Posted by Bruce Beveridge on August 31, 1998 at 00:43:30 in dyn1-tnt1-69.chicago.il.ameritech.net:
There has been a lot of discussion over the ladders on "B" deck aft that are in line with the supports for "A" deck. The white supports are located right next to the ladders on the outside of each. The Father Browne photo is deceiving, look at "The Last Days of the Titanic" by E.E.O'Donnel pg.65. The ladder hides the white pole (page 66 also). If you look on page 65 at the two people. Look at the pole to the right of the man. When the pole ends at it's top, it flattens out by the rivets. You'll notice the shadow it casts on the superstructure. The same shadow can be seen just on the left side of the ladder on the superstructure.
Also, in nearly all of the Titanic photo's taken of her back end you can see this white pole sticking out amongst the darkness. Some of these pictures are from a distance but I tell you the white pole visible is not the sun shining of the brown ladder.
Here are my references:"An Illustrated History" pg's 26 (though blurry),34,35(Olympic). "The Last Days of The Titanic" pg.73 (unmistakable).