I went onto Titanic’s Facebook page and came into contact with Jake Billingham, sometimes known as Mr Britannic. His enthusiasm was contagious. I asked Jake what had first drawn him to the Britannic.

‘My fascination with the Olympic class liners began at the age of five when James Cameron’s Titanic movie was released in 1997. As a young boy, I knew much about Titanic, but I hadn’t realised she had two sisters, RMS Olympic and HMHS Britannic. I went on to learn about HMHS Britannic, and why she ended her days on the Aegean seabed. Even today, the Britannic wreck is still as captivating. These ships and the people who sailed on them have become a part of me. The discovery of the HMHS Britannic’s crow’s nest bell is a powerful reminder of the events that led up to the ship’s sad and violent end. It also stands as a great archaeological find by an amazing dive team.’

I asked Jake how a few small portholes, twenty-five feet above the waterline, could have caused a ship that size to go down so much more quickly.

‘One of the long-standing ambiguities concerning the loss of HMHS Britannic is the mystery of the open portholes on the lower decks. It’s thought that somebody opened the portholes in an effort to air out the wardrooms to make them more bearable for the 3,000 to 4,000 patients that would soon occupy the bunks and cots which filled the decks.

‘Most E-deck portholes were 18 to 24 square inches. We need six ports open to make twelve square feet, which would take on 400 tons per minute. Each 150 tons would pull the Britannic down by one inch. Assuming 16,000 tons of water came aboard in the first two or three minutes – perhaps longer – HMHS Britannic would have sunk by nine feet at the bow. Assuming she started at 32 feet, this would put her forward draught at 41 feet. Once the list developed then the E-deck portholes, normally 25 feet or so above the waterline but at 16 feet with the ship having 16,000 tons, could rapidly go under in ten minutes. It might not sound much, but this water is all coming from the starboard side; the water washes along the starboard E-deck corridor and seeps below to F-deck, while flooding from ports on F and G-decks increases the flooding. This continues to increase the starboard list. And all the time we have flooding increasing in the forward six watertight compartments.

‘So, we may have – even with just a few portholes open – 24,000 tons of water aboard in 20 minutes. 40,000 tons of water is enough to pull the ship under and occurred by approximately 9 a.m. With those portholes open, the Britannic didn’t stand a chance.’

WW1 Nursing