Topic summary
Watertight compartment
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Compartment (ship).
History
Bulkhead watertight compartments were originally invented by the Chinese. These compartments strengthened the junks and slowed flooding in case of holing during the Han and Song dynasties. The wide application of Chinese watertight compartments soon spread to the Europeans through the Indian and Arab merchants. As wood began to be replaced by iron in European ships in the 18th century, new structures, like bulkheads, started to become prevalent.