Post by tromp on Mar 5, 2018 20:16:40 GMT
Hi all,
something has been puzzling me for a while now which I would like to explain to you. Perhaps someone can shed some light on this. First of all here's a rare image of the Hohenzollernmodel with the Stern transom removed. Though over-exposed it gives us a splendid view of the cabins.
According to the drawings and the description in Heinrich Winter's book, the ground Elevation and the longitudinal section look like this.
Heinrich Winter writes that the rear-most cabin of the officer's quarters is a large favored sleeping cabin with four bunks (actually there are six, but we'll ignore that). What strikes me is that there are two seperate doors right next to each other leading to the same room. Looking at the ceiling behind the vertical wooden Strip one can make out shades that might lead one to believe that there was some sort of partitioning deviding this room into two. However, after discussing this in the German Forum and from what Winter writes, it is one large room. I come from architecture and was in that branch for more than a decade and I can tell you that two doors right next to each other, leading from the one room into the same room is simply not on! The only explanation I have is that perhaps the room was meant to be devided into two by means of canvas partitions hung up on the deck-beams. These are also mentioned in the book of the unlucky voyage of the Batavia. On a side-note: if you look at the bottom edge of the cut-out in the historic photo above you can just make out the rounded tops of the doors leading to the quarter galleries.
Regards
Peter