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Titanic Boilers

In total there were 29 boilers, with a total of 159 furnaces, powering Titanic; 24 of which were double ended (located in boiler room number's 2,3,4,5 and 6) and 5 of which were single ended (located in boiler room number 1). Coal was placed into them by Titanic’s 176 firemen (also referred to as stokers) employed aboard the ship. There were also 73 trimmers aboard, whose job it was to look after the coal aboard and deliver it to the firemen.

Titanic Boilers
Titanic’s boilers at Harland and Wolff, Belfast, the ship builders that built Titanic – prior to them being fitted inside the ship.

Each of the single ended boilers were 11 feet, 9 inches long, had a diameter of 15 feet and 9 inches and each had three furnaces. The double ended boilers were 20 feet long, had a diameter of 15 feet and 9 inches and each had six furnaces.

On an average day steaming the Atlantic Titanic burned at least around 600 tons of coal in her boilers.

When at sea the large amount of ash left behind from burning the coal in the boilers was disposed of by shovelling them into ash ejectors, which then, by way of a water jet, carried them upwards (the boiler rooms being bellow the waterline) and threw them well clear of the side of the ship into the sea.

On 1st September 1985 it was realised that the wreck of Titanic had finally been discovered when an underwater camera vehicle belonging to an expedition searching for Titanic, suddenly discovered one of Titanic’s boilers in what turned out to be Titanic’s debris field.

Related pages - Titanic Lifeboats, All Titanic Pages

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