice was sent nearly 60 chief designer for Harland and Wolff sis. After the steel was received at the hours before the fatal collision. As the and chief designer of the Titanic, revealed University of Missouri–Rolla, the first voyage continued, the warnings of ice that the ship had been fatally damaged step was to determine its composition. received by radio from other ships be- and could not survive long. At 2:20 A.M., The chemical analysis of the steel from came more frequent. With time, these April 15, 1912, the Titanic sank with the warnings gave more accurate informa- loss of more than 1,500 lives. tion on the location of the icefields and it THE SINKING became apparent that a very large icefield lay in the ship’s course. On the basis of Initial studies of the sinking proposed several reports after the accident, it was that a continuous gash in the hull 100 m estimated that the icefield was 120 km in length was created by the impact with long on a northeast-southwest axis and the iceberg. More recent studies indicate 20 km wide;4 there is evidence that the that discontinuous damage occurred Titanic was twice diverted to the south in along the 100 m length of the hull. After a vain effort to avoid the fields. The ship the sinking, Edward Wilding, design continued at a speed of about 21.5 knots. engineer for Harland and Wolff, esti- On the moonless night of April 14, the mated that the collision had created open- ocean was very calm and still. At 11:40 ings in the hull totaling 1.115 m2, based 20 µm P.M., Greenland time, the lookouts in the on the reports of the rate of flooding Figure 3. The microstructure of ASTM A36 crow’s nest sighted an iceberg immedi- given by the survivors.5 This damage to steel showing ferrite and pearlite. The mean ately ahead of the ship; the bridge was the hull was sufficient to cause the ship grain diameter is 26.173 µm. Etchant is 2% alerted. The duty officer ordered the ship to sink. Recent computer calculations by Nital. hard to port and the engines reversed. In about 40 seconds, as the Titanic was be- Table II. The Composition of Steels from the Titanic, a Lock Gate, and ASTM A36 Steel ginning to respond to the change in C Mn P S Si Cu O N Mn:S Ratio course, it collided with an iceberg esti- Titanic Hull Plate 0.21 0.47 0.045 0.069 0.017 0.024 0.013 0.0035 6.8:1 mated to have a gross weight of 150,000– Lock Gate* 0.25 0.52 0.01 0.03 0.02 — 0.018 0.0035 17.3:1 300,000 tons. The iceberg struck the Ti- ASTM A36 0.20 0.55 0.012 0.037 0.007 0.01 0.079 0.0032 14.9:1 tanic near the bow on the starboard (right) * Steel from a lock gate at the Chittenden ship lock between Lake Washington and Puget Sound, Seattle, Washington.

14 JOM • January 1998 the hull is given in Table II. The first item hearth process. The fairly high oxygen dards. The presence of relatively high noted is the very low nitrogen content. and low silicon content means that the amounts of phosphorous, oxygen, and This indicates that the steel was not made steel has only been partially deoxidized, sulfur has a tendency to embrittle the by the Bessemer process; such steel yielding a semikilled steel. The phos- steel at low temperatures. would have a high nitrogen content that phorus content is slightly higher than Davies7 has shown that at the time the would have made it very brittle, particu- normal, while the sulfur content is quite Titanic was constructed about two-thirds larly at low temperatures. In the early high, accompanied by a low manganese of the open-hearth steel produced in the 20th century, the only other method for content. This yielded a Mn:S ratio of was done in furnaces making structural steel was the open- 6.8:1—a very low ratio by modern stan- having acid linings. There is a high prob-

THE TITANIC IN THE ARTS Since its tragic voyage in 1912, the RMS Titanic has the ship would have made in sinking. profound impact on the emotional power of the film.” captured the attention and the imagination of the world. When Robert Ballard and an American-French search The complete set was built at Fox Baja Studios in The shocking, untimely death of more than 1,500 people, team discovered the site of the Titanic in 1985, interest Mexico beginning on May 30, 1996; it was completed the irony of the “unsinkable” ship doing the unthinkable in the ship and her history resurged. Images of the ship 100 days later. The set featured a 64.2 million liter on its maiden voyage, and the first-hand accounts of the on the sea floor taken by underwater robots more than exterior seawater tank (the largest shooting tank in the approximately 700 survivors have spurred countless 70 years after the disaster brought the Titanic and its world). Whereas the 1953 movie used a 8.5 m model of debates and discussions on the reasons for the ship’s saga back into international pop culture. Today, there the ship, the 1997 movie recreated a nearly full size, demise. As the debate continues in scientific, historical, are videos, CD-ROMs, and even computer games 236 m long exterior set of the Titanic standing nearly and even legal circles, the ship, her crew, and passen- available that allow users to become a passenger on the 14 m tall from the water line to the boat deck floor, with gers have been memorialized time and again through ship. The emergence of the Internet has enabled people its four funnels towering another 16 m. the arts. from around the world to access a wealth of photo- To recreate the sinking of the ship, several exterior Numerous accounts of the ship and her sisters, the graphs, animated film clips, sound clips, and historical and interior shooting tanks were used. (A still from the Olympic and Britannic, have been published during the information on the subject or join groups movie appears on the cover of this issue.) The first-class past 80 years; composed of other Titanic enthusiasts. dining saloon and three-story grand staircase were Plays on the Titanic appear ev- constructed on a hydraulic platform at the bottom of the erywhere from dinner theaters through- 9 m interior tank designed to be angled and flooded with out the United States to the Great White 19 million liters of filtered seawater drawn from the Way—Broadway. In 1997, the Broad- ocean. Camera cranes and jacks were placed above way musical Titanic won a Tony Award the ship for the final filming stages, when the ship was for the Best Musical, released a top- separated into two pieces. The front half was sunk in selling cast album, and, on the aver- 12 m of water using hydraulics. age, surpassed ticket sales for any Preliminary reviews of the movie at the time this issue show on Broadway. goes to press in early December (prior to the movie’s The most recent addition to the release) have been very good, and the movie has collection is Titanic, a 1997 film by already made several top ten lists for 1997, including Twentieth Century Fox and Para- one by Rolling Stone magazine. The Hollywood Re- mount Pictures that focuses on the porter says, “Titanic’s visual and special effects tran- love story of two young passen- scend state-of-the-art workmanship . . . Pencil [Gloria] gers. Released on December 19, Stuart in for a likely best supporting actress nomination the film reportedly became the most this winter. Also on the Oscar front, clear the deck for expensive film ever made ($200 multiple technical nominations. . . . The iron monster is leaves port in the 1997 movie million according to some reports) a heart stopper.” Titanic in its attempt to be as historically It is doubtful that the Titanic will be the last film made Figure A. The RMS (Photo by Merie W. Wallace and courtesy of Paramount accurate as possible. To assist about this ill-fated ship. Through the years, the saga of Titanic. the production crew, a group of historians and experts the Titanic has taken on a life of its own. As songs, Pictures and Twentieth Centurysome have Fox.) been fac- on the Titanic were brought aboard as consultants, poems, historical accounts, and novels continue to tual, others fictionalized adaptations. One of the first including Don Lynch, the historian for the Titanic Histori- be created, the story has merged into modern urban non-newspaper accounts, and one of the most popular, cal Society, and Ken Marschall, noted artist of the ship. folklore. is the book A Night to Remember, written by Walter Lord Shipbuilders Harland and Wolff provided copies of the “The tragedy of the Titanic has assumed an almost in 1955. According to Lord, in the four decades follow- original blueprints of the Titantic and ’ mythic quality in our collective imagination,” Cameron ing the sinking there was no worldwide general interest own notebook on the ship’s design features to the said. “Titanic is not just a cautionary tale—a myth, a in the ship and no historical accounts of the voyage. production crew. In addition, the manufacturer of the parable, a metaphor for the ills of mankind. It is also a Based on historical materials and first-hand accounts of original carpeting, which is still in business, had the story of faith, courage, sacrifice, and above all else, survivors and witnesses, A Night to Remember is original patterns on file and reproduced love.” reportedly the first book to give a factual account of the the dyes. Tammy M. Beazley night the ship sank. A nearly countless number of books To make the ship as authentic as JOM have followed. possible, director James Cameron char- On film, the Titanic has been the subject for a number tered a Russian scientific vessel and of docudramas and early disaster films. One of the first made 12 dives to the actual wreck site was Titanic, done in 1926. About 16 years later, Herbert to film the interior of the ship. Using an Selpin directed a German film on the subject. Arguably off-the-shelf 35 mm camera modified the most well-known film on the Titanic is the same- to fit in custom-made titanium hous- titled film directed by Jean Negulesco in 1953. A fiction- ings, the camera brought back reels of alized account of one family on the Titanic, the film won film showing the ship’s interior—ev- two Academy Awards that year for Best Art Direction erything from window frames, light and Best Original Screenplay. The movie, starring fixtures, a brass door plate, and even Barbara Stanwyck and Clifton Webb, set the standard a bronze fireplace box. “We were for early disaster films in the United States. On the other able to come back with this rich side of the Atlantic, English filmmakers adapted Lord’s harvest of film and video images,” A Night to Remember into a film of the same name in Cameron said. ‘We sent our re- 1958. Unlike the romanticized U.S. version, producer mote vehicle inside and explored Figure B. Leonardo DeCaprio and Kate Winslet wade through William MacQuitty and director Eric Ambler created a the interiors. We literally saw things the first class dining saloon in a scene from gritty, realistic docudrama using state-of-the-art special that no one has seen since 1912, Merie W. Wallace and courtesy of Paramount Pictures and effects. For one of the first times in filmmaking, the since the ship went down. We’ve Twentieth Century Fox.) Titanic. actors worked on sets that were tilted by hydraulic jacks, integrated these images into the (Photo by creating loud, grinding noises that imitated the sounds fabric of the film and that reality has a

1998 January • JOM 15 Table III. A Comparison of Tensile Testing of Titanic Steel and SAE 1020 Titanic SAE 102011 Yield Strength 193.1 MPa 206.9 MPa Tensile Strength 417.1 MPa 379.2 MPa Elongation 29% 26% Reduction in Area 57.1% 50% ties from the steel. It is likely that all or most of the steel came from , Scotland. Included in Table II are the composi- tions of two other steels: steel used to 20 µm 10 µm construct lock gates at the Chittenden Figure 5. A scanning electron micrograph of a Figure 4. A scanning electron micrograph of Ship Lock between Lake Washington Charpy impact fracture surface newly created the etched surface of the Titanic hull steel and Puget Sound at Seattle, Washing- at 0°C, showing cleavage planes containing showing pearlite colonies, ferrite grains, an ton,8 and the composition of a modern ledges and protruding MnS particles. elongated MnS particle, and nonmetallic in- clusions. Etchant is 2% Nital. steel, ASTM A36. The ship lock was built around 1912, making the steel about the grinding and polishing, etching was done ability that the steel used in the Titanic same age as the steel from the Titanic. with 2% Nital. Because earlier work by 9 was made in an acid-lined open-hearth Metallography Brigham and Lafrenière showed severe furnace, which accounts for the fairly banding in a specimen of the steel, speci- high phosphorus and high sulfur con- Standard metallographic techniques mens were cut from the hull plate in both tent. The lining of the basic open-hearth were used to prepare specimens taken the transverse and longitudinal direc- furnace will react with phosphorus and from the hull plate of the Titanic for tions. Figure 2 shows the microstructure sulfur to help remove these two impuri- optical microscopic examination. After of the steel. In both micrographs, it is

THE ETHICAL AND LEGAL ISSUES IN SALVAGING THE TITANIC

Author’s Note: The author thanks Michael McCaughan of the Ulster Folk Titanic Memorial Museum in which all of the artifacts (ICMM), however, of which it is a member. The museum and Transport Museum, Northern Ireland, for his assistance in the prepa- recovered would be kept. (It should be noted, however, and ICMM disagreed on the subject of salvors and ration of this sidebar. that RMS Titanic, Inc., has recently made available for salvage law. The ICMM was concerned that the exhibi- The Titanic has engaged the attention of a rapt world sale to the general public authenticated coal from the tion included artifacts recovered from the site since audience for almost a century now. As the most famous sea bed.) 1990, and “relics raised illegally or in inappropriate and historic of all shipwrecks, it is enshrouded in a cloak Reaction was strong and immediate. Individuals and circumstances after . . . 1990 . . . are considered out-of- of mystery and controversy; the traumatic effect that the organizations from around the world vehemently op- bounds for ICMM-member museums.”1 loss of the ship had on the public at the time of the posed the idea of salvage work being done on the Richard Ormond of the National Maritime Museum disaster has not abated, making the Titanic seem al- Titanic, claiming that the wreck was a grave site and claimed that “the objectives of the exhibition were to most eternal. should be left undisturbed as a memorial to those who demonstrate the technical achievement of finding and Numerous plans to salvage the ship and its cargo died. Such organizations as the Titanic Historical Soci- exploring the site, to show conservation techniques and were developed over the 73 years that the Titanic lay ety (the largest and most senior of the Titanic enthusiast the extraordinary survival of objects on the sea bed, and undiscovered 4 km below the ocean surface. It was not bodies) of the United States and the Ulster Titanic to examine the controversy in detail.”2 The museum until 1985 that salvage became feasible, when Robert Society of Northern Ireland (where the ship was built) stressed that none of the artifacts on display came from Ballard of the Oceanographic Institute in Woods Hole, set themselves against the salvage operation. Robert the hull of the ship, which was the true grave site of the Massachusetts, discovered the ship’s exact location as Ballard, who strongly believes in the sanctity of the site, victims. Michael McCaughan, a Titanic expert from the part of a joint American-French research team. worked to get a U.S. federal law passed making it illegal Ulster Folk and Transport Museum in Northern Ireland Serious issues were immediately raised over the to buy or sell artifacts from the site in the United States. visited the exhibition and felt that the “150 artifacts were controversial question of salvage rights, the main issue Other individuals and institutions allied themselves displayed sensitively in a variety of contexts . . . Funda- being that the wreck lay in international waters; there is with the salvage, provided that it was done well and in mentally this was not an exhibit about the past, but about no legal protection in international waters for wrecks of good taste. They were concerned that artifacts would be the present and its appropriation of the past. The exhibit historical or archaeological significance. In such cases, sold and dispersed if a company other than RMS was not a requiem for the dead, nor did it address the wrecks are subject to salvage law, which stipulates that Titanic, Inc., were the salvors dealing with the wreck; metaphorical meaning of Titanic. Rather, it was an the first salvor on the site has exclusive rights to the site. unscrupulous salvors interested only in pure commer- enshrinement of the triumphs of deep-sea exploration Thus, other salvors are prevented from accessing the cial profit would not employ the same sort of painstaking and the reviving wonders of conservation laboratories.”3 site as long as expeditions are being planned and recording, recovery, and conservation methods that Despite the controversy and arguments over the conducted to recover artifacts from the wreck. RMS Titanic, Inc., used to retrieve materials recovered salvage work conducted by RMS Titanic, Inc., there is Robert Ballard could not legally claim salvage rights during the four research and discovery expeditions no doubt whatsoever that the company’s work is legal. to the wreck, since he discovered it while working on a conducted between 1987 and 1996. Interestingly, al- RMS Titanic, Inc., was granted salvor-in-possession government research project. The French Oceanogra- though the Ulster Titanic Society opposes the salvage rights to the wreck by a U.S. federal court in 1994. phy Institute, which was the French component of the of the wreck, the society believes that as long as salvage Despite a challenge, these rights were reconfirmed in joint American-French research team and had received work continues, RMS Titanic, Inc., is the best salvor to 1996, giving the company exclusive rights to own arti- little acknowledgement for its contribution in the discov- do the job. facts recovered from the wreck. The 1996 judgment ery of the wreck, had no such constraints, however. It In the face of serious international and, at times, took into consideration the site recordings, artifact con- was soon involved in the formation of the commercial hostile criticism from the public, maritime archaeolo- servation, and commitment of RMS Titanic, Inc., to keep salvage company that was to become RMS Titanic, Inc. gists, and museum professionals, the National Maritime the artifact collection together for public display. More than 1,500 people—rich and poor, represent- Museum of Greenwich joined RMS Titanic, Inc., in a References ing more than 20 countries—perished in the disaster. partnership to present the first exhibition of artifacts The ship had broken into two separate parts, with the recovered from the wreck. In 1994–95, 150 of the 1. G. Henderson, “Underwater Archaeology and the Titanic: The ICMM View,” The IXth International Congress of Maritime Museums: Proceed- stern section lying about 804.5 m beyond the bow several thousand artifacts recovered from the debris ings (U.K.: National Maritime Museum, 1996), pp. 64–68. portion. A huge field of debris covers the ocean floor field were displayed in an exhibition titled “Wreck of the 2. R. Ormond, “Titanic and Underwater Archaeology: The National Mari- time Museum View,” The IXth International Congress of Maritime Muse- between the two pieces. RMS Titanic, Inc., stated early Titanic.” The exhibition was billed as the “largest ever ums: Proceedings (U.K.: National Maritime Museum, 1996), pp. 59–63. on that they only intended to record the site; recover, public display of Titanic artifacts” and was a huge 3. M. McCaughan, “Exhibit Review of the National Maritime Museum, conserve, preserve, and tour just those artifacts recov- success in terms of audience attendance and media Reading the Relics: Titanic Culture and the Wreck of the Titanic Exhibit,” ered from the debris field; and keep the collection coverage. More than 500,000 visitors saw the show. Material History Review, 43 (1996), pp. 68–72. together rather than sell it to individual buyers around The exhibit brought the museum into direct conflict Carmel R. McGill the world. The culmination of the project would be a with the International Congress of Maritime Museums Consultant

16 JOM • January 1998 lel to the longitudinal direction in the hull plate from the Titanic, a series ma- chined in the transverse direction, and a series made from modern ASTM A36 steel. A Tinius Olsen model 84 universal impact tester was used to determine the impact energy to fracture for several specimens at the selected test tempera- tures. A chilling bath or a circulating air laboratory oven was used to prepare the specimens for testing at specific tem- peratures. The specimens were allowed 5 µm to soak in the appropriate apparatus for at least 20 minutes at the selected tem- Figure 6. A scanning electron micrograph showing a fractured MnS particle protruding perature. Pairs of specimens were tested edge-on from the fracture surface.13 at identical test temperatures. Figure 5 is an SEM micrograph of a Figure 8. Shear fracture percent from Charpy apparent that the steel is banded, al- freshly fractured surface of a longitudi- impact tests versus temperature for longitudi- though the banding is more severe in the nal Charpy specimen tested at 0°C. The nal and transverse Titanic specimens and longitudinal section. In this section, there cleavage planes, (100) in ferrite, are quite ASTM A36 steel. are large masses of MnS particles elon- apparent. There are cleavage plane sur- gated in the direction of the banding. faces at different levels that are defined than for the transverse specimens. At The average grain diameter is 60.40 µm by straight lines. These straight lines low temperatures, the impact energy for the longitudinal microstructure and are steps connecting parallel cleavage required to fracture the longitudinal and 41.92 µm for the microstructure in the planes; the edges are parallel to the [010] transverse specimens is essentially the transverse direction. In neither micro- direction. The crystallographic surfaces same. The severe banding is certainly graph can the pearlite be resolved. For of the risers are the (001) plane. In addi- the cause of the differences in the impact comparison, Figure 3 is a micrograph of tion, there are curved slip lines on the energy to cause fracture at elevated tem- ASTM A36 steel, which has a mean grain cleavage planes. peratures. The specimens made from diameter of 26.173 µm. Particles of MnS identified by EDAX ASTM A36 steel have the best impact Figure 4 is a scanning electron micros- can be observed. Some of the MnS par- properties. The ductile-brittle transition copy (SEM) micrograph of the polished ticles exist as protrusions from the sur- temperature determined at an impact and etched surface of steel from the Ti- face. These protrusions were pulled out energy of 20 joules is –27°C for ASTM tanic. The pearlite can be resolved in this of the complimentary fracture surface. A36, 32°C for the longitudinal speci- micrograph. The dark gray areas are In addition, there are the intrusions re- mens made from the Titanic hull plate, ferrite. The very dark elliptically shaped maining after the MnS particles have and 56°C for the transverse specimens. It structure is a particle of MnS identified been pulled out of this fracture surface. is apparent that the steel used for the by energy-dispersive x-ray analysis One of the pearlite colonies lying in the hull was not suited for service at low (EDAX). It is elongated in the direction fracture surface is oriented so that the temperatures. The seawater temperature of the banding, suggesting that banding ferrite and cementite plates have been at the time of the collision was –2°C. is the result of the hot rolling of the steel. resolved. Figure 6 shows a fractured Comparing the composition of the Ti- There is some evidence of small nonme- lenticular MnS particle that protrudes tanic steel and ASTM A36 steel shows tallic inclusions and some of the ferrite edge-on from the fractured surface.13 that the modern steel has a higher man- grain boundaries are visible. There are slip lines radiating away from ganese content and lower sulfur con- Tensile Testing the MnS particle. tent, yielding a higher Mn:S ratio that Figure 7 is a plot of the impact energy reduced the ductile-brittle transition tem- The steel plate from the hull of the versus temperature for the three series perature substantially. In addition, Titanic was nominally 1.875 cm thick, of specimens. At higher temperatures, ASTM A36 steel has a substantially lower while the bulkhead plate had a thickness the specimens prepared from the hull phosphorus content, which will also of 1.25 cm. Corrosion in the salt water plate in the longitudinal direction have lower the ductile-brittle transition tem- had reduced the thickness of the hull substantially better impact properties perature. Jankovic8 found that the duc- plate so that it was not possible to ma- tile-brittle transition temperature for the chine standard tensile specimens from Chittenden lock gate steel was 33°C. The it. A smaller tensile specimen with a longitudinal specimens of the Titanic hull reduced section of 0.625 cm diameter steel made in the United Kingdom and and a 2.5 cm gage length was used.10 those specimens from the Chittenden The tensile-test results are given in lock steel made in the United States have Table III. These data are compared with nearly the same ductile-brittle transition tensile-test data for an SAE 1020 steel, temperature. which is similar in composition. The steel Shear Fracture Percent from the Titanic has the lower yield strength, probably due to a larger grain At low temperatures where the im- size. The elongation increases as well, pact energy required for fracture is less, again due to a larger grain size. a faceted surface of cleaved planes of Charpy Impact Tests ferrite is observed, indicating brittle frac- ture. At elevated temperatures, where Charpy impact tests12 were performed the energy to cause fracture is greater, a over a range of temperatures from –55°C ductile fracture with a shear structure is to 179°C on three series of standard Figure 7. Charpy impact energy versus tem- observed. Figure 8 is a plot of the shear Charpy specimens: a series of specimens perature for longitudinal and transverse Ti- fracture percent versus temperature. machined with the specimen axis paral- tanic specimens and ASTM A36 steel. There is a fairly strong similarity be

1998 January • JOM 17