Wheelhouse

The wheelhouse was used to steer the ship. This room was located on the Boat Deck. It was behind the Bridge and forward of the Officer's Quarters and the Grand Staircase. The back wall had the control panels to lower the watertight doors and phones to answer the lookouts and the Engine Room. George Bowyer was at the helm of the wheelhouse as he was the harbor master that guided Titanic through port and was in effect captain until he had left the ship again on the Nab lightship.

Sinking[]

The bridge sank in the final 15 minutes of the ship. At 2:05 A.M, the forward bridge was flooded and at 2:07 A.M, the wheelhouse filled rapidly with water when Titanic made a sudden dive forward. The sinking of the ship at this stage had been speeding up for a while and when the sea had reached the Boat Deck there was no stopping it. Titanic was at a high angle of 9 to 11 degrees trim and it increased now. At this point, all passengers know knew for sure that she would not stay afloat. The wheelhouse disappeared into the grasp of the ocean fast.

Captain Smith is reported to have locked himself in there during the ship's final moments. In the 1997 movie, 'Titanic', after the band stops playing and the A-Deck Grand Starcaise is flooded, the windows of the wheelhouse break from the pressure of the water on the bridge as it's completely submerged to this point, which then continues to surge inside. However it remains unknown if this is true because some survivors said that they have seen that Smith had jumped off the bridge wing along with the ship's desinger Thomas Andrews a few minutes before the final plunge began. Another passenger reported that he saw Smith swimming towards Collapsible B with a baby in his arms but both disappeared in the depths when he tried to help them. It will always remain a mystery.

Wreck[]

The room was destroyed during the trip to the ocean floor. The only thing that survived is the bronze telemotor and the base mountings of the room. Whatever happed to the ship's wheel is unknown.