Posted by Bob Read on May 26, 1998 at 17:41:50 in pm3-0-066.apci.net:
Here's an issue that's sure to start a discussion. On the Minicraft Titanic and in Marschall's paintings, the roof over the wheelhouse overlaps the port and starboard bulkheads by approximately two scale feet. The plans from the Shipbuilder and Engineering magazines even indicate this arrangement. I would like to propose that the Titanic, AS BUILT, had a roof overlap over the wheelhouse sides of no more than six inches maximum, if that. Another way of stating my contention is that I believe that the port and starboard bulkheads of the wheelhouse are nearly, if not exactly, the same distance from the centerline as the port and starboard bulkheads of the open navigating bridge bulkheads forward of the wheelhouse.
Evidence? The only direct evidence is from studying the photograph taken of the Titanic from the starboard and forward by Frank Beken & Sons of Cowes off the Isle of Wight. The clearest reproduction I have seen is found on page 15 of Ballard's "The Discovery of the Titanic". Look closely under magnification. Circumstantial evidence also comes from a photo of the Olympic bridge area that I found in a late 1970's issue of the Titanic Commutator. The focal point of the photograph was a worker who had climbed part way up the ladder on the 1st funnel. This photograph confounded me and made me investigate my previous notions about the bridge area. The other photo that seems to support this notion is a photograph taken from a brochure "Olympic Closeups" that was published by 7 C's Press in the early 1980's. It shows a limited starboard view of the bridge area of the Olympic.
I would welcome any clear photographic rebuttal of my theory.