Bob; not an answer to your question I'm afraid, but...
by

In regard to the curved wheelhouse face that
we can see being built in the H&W photos, it
seems possible the design is a holdover from
the original proposal for the bridge layout of the
ship. See the early version builder's model on
pgs. 18 and 19 of "Anatomy". The bridge
screen is shaped exactly like that of the second
Oceanic (1899) which was the prototype for
the bridges on the "big four" and other ships
built by H&W. On those ships, the wheelhouse
front wall was curved to mimic the bridge.(When
Lightoller was 2nd officer on Oceanic, he used
to make a game of trying to negotiate the curve
of the wheelhouse front wall while "skating"
right through the bridge when the white rubber
decking in Oceanic's bridge became wet from
rain or spray. This practice came to an abrupt
end after he nearly knocked Capt. Cameron off
his feet as he came around the corner of the
wheelhouse.) When looking at that early model,
I can understand why many marine historians
feel that Alexander Carlisle's basis for the design
of the Olympic class was a bigger, better version
of his Oceanic.
Regards,
Scott

Posted on Oct 30, 1998, 4:46 PM
from IP address 152.163.204.187