Titanic's Last Secrets: The Further Adventures of Shadow Divers John Chatterton and Richie Kohler

by Brad Matsen

  McCluskie’s statements at dinner with Roger Long were recollected in interviews with both men. McCluskie’s statements the following day at Woods Hole are taken verbatim from audio and video recordings.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN. BRITANNIC

  The construction records for Hull No. 433, which would become Britannic, are from the Harland and Wolff ledger of ships in the archives held at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.

  Descriptions of the Greek coast, the island of Kéa, and the shipping channel where Britannic sank are from visits to the site by the author.

  Accounts of the sinking are from Simon Mills’s book Hostage to Fortune, pp. 125–37; Paul Louden-Brown’s The White Star Line, pp. 92–93; and Chirnside, pp. 217–74.

  Violet Jessop’s account of surviving the sinking of Britannic is from Jessop, pp. 171–87.

  The accounts of the aborted dives in the firemen’s tunnel in 1998 and 2006 are from interviews with Chatterton and Kohler in September 2006.

  The account of Cousteau’s discovery and exploration of Britannic is from Axel Madsen’s Cousteau: An Unauthorized Biography, pp. 178–81; and Richard Munson’s The Captain and His World, pp. 168–72.

  The account of Kohler and Barnette on the promenade deck and the bridge of Britannic is from interviews with them in September 2006.

  COVER-UP

  During his tenure as the Harland and Wolff archivist, Tom McCluskie came across internal engineering notes and memoranda that clearly indicate that Wilding and Pirrie, and perhaps other engineers, knew that there was an 80 percent chance that Titanic had broken on the surface before it sank. The subsequent fitting of Olympic and Britannic with full double hulls was not for protection from puncture by icebergs but to stiffen the ship. Wilding and Pirrie were not at all sure that Titanic, as built, had been strong enough to resist not only massive damage from an iceberg but the stresses of normal service in all weather and sea conditions.

  Harland and Wolff redesigned the expansion joints to include a radius corner at the base of the joint rather than the simple square section or V notch as on Olympic and Titanic. When Wilding looked at the hull design and, in particular, the degree of hull cracking on Olympic, he determined that the shear forces at the joint corners were far in excess of the structure’s capabilities. As a result, they completely redesigned these joints and increased the number to three on Britannic simply in an attempt to relieve the hull stresses. Harland and Wolff was aware that the hull form and strength were deficient in many respects and attempted a number of quick fixes, in addition to the major addition of steel to the hulls.

  Two passionate Titanic researchers, Rob Ottmers and Bill Wormstedt, created the Titanic Inquiry Project, http://www.titanicin quiry.org/. For anyone interested in reading the transcripts of the American and British inquiries into the disaster, this site is a priceless gift. Questions, testimony, and biographies of the participants are fully searchable by keyword, and navigation on the site is a snap. There is no charge for using it.

  Wilding’s letter to the Harland and Wolff managing directors is from the company’s archive, held at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.

  8418 GERRARD

  Telegrams

  HARLANDIC, LONDON

  June 29, 1912

  Managing Directors, Harland and Wolff

  Dear Sirs,

  I confirm sending from the court this morning a telegram to the effect that the big model can now go back to Belfast, and that as the hall is required for an examination on Monday we should begin the removal first thing that morning to avoid delays and risk of damage. The model makers should be there at 6:30 and the same assistance as before will be provided.

  I only learnt this morning that Monday’s sitting is to be at the Caxton Hall, where I there learnt the other things. The sittings of the Inquiry will I think finish on Monday, but not till late.

  I am therefore arranging to see Lloyd’s on Tuesday morning re: No. 433 plans and correspondence.

  If not required here on Wednesday for consultation on Olympic and Hawke I propose to return to Belfast for that day, but will have to come back on Wednesday evening.

  The Commissioner’s speech has indicated so far no attack on the builders of Titanic, and did begin with a note of thanks for the assistance and full information given. It may therefore be stated I think that neither the firm nor any of the staff will be under any imputation as we succeeded in forcing the withdrawal of the only material charge made by an outside counsel that we had not submitted our strength calculations to the board of trade.

  Yours faithfully,

  Ed. Wilding

  Pirrie’s bitterness toward Wilding is documented in the minutes of the managing directors meetings for June, July, and August 1912, which are held at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. In several other accounts, Pirrie immediately fired Wilding, but those could not be confirmed in primary sources. In the minutes, however, it is obvious that Pirrie marginalized Wilding at the shipyard. In one instance, the minutes reveal that the directors castigated Wilding for abusing his right to entertain guests in the executive dining room.

  From “British Wreck Commissioner’s Inquiry: Report of the Loss of the Titanic,” July 30, 1912:

  The Court, having carefully inquired into the circumstances of the above mentioned shipping casualty, finds, for the reasons appearing in the annex hereto, that the loss of the said ship was due to collision with an iceberg, brought about by the excessive speed at which the ship was being navigated.

  From the wreck commissioner’s replies to the questions asked by the British Board of Trade:

  25. When the “Titanic” left Queenstown on or about the 11th April last was she properly constructed and adequately equipped as a passenger steamer and emigrant ship for the Atlantic service?

  Answer:

  Yes.

  From “Description of the Damage to the Ship and Its Gradual Final Effect”:

  The collision with the iceberg, which took place at 11.40 p.m., caused damage to the bottom of the starboard side of the vessel at about 10 feet above the level of the keel, but there was no damage above this height. There was damage in: The forepeak, No. 1 hold, No. 2 hold, No. 3 hold, No. 6 boiler room, No. 5 boiler room. The damage extended over a length of about 300 ft.

  The later stages of the sinking cannot be stated with any precision, owing to a confusion of the times which was natural under the circumstances. From “Description of the Damage to the Ship and Its Gradual Final Effect: Final Effect of the Damage”:

  Her stern was gradually rising out of the water, and the propellers were clear of the water. The ship did not break in two; and she did eventually attain the perpendicular. . . . Before reaching the perpendicular when at an angle of 50 or 60 degrees, there was a rumbling sound which may be attributed to the boilers leaving their beds and crashing down on to or through the bulkheads. She became more perpendicular and finally absolutely perpendicular, when she went slowly down. After sinking as far as the after part of the Boat deck she went down more quickly. The ship disappeared at 2.20 a.m.

  ENDINGS

  White Star historian Paul Louden-Brown described Bruce Ismay’s life after Titanic to me in interviews in February 2007 and in subsequent correspondence.

  The numbers of passengers carried by White Star and Cunard in 1913 are from an article, “The White Star Line and the International Mercantile Marine Company,” by William B. Saphire on the Internet site of the Titanic Historical Society at http://titanichistoricalsociety .org/articles.

  The details of J. P. Morgan’s death and the failure of International Mercantile Marine are from Strouse, pp. 680–83 and 457–81.

  The details of Pirrie’s life after Titanic and his death at sea are from Jefferson, pp. 283–99; and Moss and Hume, pp. 208–44.

  In the winter of 2007, Chatterton and Kohler commissioned a naval architect to do a computer simulation of Titanic’s last hours. It proved conclusively that Roger Long’s low-angle breakup the
ory was correct. It also proved that while Titanic’s hull and the steel with which the giant ship was built had many flaws that contributed to it sinking so quickly, the main hull girder was probably strong enough for normal service on the North Atlantic.

  Bibliography

  Books

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  Kurson, Robert. Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II. New York: Random House, 2004.

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  ———. No Place for a Boy: A Life at Harland & Wolff. Gloucestershire: Tempus Publishing, 2007.

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  Pamphlets

  Dodge, Washington. The Loss of the Titanic: An Address by Washington Dodge, May 11, 1912. Reprinted, Springfield, Mass.: 7 C’s Press and Titanic Historical Society, n.d.

  Rostron, Arthur H. The Loss of the Titanic. 1931. Reprinted, Springfield, Mass.: 7 C’s Press and Titanic Historical Society, n.d.

  Thayer, John B. The Sinking of the S.S. Titanic. 1940. Reprinted, Springfield, Mass.: 7 C’s Press and Titanic Historical Society, n.d.

  Periodicals

  Ballard, Robert D. “A Titanic Tract.” Titanic Commutator, vol. 29, no. 172 (fall 2005).

  Bride, Harold. “Thrilling Tale by Titanic’s Surviving Wireless Operator.” New York Times, April 28, 1912.

  Chatterton, John; Richie Kohler; et al. “The Titanic Puzzle: Two More Pieces.” Wreck Diving Magazine, spring 2006.

  Halpern, Samuel. “Titanic’s Prime Mover: An Examination of Propulsion and Power.” Encyclopedia Titanica, July 2007.

  Louden-Brown, Paul. “White Star Building 30 James Street, Liverpool.” Titanic Commutator, vol. 21, no. 4 (spring 1998).

  Mills, Simon. “Titanic’s Final Moments, Missing Pieces: More Questions Than Answers.” Titanic Commutator, vol. 29, no. 172 (fall 2005).

  Newton, Terry. “Olaus Jorgensen Abelseth: A Fortunate Titantic Survivor.” Titantic Commutator, vol. 30, no. 175 (fall 2006).

  Films

  A Night to Remember. Rank Organization, 1958.

  Titanic. A James Cameron Film, Twentieth Century Fox, 1997.

  Titanic. Twentieth Century Fox, 1953.

  Titanic’s Achilles Heel. Lone Wolf Documentary Group, for the History Channel, 2007.

  Titan
ic’s Final Moments: Missing Pieces. Lone Wolf Documentary Group, for the History Channel, 2006.

  About the Author

  Brad Matsen has been writing about the sea and its inhabitants for thirty years, in books, film scripts, essays, and maga zine articles. He is the author of Descent: The Heroic Discovery of the Abyss, which was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in 2006; Planet Ocean: A Story of Life, the Sea, and Dancing to the Fossil Record; and the award-winning Incredible Deep Sea Adventure series for children. He was a creative producer for The Shape of Life, an eight-hour National Geographic television series on evolutionary biology, and wrote the accompanying book of the same name. He has written on marine science and the environment for Mother Jones, Audubon, Natural History, and many other magazines. His coverage of depleted ocean resources in Mother Jones won the Project Censored Award as one of the ten best underreported stories of 1999. His essays have been included in The Book of the Tongass as part of the influential Literature for a Land Ethic series, the Smithsonian Institution’s Ocean Planet, and other anthologies. Brad Matsen has twice been awarded residencies at the MacDowell Colony. He lives on Vashon Island in Washington.