Titanic

Was located on the boat deck, where it was linked to a double aerial that ran between the two masts more than 61 metres (200 feet) above the water surface. Considered a key safety feature, it had alternative sources of power should the main electricity go down, including storage batteries directly in the operating room.

The generating plant also powered two refrigeration engines, which in turn drove a host of cold rooms. Separate accommodation was provided for different kinds of meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, milk and butter, beer, champagne, flowers, chocolate and eggs.

Perishable cargo was also housed in cool areas near the main provision stores, and cold pantries and larders, ice-makers and water coolers were placed around the ship, where stewards could meet passengers’ needs easily.

Even the three-part bronze whistles aboard Titanic were something special. Weighing about 340 kilograms (750 pounds) each and standing more than 1.2 metres (four feet) high, they were the largest whistles ever aboard a ship. They were powered by steam via an automated whistleblowing system that used three chambers with diameters of 38.1, 30.5 and 22.9 centimetres,

(15, 12 and 9 inches) for a variation of sound that combined into one sustained blast.

Because of the size and complexity of the ship, communication throughout it had been carefully considered. The boiler rooms, for example, were linked to the starting platform by a series of illuminated telegraphs, allowing the engineer to communicate with them swiftly and efficiently. Overall, the technological achievements of Titanic were so imposing that, as completion approached, the trade journal The Shipbuilder was able to state she was “practically unsinkable”.

THE watertight DOORS

Another design feature that led to Titanic being considered unsinkable was the set of massive watertight doors linking the 15 supposedly watertight compartments. These doors, extending through each bulkhead, were normally held open by a friction clutch. In an emergency, the clutch could, in theory, be released by the captain using a control panel on the bridge. Each door could also be closed individually at its location. Finally, each door was equipped with a float mechanism that would automatically lift and trip a switch to close the door if water entered that compartment.

There were 29 gigantic boilers, most measuring 6.1 metres long by 4.8 metres in diameter (20 feet by 15 feet 9 inches), providing the steam for these engines, at a pressure of 15 kilograms per square centimetre (215 pounds per square inch). The boilers were driven by 162 coal furnaces that were stoked continually by a team of firemen, or stokers, numbering approximately 175. An average of approximately 544 tonnes (600 tons) of coal was consumed daily from bunkers holding more than 7,257 tonnes (8,000 tons), and an additional 70 “trimmers” were employed to bring it from the bunkers to the firemen at the furnaces.

The figures were just as amazing for the many other technical features housed throughout the colossal ship. The cast-steel rudder was constructed in six pieces, which together measured 24 metres long by 4.6 metres wide (78 feet 8 inches by 15 feet 3 inches), and weighed more than 91 tonnes (100 tons).

Titanic also benefited from electrical power to an extent that was highly unusual at the time.

The main generating plant consisted of four 400-kilowatt, steam-powered generators, which produced 16,000 amps at 100 volts: a total that matched many stations in British cities. But such power was absolutely required because there were no fewer than 150 electric motors, complete with hundreds of miles of wire and cable. These serviced 10,000 incandescent lamps, 1,500 bells used to call stewards, 520 electric heaters, a telephone exchange of 50 lines and uncountable passenger signs, lifts, cranes, winches, fans, workshop tools, kitchen and pantry appliances and navigational aids.