Bulkheads.

"Her sides must be made of iron!" 

A quote attributed to a sailor during the sea battle of the USS Constitution and the HMS Guerriere in the War of 1812, where the cannonballs seemed to bounce off of the USS Constitution's double plank oaken hull.  Hence the nickname "Old Ironsides".

The topic my dear readers, is bulkheads.  It's not a flashy or sexy subject for this week's blog but it's what's on my mind.  A bulkhead is any vertical partition within a ship's hull.  A shipwright may use these to create storage areas to prevent cargo from shifting within a ship's hold or for creation of an airtight compartment in case of damage. It also reinforces the ship's hull for durability as the open ocean waves can create quite a pounding. The bulkheads are cumbersome and weigh the ship down but it's an integral part, born out of necessity.

Me? I just like the idea of safeguarding the ship; to minimize the damage before it reaches the innermost core.  To protect the heart of the vessel, to prevent anything from getting too close; because it's only at close range that the real damage occurs.

And ultimately that's what a bulkhead is. A safety valve.  A means of self preservation.  If you want to get beyond the emergency bulkheads, you have to take time.  Get to know why they're there or you'll never know what's behind them.

But then again, that's the point.

Thank you for taking the time to read.