B-rad
Member
So I've read Harder's testimony and have come up with a theory. First I will try to place the watertight door he was speaking of. He states that it was, “On E deck. It was on the starboard side of the boat, in the alleyway. I think this brass plate was situated between the stairs and the elevators. The stairs were right in front of the elevators, and right in between there, I think, was this brass plate.”
The two lateral doors were on frame 42 corresponding to bulkhead F. This would place the floor plate, if they were directly around the doors (some adjustments possibly being made) more forward towards the elevators. If we look at the WTD for bulkhead F on the tank top level we see that it is between frames 37 & 38, which would place it at a more in between point.
Wheat would say that he closed, by hand, the door on F deck, on bulkhead F, closest amidships. This would leave the outer most door needing to be shut, which he said he went to E deck to do. Why he did so makes little sense, unless one supposes that he closed the mid-ship one first, and as such, cut off access to the outer door. That being the case, the middle door was most likely operated from the aft side, as there is no exit point that I can see.
Once on E deck Wheat would say something interesting, he said that the WTD had to be closed from the deck above (again probably because he sealed it off) and that they were closed with a key. Unless Wheat meant wrench instead of key, a key may indicate the deck plate that needed a key to unlock it, which based on my research, was only the deck plates to the tank top WTDs, which required a key from an officer. Perhaps this is what was meant by, "Well, it's no use. This one won't work. Lets try another one.” Perhaps the "another one" was the deck plate itself.
Harder did say, “...this one man was trying to turn this thing in the floor. There was a brass plate or something there... it was marked, “W.T.”,...” These men had wrenches but Harder does not say they were using the wrenches. It sounds like they were messing with the deck plate itself trying to open it.
If it was the deck plate for the tank top door, than perhaps they realized that was not the right deck plate and the “another one” was the other deck plate along frame 42.
Bishop makes mention of Harder's story, but you can tell he is relating second hand as some of the details don't make sense.
Molly Brown states that she, “...six or more stewards and one officer in the corridor forcing an auger through a hole in the floor, while treating the whole thing with levity.” Many claim that this was the same instance that Harder mentioned, though Molly never states that the men were having difficulties. If the men had moved on to the “another one”, which would most likely have been within eyesight down the hall from what is believed to be Molly's room E23, in line with 42 corresponding to bulkhead F. She would not have seen the men mistakenly try the deck plate between frames 37 & 38 from that angle (assuming she just peaked out her door). These mens spirits would not most likely have changed from one deck plate to the next, so them treating it with Levity fits nice with Harder's observation that they did not appear nervous.
Then we have Hilda Slayter in 2nd class, who said they saw two men 'working a 2 handled flat wrench on the floor' trying to shut a water tight door. 'One said, 'we can't make this one work, we had better try another.'" She then went up on deck. (http://www.paullee.com/titanic/belowdecks.php)
This sounds very similar to Harder's story, though Slayter would have been in the wrong class. Even if Slayter had made it to the 1st class area, her troubles getting to the boat deck then make little sense.
So that's my theory.
The two lateral doors were on frame 42 corresponding to bulkhead F. This would place the floor plate, if they were directly around the doors (some adjustments possibly being made) more forward towards the elevators. If we look at the WTD for bulkhead F on the tank top level we see that it is between frames 37 & 38, which would place it at a more in between point.
Wheat would say that he closed, by hand, the door on F deck, on bulkhead F, closest amidships. This would leave the outer most door needing to be shut, which he said he went to E deck to do. Why he did so makes little sense, unless one supposes that he closed the mid-ship one first, and as such, cut off access to the outer door. That being the case, the middle door was most likely operated from the aft side, as there is no exit point that I can see.
Once on E deck Wheat would say something interesting, he said that the WTD had to be closed from the deck above (again probably because he sealed it off) and that they were closed with a key. Unless Wheat meant wrench instead of key, a key may indicate the deck plate that needed a key to unlock it, which based on my research, was only the deck plates to the tank top WTDs, which required a key from an officer. Perhaps this is what was meant by, "Well, it's no use. This one won't work. Lets try another one.” Perhaps the "another one" was the deck plate itself.
Harder did say, “...this one man was trying to turn this thing in the floor. There was a brass plate or something there... it was marked, “W.T.”,...” These men had wrenches but Harder does not say they were using the wrenches. It sounds like they were messing with the deck plate itself trying to open it.
If it was the deck plate for the tank top door, than perhaps they realized that was not the right deck plate and the “another one” was the other deck plate along frame 42.
Bishop makes mention of Harder's story, but you can tell he is relating second hand as some of the details don't make sense.
Molly Brown states that she, “...six or more stewards and one officer in the corridor forcing an auger through a hole in the floor, while treating the whole thing with levity.” Many claim that this was the same instance that Harder mentioned, though Molly never states that the men were having difficulties. If the men had moved on to the “another one”, which would most likely have been within eyesight down the hall from what is believed to be Molly's room E23, in line with 42 corresponding to bulkhead F. She would not have seen the men mistakenly try the deck plate between frames 37 & 38 from that angle (assuming she just peaked out her door). These mens spirits would not most likely have changed from one deck plate to the next, so them treating it with Levity fits nice with Harder's observation that they did not appear nervous.
Then we have Hilda Slayter in 2nd class, who said they saw two men 'working a 2 handled flat wrench on the floor' trying to shut a water tight door. 'One said, 'we can't make this one work, we had better try another.'" She then went up on deck. (http://www.paullee.com/titanic/belowdecks.php)
This sounds very similar to Harder's story, though Slayter would have been in the wrong class. Even if Slayter had made it to the 1st class area, her troubles getting to the boat deck then make little sense.
So that's my theory.
