How Did They Keep Titanic's Lights On So Long?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 พ.ค. 2024
- On the night the Titanic sank in 1912 its heroic electricians remained behind to keep the ship's lights burning bright to the very end. With so much sea water in the ship, how did the lights even stay on for that long? Today let's uncover how they powered the Titanic, how electricity was generated and distributed throughout the ship and how the lights stayed on for so long during the sinking!
#titanic #history #engineering #ships #oceanliner #sinking
Oceanliner Designs explores the design, construction, engineering and operation of history’s greatest vessels- from Titanic to Queen Mary and from the Empress of Ireland to the Lusitania. Join maritime researcher and illustrator Michael Brady as he tells the stories behind some of history's most famous ocean liners and machines!
0:00 Introduction
1:03 Electricity at Sea
3:13 How did they power Titanic?
8:13 Why did the lights stay on?
12:10 Titanic's hero electricians - บันเทิง
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All those electricians and engineers who stayed and fought below deck to try to stop the sinking and to keep the lights on are all heroes! I wish more of there story would be told!
100%, wouldn't find that today
There's a fantastic fictional portrayal of these men and their final moments that you can find here on youtube. It's well done and heartbreaking.
Agreed. I would have abandoned my post long before the final breakup of the ship. These men did not...to their credit. RIP.
There is a movie about them called saving titanic
@@tinetannies4637 And why would anybody? To save the billionaires who could afford to work on those laborers' backs, and save the financial butts of the corporation(s) who own the ship(s)? If you want things "back in the good old days", you need to go back and get rid of Reaganomics and the capitalist catastrophe we have today. The rich aren't worth saving at the cost of human lives.
Nice timing. I watched the 2012 TV drama "Saving the Titanic" only yesterday, which focused purely on the firemen, engineers and electricians who literally sacrificed their chances of survival to keep the ship afloat for longer by maintaining power to the pumps, radio and lights, maximising the time available to launch the lifeboats and hope another ship would come to their aid. It was a unique portrayal of the lower decks crewmen whose role is not often shown in Titanic films in much detail and was well portrayed without too much dramatisation apart from a bit about the politics at the time regarding Irish divisions leading up to "the Troubles" era.
There is a memorial in Liverpool that looks like Cleopatra's Needle. It says on one side
_In honour of_
_All heroes of the_
_Marine Engine Room_
_This Memorial_
_Was Erected by_
_International Subscription_
_MCMXVI_
The south side says:
_The brave do not die_
_Their deeds live for ever_
_And call upon us_
_To emulate their courage_
_And devotion to duty_
It's terrific, isn't it? By far, the best Titanic docudrama I have ever saw. Always get quite choked up at the end.
I can't think of something much more admirable than sacrificing your life just to give others a chance to survive.
They're not just neglected in films. They're too often left out of documentaries as well, by my memory. Most documentaries I remember about the Titanic focus on the passengers and bridge and deck crew. "Saving The Titanic" is such a lovely tribute to the engine crew that is all too often merely touched on at best. This documentary is legally posted on TH-cam, btw.
@@LydiaTarine12 I expect it's because we don't really know a lot about what really happened or was said down there, because there were no high-rank survivors and few witnesses compared to those on the upper decks. A lot of "Saving the Titanic" dialogue has been written by modern writers just to give us some insight, whereas every other Titanic film relies on evidence and actual quotes or events that happened based on witness testimony or because those people survived to tell their tale. All in all I think the show did a very good job of giving us a general idea of what happened during those last few hours but will always lack the finer details that would portray a more accurate picture, sadly.
I'm constantly impressed by just how well built this ship was. Especially considering the time period. It's beyond impressive.
Just makes it all the more tragic what happened
Not built well enough it seems
@@duncachinoahimiha3889 What ships were back then?
@@iamhungey12345 the ones that didn't sink.
@@disclaimer.imjokin Did they also hit an iceberg?
One of the reasons was because of the actions of the brave men working to keep the ships lights on and tried to save the people of the Titanic may they rest in peace 🌹
A women would never do that
agree - thanks to Michael OD for including a worthy note to the brave men and crew who sacrifice their selves in helping others.
@@carloslara5989 yea they would
@@carloslara5989 Mmmmmm, Maybe. If she was thinking of the children on the ship, that her actions could save….. The maternal instinct is one of the most powerful forces in the world.
@Auschwitz Soccer Ref. Only God is good. Mark 19:18, Luke 18:19
It’s pretty amazing how advanced the electrical technology of ocean liners was even 112 years ago!
I learned a long time ago never underestimate the sophistication of the old-timers of any age, they'll surprise you every time.
May the bravery of the men in the engine and boiler rooms never be forgotten may they rest in peace. 😢
They saved lives
This is the first time that I've heard anyone talk about Titanic's electrical system or the courageous engineers that operated it. I had no idea that the Titanic had so much electrical generation capacity, nor that it all ran on DC.
Alternating current was in the very beginning stages back in those days, much of the power grid even still ran on DC. AC is very complex and brings on many more challenges and engineering problems, so the fact that it was DC was very unsurprising, considering all vehicles still use DC power to this day.
DC powered ships were being built up until the 1960s, the Medic and the Megantic of the Shaw Savill line were DC and with open fronted switchboard, but with a pair of converters in the funnel to provide AC for lighting.@@jaredchampagne2752
I’m a formerly licensed 3rd Assistant Engineer Steam & Motor of any horsepower/any ocean; much of my career was spent in power plant construction, maintenance, and operation.
I knew the Titanic’s lights stayed on because the engineers & electricians stayed at their posts. In addition to keeping the lights on they kept pumps operating in a vain struggle against progressive flooding.
What I’d never seen nor heard before were the details discussed in this video of Titanic’s electric generators and circuit design. Thank you for a very informative video!
When Titanic broke in two the side shell was ripped away from the inner structure all the way to the generator room, opening it directly to the ocean. If they were down there, they died when the space rapidly flooded with icy cold seawater. Today the starboard side of the stern section is missing, exposing the turbine and generator room to the surrounding water. Nobody has risked sending an ROV into the stern section because the interior is completely destroyed when water blasted through it during the very rapid fall to the sea bed. The risk is too great of the ROV getting trapped.
I have to say i learn more about the titanic watching you,than i do watching the history channel.it's amazing how in depth your research goes from a design point of view.Very few people stop to actually look at how the titanic actually worked they're more focused on the story of the tragedy.
If there's one thing we can say about The History Channel, it's that it has little to do with (accurate) history.
@@philips3066 'History' Channel? You mean the 'Ancient Aliens' 🤣🤪😂 Channel?
What I find interesting is the way understanding more about how the ship functioned helps to comprehend the overall 'tragedy' narrative in terms of what happened to the people as they were trying to escape, in this case just having lighting so they could see what they were doing.
There is I think a degree of modern tech arrogance that implies events such as the Titanic's sinking were only because the technology back then was 'primitive', but the reality is very different, what was built was actually very impressive.
yup, no idea why this video appeared in my recomended, but it's a good one. I was facinated to hear they had electronic winches to hoist the lifeboats back up to refill. I've never heard that before!
Passion makes the difference. Cable TV is dead now.
There was acually a documentory paying tribute to how the crew below the Titanic fought to keep the ship in steam to keep the lights and electrics going for as long as they could so others could escape and be able to call for help.
If you mean 'Saving the Titanic', yes, good docudrama. Really moving towards the end. A *little* off that they made leading fireman Barrett Irish when he wasn't, and heavily implied at one point that the coal bunker fire was partly to blame when it wasn't, even partially. Thankfully that point wasn't laboured, and it's possible to enjoy/learn from the doc without writing it off, as I was nearly about to with gritted teeth when I saw the fire being dwelt on for a few minutes.
Yes there was! I believe its called "The Titanic's Lost Crew Who Died To Keep The Lights On | Saving The Titanic | Absolute History"
Saving the titanic
@@Drumm3rB0y *facepalm* Thanks, that's the one I meant in my comment. Edited.
th-cam.com/video/xsbthm1ocjY/w-d-xo.html
Can you imagine the army of electricians (when electricity was still young) wiring this ship from top to bottom, front to back, and all perfectly. Totally amazing and just goes to show the quality of these amazing men doing the work.
Ikr?
you are correct,.an army of master craftsmen worked on this ship,..woodworkers,...plumbers, electricians, metal fabricators, mechanics,.the list goes on.
Hi Mike. Great segment. Normally I wouldn't comment. Though being an electrician, and also my dad back in the 60's an electrician for ANL, found this very interesting. Those "sparkies" down below showed some serious ticker to manage that doomed ship's power distribution, while confronting what they knew would surely come. RIP those brave souls.
Agreed mate! Its hard to imagine a scarier place than down in the electric engine room towards the end. Cheers!
@@OceanlinerDesigns Appreciate the incredible amount of work you put into these mini-movies. Cheers!
Saving the Titanic is a fantastic depiction of the brave heroes below deck
One reason was the generators were in one of the ship’s aftmost compartments, as the stern rose higher and higher all of the steam escaping from the boilers and engines ran through the turbo-dynamos and kept the lights on. When the ship broke the last of her steam was hissing through the dynamos and her lights finally went out as her dynamos stopped turning, her pressure finally fell, and water surged into the torn-open steam pipes
The steam pressure required to turn those things is big enough to makes the difference in pressure from elevation negligible
@@jdrhc63we67 not really add on the boilers that were underwater were still producing some steam due to the fact the majority of the boilers fireboxes were shut tight in order to keep the water out.
@hunterbear2421 the turbines operat at hundreds of psi steam pressure the change in pressure from height would be less than 1 psi steam is not very versatile dense so the weight of the column does not increase quickly like it does for liquid water
@@jdrhc63we67 What i mean is that it didn't matter, yes but the psi from the boilers being fully filled and even the ones underwater having there fireboxes sealed shut. some did explode during the break up i heard tho but by that point the 50psi to 100psi of steam pressure was plob all it was gettting and when it broke up it was done anyway.
The Costa Concordia documentary by the Internet Historian referenced how much effort was put into keeping the lights on. An engineer was manually keeping the breaker from opening with a screwdriver while simoultaiously trying to keep the generators from overheating all while standing in rising water.
Heroic acts in a hopeless circumstances.
@@_asantesana_squashbanana_LoL 😂
Sad that this man did more to help the passengers than the actual guy in charge of the entire ship.
The amazing thing is not the building but the designing a few years before the keel was laid down. There is a memorial to the 253 engineering department crew and officers, who stayed at their posts, keeping the lights on. They were real heroes that night.
You may have done alot of vids on this ship. But every vid shows some incredible new infomation that I never before. Such a testament on how well thought out and brilliant this ship truly was.
As the Ulstermen and women say today:
"There wasn't a bloody thing wrong with Titanic when she left Belfast!"
Thank you for saying the names and showing pictures of a few of those men. I'd happily see far more of that. It's heart wrenching to think of all of those who stayed at their stations to give others the best chance possible. It's easy to overlook that electricians can be lifesavers in situations like this. I feel proud of them though, even though I have no personal connection.
These electricians were absolute heroes. It’s hard to imagine what would’ve happened if they would have let the lights go out even 30 minutes sooner than they did.
The design of the Olympic class was really brilliant. I hope history always remembers the bravery of the engineers who did their best to keep the lights on for so long.
When I was in elementary school and learned about the Titanic, all the material about the ship appeared biased against WSL/HW for their apparent disregard for human life/safety; including from my teachers. Not enough life-rafts, favoring 1st class lives over 2nd/3rd, lack of safety preparedness, not fully loading life-rafts, etc. etc.
I have long since learned this really was far from the truth and that in reality things were much more complicated. Your video today is further proof they certainly gave more thought to safety than what we are/were(?) taught. Look at how much care and forethought went into its electrical system. I had no idea it was that complex and had that much redundancy.
Your videos are amazing, your Titanic content is really great. Keep up the great work! I'll watch every video you make about this fascinating topic.
Yup, there's a lot of myths around the Titanic.
As an electrician, I always wondered how they managed to keep the lights on as long as they did. This video answered a lot of questions I had, The Titanic's band is always credited as the heroes of the Titanic and rightly so, but the electricians played a much more vital role and deserve much recognition. Thanks, Mike, for an excellent video.
As a navy vet, the people working in engineering are true hero’s for any ship
Every single time I watch a video about the Titanic, I learn something new while empathising with the people on board more and more
Just recently found your channel, it’s excellent! My high functioning autistic 8 year-old nephew is obsessed with all things Titanic, he knows all about the ship in mind blowing detail. I recently showed him your videos and he is completely spellbound! Your presentation and narrative are so concise, educated and classy. It’s refreshing to see a young guy with pride in his appearance too.
Thank you for making these mate, really appreciated. I’d love to gift him one of your prints. I made him a Revell kit of Titanic. It took about 5 weekends to make, but I loved doing it and he loved it. Best from cousins 🇬🇧🇦🇺
Nice. I hope he's allowed to talk about it all he wants.
(My parents put a limit of how many times a day I could talk about Titanic.
Not all heroes wear capes, Some just keep the lights on. 💡
Thank you for saying their names.
And explaining who they were and what they did for others.
You are a good man Mr Brady 🚢
Well said!
It should also be noted that the engineers and electricians did not die at their posts, as they made their way topside when it became clear that nothing more could be done to delay the sinking or the power from failing. Second Officer Lightoller saw many of these men emerge up on deck shortly before the bridge submerged, and he recognized some of them, as they had sailed alongside him aboard the RMS _Oceanic_ before transferring to the _Titanic._ These men also had families to go back to, especially as many of them were the only members of said families with paying jobs. Neither of these facts make them any less heroic, though.
Thanks for finally putting to bed the "lights on stern after breakup" myth. I keep hearing it and knew it was impossible outside maybe an oil lamp or something on fire. I do think the emergency lights faded out last as the ship broke and lost steam, but yesh, only a few seconds. We do know at least an extent of the power loss up to a point in the wireless room due to the settings of the regulators for the rotary spark gap motor.
Also Titanic used a single wire system, IE hull as ground, likely to save on wiring costs (and space for thick DC wires), and AFAIK some large motors like elevators and blowers recieved 200V from 2 of the dynamos in series (similar to how we have split phase power in NA). It used mostly tantalum lights, outside of some Linolight lamps in the windows which went tungsten after 1910, which, while brighter than carbon, were much more yellow/pinkish-orange than tungsten lamps. You can still get similar bulbs, though tunsten, as Mazda lamps, about 2300-2400K color temp is right (real filament not those fake LED things). You can also replicate the dull red glow with a dimmer on those, it does look like a very evil red glow unlike more modern tungsten, like hot metal from a forge that has started to cool (since it literally is hot metal). Saw it happen in person when a hardware store display for retro lamps malfunctioned and went that nasty red, even pointed out that it must have been what the sinking Titanic looked like.
Sure is nice to have a video about the crew that stayed below deck at their posts so that others could live, sometimes the forgotten heroes. Thanks for sharing their story.
Anyone who've seen more movies than just Titanic 97 would know that many other films have depicted the lights failing towards the end. The most accurate depiction is A Night to Remember, where the lights just shut off. The chaotic flashing seen in more recent animations of the ship sinking just prior to the breakup didn't really happen. Once those lines from the boilers failed and steam pressure dropped quickly, the lights would've just shut off, like turning off a light switch in a room.
Edit: Should've mentioned the dimming. The lights dimmed before flicking off, no flashing.
They would first have dimmed as the dynamos lost momentum and THEN turned off.
It depends on if the switches were maned if thy were thy would have stayed full brightness and shut off insections if thy were un maned thy would have dimmed as speed was lost I do not know the exact machines but the ones I have worked with can run for a pretty good bit with low steam pressure before completely stopping. It would also make a big difference if the feed line or the steam line ruptured first
That piece of information at around 4:25 to 4:30 about boiler room 1 being used in port answered a question I've had for so long, but could never find an answer to. I always wondered why so many images of Olympic and Titanic in port had smoke coming out of just the third funnel, and you finally answered my question.
The Olympic-class ships were truly modern for their time, and the men who crewed them were in a class of their own. The engineers were the heroes on board Titanic, and they died nearly to a man. Whether it was shoring up the damage in boiler room 5, battling the flooding with the pumps, keeping the boilers stoked in boiler room 1 or keeping the power on, these brave souls all battled diligently to keep Titanic afloat. And indeed their diligence kept her afloat longer than even Thomas Andrews believed possible. The man who designed the ship was quoted as saying "An hour. Two at the most."
And while Titanic's engineers did everything they could think of to keep her dry and powered, Carpathia's engineers were busy overclocking her engines and hoping the boilers wouldn't explode.
Mike, thank you so much for answering a question which has always bugged me about the Titanic's lights. I'd heard about the rusty red hue that the lights dimmed down to, and always figured that it was current bleeding off into the water which caused it, rather than loss if steam pressure which of course makes sense.
Either way, the ships electricians deserve a special accolade for their heroic efforts. Without them, the death toll would undoubtedly have been much higher, as panic would have set in much earlier.
I wouldn't be surprised if there was some of both factors - current bleed in the water and steam pressure loss. The steam pressure loss was probably bigger though, as the electricians could shut off a part drawing too much current, and a short would hopefully trip a fuse or circuit breaker cutting off power to that part rather than bleeding current. It does make me wonder about the scene in the movie though - we see overloading circuits blowing and the whole ship suddenly going dark, if it lost steam pressure the lights would have faded out over at least a couple seconds. Which did survivors report seeing? I'd imagine the sudden darkness and dramatic short circuits is cinematically more exciting but I wonder if it's historically accurate? Though I do recall descriptions of the lights "flickering out" rather than "fading out," so maybe the movie was accurate.
@@quillmaurer6563 I wonder, too. It's frustrating that none of the reconstructions, even Mike's, have featured the fade. I could imagine that the gradual turning of the lights to blood red would make a very disturbing visual.
@@Phaaschh True - given that he makes his own animations from scratch I'd think he could have shown that easily. Likewise in the video where he talked about how dark it was in reality, survivors barely able to see the ship after the lights went out (unlike in movies that have lighting for the audience to see what's going on). That could have shown the reddish lights and fade out, but if I remember right just showed them the usual slightly orangeish white until they went out.
@@quillmaurer6563 It was probably both, main power flickering out due to failing wiring, then the rest, likely the emergency sets, just fading away when the steam went.
Amazing brave men worked so hard to keep the lights on
I don't think I will ever stop being dumbfounded how smart these people were to built all this without a computer to help them.
Fantastic Job Mike! Always giving a monumental amount of details & dedication to every subject you speak on. Keep Up the Great Work!
Thanks Mike. Your work on Titanic is always top notch. I’ve been a Titanic enthusiast since I was a kid. I always look forward to everything you put out.
Just imagine the realization that you’re probably not going to make it out of this mess alive and deciding that you’re gonna continue to keep the lights on for everyone else. I think I would have gone insane, cried, froze up before I could muster the will to keep pushing forward. Those folks are truly the embodiment of selflessness, strong will, and courage.
Just as an aside; the generator sets were built by W. H. Allen, Sons and Co in Bedford, the company where I served my apprenticeship and worked in the 1980s (sadly now defunct). The Titanic sets were an important part of Allen folklore.
Another great presentation Mike, and a FAST 13 minutes!
I'll tell you, Titanic had one TOUGH electrical system and some outstanding men who kept it going. They oblviously knew there was no easy way out but they stayed at their posts. One can only hope that when the end came it came quickly for them.
Did you know that in tribute to the engineers, both mechanical and electrical, lost on Titanic King George V ordered engineering officers of the Royal Navy to wear purple "light's (or fillers) in the gaps of their rank rings as a sign of mourning and a permanent reminder of their sacrifice? They wear them to this day, and I believe engineers of the Merchant Navy do as well. In fact, back in the 1990s I met an engineer officer of the Canadian Coast Guard and he had those purple "lights" as well.
Thanks again!
It's amazing just how much of these older ships were powered by electricity and to this scale. I have only discovered this as a topic 3 months ago and have learned so many different and interesting things through your channel Mike. Trains have also been suggested but I'm sticking with Oceanliners. Machines of that complexity floating isolated on the ocean where all of your equipment basically has to work. It makes disasters like Titanic seem more interesting somehow. Kudos to the designers for the back-up dynamos.
Titanic also had a diesel emergency generator and batteries for the Marconi equipment adjacent to the equipment cabin.
Well done, Mike. RIP to the electricians & engineers and their families and descendants.
Props for coming up with titanic content focused around an original topic
This was a fascinating video. Often the technical details of a ship's functionality are overlooked. It's great to understand how things were made and how they worked. Great video.
This is exactly what I wanted to write in my comment. With one exception. The technical details of a ship's functionality are often overlooked because authors do not have time to tell them in one film. And I'm afraid, not all people are interested in them. But we totally need such videos because it gives us an idea how creative engineers could be and how devoted to a cause crew could be.
Mr. Brady, thank you for this. I have been studying Titanic on and off for over 50 years and I now know something else. These men deserved all the credit due to them and their profession. Thank you for another informative episode.
Thanks for highlighting the bravery of those who held at their posts when none would blame them for leaving.
This is beyond fascinating to me! I'm an electrician and I've always been interested in how the electric dynamos distributed power throughout the Titanic. Mike just taught me more in one video than I've been able to learn in 40 years!😂 The systems were so well designed and built! Think about how thick a 2 3/4 cable is and imagine how much current those dynamos were putting out to require that thick of a cable! It's immense amounts of power! All direct current too at 100 amps?!?!? Wow!! Trust me people that's ALOT of power!!!! Insane!😂 Great video Mike!!!👍
Power engineer in training and longtime IT engineer with a comprehensive understanding of electrical engineering here.
I have long stated that the likely reason that Titanic’s lights stayed on as long as they did was due to the ship’s very design, which you so brilliantly detailed here, along with the steadfast work of her engineers/electricians. I have also stated that the likely reason that the lights failed when they did was because the steam lines feeding the dynamos severed.
Titanic’s dynamos we’re not equipped with a gear train to increase rotational speed, nor did they have flywheels, both of which are standard in many such designs today. This means that when steam power was lost, the dynamos would have come to a stop fairly quickly rather than a long process of losing energy.
This was a very excellent video. Well done sir. With all the focus on the passengers who perished when the titanic sank, it is good that someone like yourself is bringing appreciation of the heroes behind the scenes that did their part and paid the ultimate price for it in order that others might live. That is a true hero.
People have this idea that water causes instant shorts and will blow every fuse with a huge display of sparks, but this is not the case. Even salt water is quite a crappy conductor compared to a lamp or a heater and there where no ground-fault-interruptors back then, the fuses where there to prevent fires. All the wires would have been insulated because they have to me, all outside lamps would be waterproofed because... well they are outside. I'd say it's very possible that the entire bow remained lit when it went under. There wss simply nothing stopping power being generated, nothing damaging enough to trip the breakers
Glad the electricians got a mention. A bit surprised the generators ued reciprocating engines, as turbines were being used to generate electricity befor they powered ships. Thankyou for another interesting video.
Takes only a heartbeat for me to click on one of your videos when they pop up.
Props to the Titanic engineers for staying behind at their posts during the sinking
What an incredibly thorough explanation of the ship’s electrical systems.
This is why it’s hard to watch anything else on this app.
Because of Mike Brady’s incredible work on this channel.
Seeing pictures of the titanic before it was destroyed is so fascinating to me
No matter how much I think I know about this ship, all of these videos still teach me something new. Great content!
This site is as good as anything the Discovery Channel ever put out. Well done!
I am a retired marine engineer of over 40 years.I have been watching your channel for some time,as a subscriber i find your description informative,clear and to the point with just the right amount of humour,cheers Roly 🇬🇧.
Wow, I'd never even considered all of that! Thank you for including visuals and diagrams, it made it so I could follow along!
At Queen’s University’s engineering school in Canada, as well as other engineering schools in Canada, there is a tradition known as “purpling”, where students dress in all purple and party in the first days of the semester. The urban legend I’ve been told is that the engineers aboard Titanic had a purple armband on, and as this video details, died in keeping the electricity on - and the celebration is in honour of their sacrifice, and a reminder of an engineer’s commitment to serving people first. I have no idea if this is true or not - but a large part of me hopes it is!
Is anyone else just amazed to learn about all the technology they had in 1912?
I really like your introduction, "It's your friend Mike Brady."
An often overlooked subject, your coverage of which I’m grateful for! :)
Keep it up 👍
There is a memorial in Southampton to the Titanic's engineers, noting how they stayed at their posts until the very end.
This is the most detailed information I've seen yet on this subject as well as the overall electrical implications of the ship. Thanks Mike. :)
Great topic to go in depth about. Nice video as always!
Great video, Mike. Wonderful research into how the power generating systems worked and were located in the ship! Thank you.
Brave men providing a last dignity to so many souls who perished.
In my opinion this is the best Titanic video yet, I've always wanted to know more since seeing that clip during the film! So full of information, well done Mike. 👍
I wish they made a Titanic series that focused on the crew and their efforts and shortcomings in trying to save the passengers
Nice explanation of the Titanic's electrical system and how it continued to function until her hull gave way and split apart. Well done, Mike!
What i find amazing is that enough of the boilers remained unflooded to that point to keep things going
Those Electrician were hero’s and gave their lives so many might keep theirs. Plus the engineers who did the same. Thank you for this information it usually about how many died.
The electricians and everyone who worked to keep the ship lit up were incredibly brave men.
..Titanic's electricians are the unsung heroes...My respect for them won't ever fade out....Your incredible depth of knowledge always stuns us dear Mike...Thank you for your honest hardwork... . 👏🏼👌🏼👍🏼💙
Exceptionally well done video - with such rare, very illustrative photographs!
Thank you for giving the electricians' names. It's all too easy to merely state the title without acknowledging the person behind it.
This blew my mind! How you got such detail is beyond me! So amazing! The amount of research that would have gone into this would be enormous. Thank you dear Titanic enthusiast friend!
Superb video! Well researched and technical aspects explained fully. Really glad I found your channel!
The company who built those electrical generators was W.H.Allen 'Queen's Engineering Works' based in Bedford, England. The company no longer exists today, but was around for over 100 years. I was an apprentice engineer there in 1979. I wasn't aware of its connection to the Titanic initially, but learned of it a few years later.
I appreciate the amount of research and planning you put into your videos. You have a genuine passion of your content and it shows. ^.^ Excellent content. Many thanks.
Mike Brady, I am really enjoying the knowledge you share of your passion for ocean liners!
Awesome video Mike I love the way you explain things unlike certain people who are so unenergetic but you have so much energy and passion in what you do
What's most incredible about this is a circuit that was this redundant, this well designed, and this carefully laid out was done at the beginning of electric lights becoming available
An amazing video explaining the Titanic was in fact, really well built and designed!....
Excellent presentation Mike, even better than usual. 👍
It is kind of amazing, given some of Titanic's other fatal design and build flaws, that the electric system was designed and built so well .
It’s amazing to think that Titanic’s electric system had more output than most land based generators of the time. I would’ve liked to see how many people had never seen electric lighting before when they boarded Titanic.
The fact that it was saltwater would have helped. Saltwater isn't a very good conductor, in fact it was used to dim stage lights in some early stage systems. Fresh water would have caused a lot more shorts.
I really do enjoy your videos. I’ve been interested in the Titanic since I was a kid. I still have books I got from that age, and models, but I still learn new things and see pictures I’ve never come across before in your videos. Keep up the good work!
How the heck did the designers do their job for a ship of Titanic’s size? They had to think of so much stuff and they had to do all of it BY HAND! I bet it was a stressful job back in the Titanic’s day
G’day from Melbourne but currently Belfast doing my own titanic research. This topic was actually a question I had posted to members of the archives. A huge important part of why the lights stayed on was what happened in the breaker room, as salt water started to short out the circuits the main breakers started to pop and the fuses started to blow too. There were engineers in that room jamming tools into the fuse sockets to bridge the connections and using brooms and man-power to hold the tripping breakers closed. If you could enter the breaker room now you’d probably see screw drivers and tools melted into the fuse sockets in a heroic attempt to keep the lights and pumps going.
My dad was an electrician ( born 37 ) some or the old bits he had in his sheafs looked like they came directly from Frankenstein’s castle
Suddenly losing a large load, like the forward circuit, would cause the dyno & engine to speed up, and the voltage would jump. A long over-voltage could have resulted from the difference in power supply (steam) and demand (electricity). There could be a short voltage spikes from inductance. Both phenomenon can cause damage. It would have been very hard for the operators to maintain control between losing steam and losing loads. Great video!
Wouldn't they have an automated steam control (perhaps by centrifuge) to maintain RPM?
@Alexander O'Brien yes I think you're right. A "governor". I'd imagine that'd do smaller short term control and operators would do the larger adjustments. Could be wrong though.
Extremely informative. Told in an interesting way, makes you want to learn more.
This is so well done thank you Mike!!! Great work! 👏👏👏🎬
I love watching your videos. I’ve learned so much about these glorious, stunning ships.
Hello!!! Love this channel, Mike! Thanks for reigniting my Titanic obsession! Brilliant content!
Once you let Titanic into your life she never leaves, trust me.
@@wayneantoniazzi2706 that is very true! I admit it was the 1997 movie that first got my interest. But then she pulled me in. Without giving my life story, someone pulled me away. But Mike here dragged me back in. And here I will stay!
@@laratheplanespotter Oh, I've been a Titanic junkie ever since seeing "Titanic" with Barbara Stanwyk and Clifton Webb on TV in 1963! The wife's the same, although we didn't know each other at the time. (I was 10 years old, she was 9, and we lived on opposite sides of town.)
Titanic will slip to the back of your mind of course but there's always something that brings her back, like a blast of cold wind, a walk by the sea, or a picture of an iceberg, and then there she is!