would the Carpathia's boilers have exploded that night?

[Marco Ruo]

the ship was traveling at 17 knots (its maximum speed was 14) ..Crew members in the engine room that night noticed that the steam pressure gauges were off the dial, prompting Chief Engineer Johnson to place his hat over the gauge. "Carry on, boys. Captain's orders."

What did they risk? I think the bearings could have melted, or the copper tubes of the Scottish boilers could have split

 

[Seumas]

Myth.

Carpathia's top speed on her rescue mission was never more than 14 knots and she wasn't 58 miles away either.

Dave Gittins explains all here

Carpathia's Rescue Mission

 

[marina_irc]

the ship was traveling at 17 knots (its maximum speed was 14) ..Crew members in the engine room that night noticed that the steam pressure gauges were off the dial, prompting Chief Engineer Johnson to place his hat over the gauge. "Carry on, boys. Captain's orders."

What did they risk? I think the bearings could have melted, or the copper tubes of the Scottish boilers could have split

There was no risk at all unless the pressure relief valves were disabled and there's no evidence that they were disabled, among other things it would be criminal negligence to do so. Carpathia steamed as fast as she was capable of, which was not 17kts.

 

[Mike Spooner]

That's what a safety pressure relief valve is for, to stop the boiler been over pressured.

 

[Samuel Halpern]

The 17 knots came about because nobody realized that Carpathia never came close the SOS position. She reached close to the wreck site which was 13 miles east of the SOS position. Not realizing that, the 17 knot myth was created so they can cover to 58 miles to the SOS in about 3-1/2 hours.

 

[lobo]

the ship was traveling at 17 knots (its maximum speed was 14) ..Crew members in the engine room that night noticed that the steam pressure gauges were off the dial, prompting Chief Engineer Johnson to place his hat over the gauge. "Carry on, boys. Captain's orders."

What did they risk? I think the bearings could have melted, or the copper tubes of the Scottish boilers could have split

If this story is true, you are correct! If the boilers split, lives could have been lost!
Keep in mind.....History has repeatedly shown us that High Risk = High Rewards!

 

[Julian Atkins]

We have been over this elsewhere and in considerable detail. Dave Gittins and Sam Halpern are clearly correct on all this and I totally agree with both.

Chief Engineer of the Carpathia, Alexander Johnstone, would have known what revolutions the Carpathia was doing in the ‘rescue dash’. He would have known that the Carpathia couldn’t do 16 knots or 17 or 17.5 knots. He would also have been acutely aware of the very stringent requirements as to safety valves on the boilers.

I am not aware of any accounts by Chief Engineering Officer Johnstone at the time or at any subsequent time.

All this nonsense about him putting his hat over the boilers’ pressure gauges so that no one would see that the needles on each gauge were going beyond the ‘red line’. How many hats did he need for pressure gauges on multiple boilers on Carpathia?!

Parts, indeed perhaps significant parts, of Captain Rostron’s accounts are pure fiction, and he must have known this in 1912, and 1931 in the various re-telling by him.

Call it ‘spin’ at the time, or being ‘partial’, or out and out lying by Captain Rostron over 19 years.

 

[Steven Christian]

We have been over this elsewhere and in considerable detail. Dave Gittins and Sam Halpern are clearly correct on all this and I totally agree with both.

Chief Engineer of the Carpathia, Alexander Johnstone, would have known what revolutions the Carpathia was doing in the ‘rescue dash’. He would have known that the Carpathia couldn’t do 16 knots or 17 or 17.5 knots. He would also have been acutely aware of the very stringent requirements as to safety valves on the boilers.

I am not aware of any accounts by Chief Engineering Officer Johnstone at the time or at any subsequent time.

All this nonsense about him putting his hat over the boilers’ pressure gauges so that no one would see that the needles on each gauge were going beyond the ‘red line’. How many hats did he need for pressure gauges on multiple boilers on Carpathia?!

Parts, indeed perhaps significant parts, of Captain Rostron’s accounts are pure fiction, and he must have known this in 1912, and 1931 in the various re-telling by him.

Call it ‘spin’ at the time, or being ‘partial’, or out and out lying by Captain Rostron over 19 years.

Yes that makes no sense to cover the pressure gauges so you couldn't see them. Eventually the safeties would have lifted unless you had them gagged. Couldn't see an engineer doing that. Especially if your work space was next to the boilers. Although I have read in the late/mid 1800's some steam locomotives did that when they were going for speed records. Sometimes it ended badly.

 

[lobo]

.....Chief Engineering Officer Johnstone.....All this nonsense about him putting his hat over the boilers’ pressure gauges so that no one would see that the needles on each gauge were going beyond the ‘red line’. How many hats did he need for pressure gauges on multiple boilers on Carpathia?!..........

LMAO! He would have had to be a man who wore many hats....literally!

 

[Julian Atkins]

I’m slightly of the view that Captain Rostron was somewhat distracted during the ‘rescue dash’ by the enormity of the events unfolding.

What I do not understand is him claiming a speed that could never be substantiated and was open to very clear questioning at the time, and that he ‘got away’ with this ‘line’.

And him typing out (before they got to New York) a précis of his orders. Especially turning off the heating on the Carpathia during the ‘rescue dash’ so that all steam from the boilers was concentrated on the propulsion. (I haven’t found any accounts of Carpathia’s passengers mentioning the heating being turned off - though happily to be corrected on this).

I can partly forgive Captain Rostron for his testimony on day 1 of the USA Inquiry, but I have considerable misgivings as to his evidence towards the end of the British Inquiry.

We can discuss this again.

 

[Gordon Mooneyhan]

And him typing out (before they got to New York) a précis of his orders. Especially turning off the heating on the Carpathia during the ‘rescue dash’ so that all steam from the boilers was concentrated on the propulsion. (I haven’t found any accounts of Carpathia’s passengers mentioning the heating being turned off - though happily to be corrected on this).

I seem to recall reading that some passengers on the Carpathia were awakened because of the cold temperature. That infers that the heating may have been turned off, or some of the steam that would normally go to the heating was diverted.