Funnel Collapses

The Titanic carried four funnels, with the fourth funnel serving as a minor ventilation system. It is believed that all four funnels collapsed at some time during the sinking. Likely crushing and killing passengers when they collapsed, some believe the richest passenger on the ship, John Jacob Astor IV may have been killed by a funnel collapse, because of the condition his body was in, including soot on his body. This is frequently disputed, as different reports also claim his body to have been in immaculate condition.

Funnel #1[]

The first funnel collapses in *Titanic (1997)*

The Titanic reached a trim of 9-13 degrees when the first funnel fell. when the water on the boat deck surrounded the funnels base. The water pressure most definitely caused the base of the funnel to become weakened, causing the funnel to buckle and topple to the starboard side which then left behind a suction that sucked people close enough to the base of the funnel. Collapsible B and Collapsible A were nearby the funnel when it fell, causing these two life boats to be washed away from the ship.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

Funnel #2[]

The second funnel collapses to the port side, from a deleted scene of *Raise the Titanic*

The Titanic reached a trim of 13-19 degrees when the second funnel fell. The second funnel either fell seconds after the first one buckled collapsed or fell nearly at the same time. The water pressure has the same affect on the second funnel like the first buckled the base of the funnel causing it to buckle collapse to the starboard side in a shower of sparks.^[5]^[6] However, it’s likely that the funnel's uptake itself became compressed to produce sparks to burst out of the funnel's base. Jack Thayer and Walter Hurst^[7] were almost hit by this funnel right before Collapsible B washed towards them.^[8]^[9]

Funnel #3[]

The third funnel collapses after the ship breaks in half.

At 2:17 AM Titanic was at a trim/angle of 18-30 degrees. The third funnel was either clear out of the water or possibly almost half covered in water. Its possible that when sea water surrounded the base or the third funnel causing the funnel to buckle and collapse. The way the funnel fell is uncertain, as only Percy Keen described which direction it went, which was apparently abaft.^[10] It also experienced a spark ignition due to the cables whipping and lashing at the top. The third funnel rose out of the water when titanic broke but eventually sank and got stuck in its uptake/casing and then popped off during the sterns decent to the Ocean Floor. Only one or two survivors (Percy Keen and possibly Harry Oliver) seemed to see the funnel collapsing or already collapsed while others referenced of the third funnel disappearing with the bow section.^[11]

Funnel #4[]

Titanic's fourth funnel remained standing after breaking in half.

The fourth funnel bent aft during her final plunge.

The fourth funnel was a minor ventilation system for the ship's lower decks, also called a dummy funnel. At 2:17 AM Titanic is rising to a trim/angle of 23-30 degrees. The fourth funnel was out of the water when titanic broke in half. The damage extended from the forward of the third funnel to the aft of the grand staircase. This meant that the fourth funnel didn't suffer much structural damage. The funnel instead fell after the Titanic's stern began lifting up again. The propellers rose higher and higher then at 2:18 AM. Water surrounded the base of the fourth funnel. Due to that, the water pressure crushed the funnel's base causing it to buckle and collapse. However, the funnel did not fall forward. Rather it bent aft; pushed by the rising water. The fourth funnel then sank and got stuck in its uptake/casing and eventually popped off during the stern's decent to the ocean floor. Only one survivor, Thomas Dillon^[12], actually saw the fourth funnel bend aft as the stern rose while other survivors like Jack Thayer^[13] didn't see the funnel collapse at all.

Notable Quotes[]

Not all that many people saw the collapse of the funnels, largely due to the darkness, but several did make note of them during the final plunge:

“I sat paralyzed with cold and misery, as I watched Titanic give a lurch forward. One of the huge funnels toppled off like a cardboard model, falling into the sea with a fearful roar.” – Violet Jessop, stewardess^[14]
“The ship seemed to break in two forward of the first funnel, which crashed down on passengers and crew abaft.” – Percy Keen, steward^[15]
“When the third funnel had nearly disappeared, I heard four explosions, which I took to be the bursting of the boilers. The ship was right up on end then. Suddenly, she broke in two between the third and fourth funnels.” – Joseph Scarrott, able-bodied seaman^[16]
“When water rushed into the boilers, it [the Titanic] exploded. It looked like the four funnels divided when that happened.” – Ruth Becker, second-class passenger^[17]
“One of the giant funnels toppled to the deck, crushing many passengers as it slid into the water.” – Elin Hakkarainen, steerage passenger^[18]
“The forward part of the ship was now all submerged, the water was up to the bottom of the first two funnels and people were climbing up the slippery deck to get clear of the water.” – Edward Ryan, steerage passenger^[19]
“Less than twenty minutes after we touched the water, we heard two loud explosions. The explosions occurred almost simultaneously. The giant ship quivered from stem to stern. It parted almost in the centre and slowly sank. The last I saw of it was a single smokestack, which remained above water for several minutes.” – Ida Hippach, first-class passenger^[20]
“Before the ship actually went down, did you see her make any movements? Yes, she took one final plunge and righted herself again. She gave a plunge and righted herself again? Yes. Did you notice anything about the funnel? Not then. Did you afterwards notice something about the funnel? Yes. What? When she went down. Was that after you had left the ship? Before I left the ship. What did you notice? Well, the funnel seemed to cant up towards me. It seemed to fall aft? Yes; it seemed to fall up this way. Was that the aftermost funnel? Yes.” – Thomas Dillon, coal trimmer^[21]
“I was so fortunate, I may almost say, as to be knocked overboard when the chimney fell. That is to say, I was washed down by the wave which rose up after it.” – Albert Moss, steerage passenger^[22]
“As I looked over my shoulder, as I was still hanging to this oar, I could see the enormous funnels of the Titanic being submerged in the water. These poor people that covered the water were sucked down in those funnels - each of which was twenty-five feet in diameter - like flies.” – Eugene Daly, steerage passenger^[23]
“As the Titanic tilted and began to slide under, the funnels appeared to be falling.” – Victor Sunderland, steerage passenger^[24]
“Suddenly the whole superstructure of the ship appeared to split, well forward to midship, and blow or buckle upwards. The second funnel, large enough for two automobiles to pass through abreast, seemed to be lifted off, emitting a cloud of sparks. It looked as if it would fall on top of me. It missed me by only twenty or thirty feet.” “With the buoyant stern tending to rise, and the bow tending slightly to do the same, the weight of the engines and boilers, which, torn from their beds, crashed in midship, possibly broke the keel downwards, and this in turn forced the superstructure to buckle or push up at the forward expansion joint; causing the funnel to fall.” “The last funnel was about on the surface of the water. It was the dummy funnel, and I do not believe it fell.” – Jack Thayer, first-class passenger^[25]
“There came a crash and one of the funnels splashed into the water by our side. It missed us by a hair’s breadth.” – John Hagan, stowaway^[26]
“I saw the Titanic go down. Two of her funnels fell off and after an explosion, which I distinctly heard, being only a short distance away at that time, she smashed in the middle.” – Sidney Daniels, steward^[27]
“Before I dived off the ship, one of the forward boilers burst and blew up the forward funnels.” – Harry Senior, fireman^[28]
“The ship’s lights were still on from the emergency dynamo. There came a terrible crashing of machinery falling forward and one propeller fell off. The after-funnel fell in the sea near me and I was half blinded by soot and water, then came the raft we had cut adrift; it fell within a dozen feet of me and some men were clinging to it.” – Walter Hurst, fireman^[29]
“The terrific strain of bringing the after-end of that huge hull clear out of the water, caused the expansion joint abaft No. 1 funnel to open up. These expansion joints were found necessary in big ships to allow the ship to ‘work’ in a seaway. The fact that the two wire stays to this funnel, on the after-part led over and abaft the expansion joint, threw on them an extraordinary strain, eventually carrying away the port wire guy, to be followed almost immediately by the starboard one. Instantly the port one parted, the funnel started to fall, but the fact that the starboard one held a moment or two longer, gave this huge structure a pull over to that side of the ship, causing it to fall, with its scores of tons, right amongst the struggling mass of humanity already in the water. It struck the water between the Engelhardt and the ship, actually missing me by inches.” – Charles Lightoller, second officer^[30]
“Many stood on the deck holding hands, but when a boiler exploded and one big smokestack fell, some jumped.” – Olaus Abelseth, steerage passenger^[31]
“I can still see those four smokestacks disappearing into the water one at a time. Then there was a terrific explosion with flames shooting high into the air.” – Carl Jansson, steerage passenger^[32]
“It was awful to see the ship go down. We heard a muffled roar of an explosion, and one of the funnels fell, and then came another explosion, and the ship slid out of sight.” – 'Robert Williams', fireman^[33]

Trivia[]

In Titanic VR, the forward mast falls above the water just after the first funnel collapses, rather than when the bow is to the seabed. The aft mast is also shown to collapse after the stern falls back. The third funnel is also shown to collapse in the manner that the fourth funnel likely did in real life.
Multiple survivors who saw the ship break between the aft funnels stated that the whole forward part had disappeared prior to the Titanic breaking and the after-part righting itself, meaning that water got over the base of the third funnel before then. Frank Goldsmith Jr.^[34], Samuel Rule^[35], and Edward Buley^[36] even stated that water got as far aft as the fourth funnel before the breakup occurred.

Gallery[]

Sources[]

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[6] ttps://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/community/threads/second-funnel.17700/

[7] ttp://www.paullee.com/titanic/whurst.html

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[9] ttps://youtu.be/InH2VHiQ2NE?si=r1a4fI2LGvrpCbop

[10] ttps://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-share/499a5548-6bbb-4a0e-baec-cffcc3454b9c

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[12] ttps://www.titanicinquiry.org/BOTInq/BOTInq05Dillon01.php

[13] ttps://titanicarchive.org/collections/documents/john-jack-borland-thayer/the-sinking-of-the-ss-titanic

[14] ttps://archive.org/details/titanicsurvivorm0000jess_w6w8/page/132/mode/2up?view=theater

[15] ttps://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-share/499a5548-6bbb-4a0e-baec-cffcc3454b9c

[16] ttps://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/an-account-of-the-titanic-disaster-by-a-survivor.html

[17] ttps://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/night-titanic-sank/xsdttgaklralkmbqdreejdqwmewubupb_ip-10-166-46-81_1737317996767

[18] ttps://monessenhistoricalsociety.com/product/im-going-to-see-what-has-happened/

[19] ttps://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/recollections-titanic-survivor-edmond-ryan.html

[20] ttps://cdm16818.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/examiner/id/34263/rec/1892

[21] ttps://www.titanicinquiry.org/BOTInq/BOTInq05Dillon01.php

[22] ttps://www.nb.no/items/6608784190e3138aee11f5c019b83745?page=0&searchText=%22Albert%20moss%22

[23] ttps://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/eugene-dalys-account.html

[24] ttps://www.newspapers.com/article/the-toronto-star-toronto-man-survived-ti/153835157/

[25] ttps://titanicarchive.org/collections/documents/john-jack-borland-thayer/the-sinking-of-the-ss-titanic

[26] ttps://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/stowaway-tells-how-he-was-saved-titanic/fkinuqneadqiyycvirznaviumlemvoec_ip-10-166-46-145_1740100371179

[27] ttps://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-share/f0b9d6e6-1917-49d7-9713-fd9c552b6ffe

[28] ttps://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-share/4dc69f8a-a9be-4b3d-b448-93a32e3709be

[29] ttp://www.paullee.com/titanic/whurst.html

[30] ttps://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/lightollers-titanic-account.html

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[32] ttps://journalstar.newspapers.com/article/the-lincoln-star-40-years-has-not-dimmed/153804768/

[33] ttps://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-share/395cc030-3044-4f92-b6d0-8471078026fc

[34] ttps://www.newspapers.com/article/the-orlando-sentinel-child-witnessed-hor/148268356/

[35] ttps://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-telegraph-closing-scenes-on-th/149368336/

[36] ttps://www.titanicinquiry.org/USInq/AmInq07Buley02.php

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