Titanic's Funnels

The Olympic-class liners Olympic, Titanic and Britannic were all equipped with 29 triple-furnace Scotch-type boilers to power the mighty engines, 25 of which were double-ended, which meant that when all of the ship's boilers were fired, there were 162 individual fires burning. These fires produced large quantities of smoke and fumes which had to be discharged high above the ship, in order to ensure that the ship was largely-free of smuts and fumes, which also meant that the passengers would be able to walk around the decks without fear of being covered in soot!

To provide this, each of the three vessels were equipped with four large funnels, although funnel No. 4 did not carry fumes, and was there almost purely for aesthetic reasons. Each funnel was elliptical in section, and measured 24.5 ft. from front to back, and 19 feet across. The distance from the boilers to the top of the funnels was 150 feet. Each funnel was raked-back at an angle of 1:6 to provide a sleek profile, and was painted buff with a black top, as was the White Star Line tradition.

A system of boiler uptakes was employed to carry the fumes away from the boilers and up to the base of the funnels. These spread out finger-like below the funnels and connected to the boilers, and can be seen here in the picture here on the left.

Related Reading: Titanic's Engines | Titanic's Propellers | Titanic's Bridge And Wheelhouse | Titanic's Watertight Compartments | Titanic's Boilers

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