Posted by James Pepper on September 01, 1999 at 03:35:39 in 205.188.193.159 :
In Reply to: Re: "Engineering" magazine 1912 posted by James Pepper on August 31, 1999 at 18:16:44:
I just saw a large picture 6"X 8" of the lifeboats, at the dock, an original picture published in "Independent" magazine. The copper ballast tanks under the seats can be seen. They had a photographer on the Carpathia when it entered New York Harbor. There is a photograph of the Titanic lifeboats on the fore-castle of the Carpathia with Governor's Island in the background.
According to Lord Mersey's report, ". . . the bouyancy tanks in the lifeboats were of 18 oz copper. . . " You can see the hammered copper very clearly. Whether the copper had a patina to it or not, it is hard to tell in the photograph, but the hammer marks can be seen. The copper was directly below the seat, straight down. The Large lifeboats were constructed this way, the smaller boats did not have this feature, but had a verticle ribbed effect below the seats.
Scribner's has 'Rescue of the "Titanic" Survivors By the Carpathia' April 15, 1912 by Captain Arthur H. Rostron, R.D., R.N.R.. He wrote there were 25 200ft high icebergs within the area of the lifeboats he rescued and dozens of 50 to 150 feet high bergs. The ice-field was 6 to 12 feet high. If you can get a copy of this, I highly recommend reading it, it explains the procedures he instructed his men to do to pick up and rescue the Titanic passengers.
Sincerely,
James Pepper