With respect to the question of the middle line bulkheads, he could
not quite agree with Mr. John as to the great advantages of them in a
big passenger steamer. He thought there would be greater difficulty in
managing a ship so built if she was in danger of sinking. Increased
subdivision in a longitudinal direction was a very desirable thing,
and almost necessary for a condition of immunity from sinking. In
future Atlantic steamers longitudinal bulkheads should be placed not
in the middle line, but nearer the sides of the ships, and they should
recognize the fact that they had engines and boilers in different
compartments, and make arrangements whereby the ship would still
float, although the doors in these compartments were kept open. The
proper way to arrive at that was to have a ship with great beam, and
to have two longitudinal bulkheads at considerable distances from the
sides of the ship, subdivided as completely as possible, both under
and above water, so that, even supposing they got water into the space
between one bulkhead and the side of the ship, they would have
sufficient buoyancy in the other parts of the ship to keep her afloat.
Broad ships must necessarily mean deep ships, in order to have comfort
at sea. They were limited in length, and first came the question how
many passengers they wanted to carry.
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