Page 22: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (August 1999)

Coatings & Corrosion Control

The Fate of the Iron: More Lessons From The Titanic Tragedy

Tragedies in the maritime industry are often revered, particularly when a large loss of life occurs, as was the case when

RMS Titanic sank on April 14, 1912.

The industry is also noted for its ability to learn from mishaps, incorporating changes in design, procedures and oper- ations that are designed to avert future mishasps.

Lessons learned and positive results occurring in the aftermath of Titanic are numerous and still growing, as a team exploring the formation of rusticles on

Titanic's hull are drawing some interest- ing conclusions regarding the natural removal of iron from steel, and the potential compromise in safety and per- formance this may have, particularly on double-hulled vessels.

The fascination with, and examination of Titanic has been thorough, to put it

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RMS Titanic reveal an ongoing deterio- ration coupled to larger masses of rusti- cles. Learning from the tragedy involves the forensic exercise and now the nature, form, function and conse- quences of the infestations of rusticles now coating much of the steel hull.

Basic questions are: How long does the ship have left as a recognizable struc- ture? What are the rusticles? Where is the iron going? Why involve a microbi- ologist in the investigation?

As a part of a team that has worked on water wells for three decades, one of the first observations is that the rusticles look very much like the iron bacterial growths often found down water wells.

This was particularly true of iron cased water wells suffering from biological plugging. The technologies and experi- ences were transferred to the RMS

Titanic site in the 1990's with the IMAX expedition followed by the 1996 and 1998 expeditions. Of particular concern was the rate at which the deterioration of the ship was occurring and what was the rusticles role in this event. In both 1996 and 1998, rusticles were recovered both directly from the hull and also from steel recovered from the site. Using images from these and other expedi- tions, it became very evident that the rusticles are growing faster, covering more of the steel, while at the same time, the ship's structures are beginning to collapse in a form of biological implosion. The questions therefore relate to what are the rusticles, why are they there, and where is the iron going?

In 1996, a preliminary survey was made of the bow on the wreck site and the size and mass of the rusticles pro- jected. Subsequent analysis found the iron content ranged from 20 to 36 per- cent (average, 27 percent) with densities ranging from 1.2 to 1.8 (average, 1.4).

All of the rusticles were very porous and retained 25 to 60 percent of the water when subjected to passive drainage.

This was due to a sorptive capacity of 25 to 95 (average, 40) sq. m./g, a quarter, to a third of that of granulated activated carbon. Scanning electron microscopy performed by Dr. Henrietta Mann (Continued on page 66)

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