This area features the Grand Staircase, Gymnasium, #2 funnel, and the boat deck promenades. There are also a few mysteries.

In the photo at left:

1. The maw of the grand staircase.

2. The split walls on the port 1st class entrance house.

3. The tipped over davit for lifeboat #8. The chocks for the lifeboat are to the left.

4. The remaining roof to the Reading and Writing Room. The alcove to the left is where the band is reputed to have been playing as the life boats were launched.

5. The #2 funnel base.

6.The roof of the gymnasium. A large shard of funnel skin lies over the roof just below the number.

7. When the roof collapsed onto the boat deck, it produced a crease at right and the frame of the weather cover over the staircase dome remained attached but lies flat below.

8. The roof over the machinery for the 1st class elevators with cabins down each side.

The Grand staircase was the central access way to all decks for the 1st class. It ran in a form similar to what's shown in the picture from E-deck to the boat deck and was topped with a great dome.

A single set of stairs wound down the port half of the stairwell from E to F-deck and the swimming pool and Turkish Baths.

What's deceptive is the size. Between the decks it's 20 feet (6.1 meters) wide and about 15-16 feet (4.6 meters) long from the wall to the lower deck. Many on the set of the Cameron movie remarked that the full size stairs seem smaller than they expected. But they were grand! More detail

Ken Marschall did a striking painting looking down the staircase at sea water on E-deck at the bottom. This signaled the point where water was overflowing from boiler room #5 into #4. The ship was about to begin the final plunge and would be gone in 30 minutes.

The gym featured state-of-the-art exercise machinery for the pleasure of the 1st class.

During the disaster, many 1st class passengers gathered there to keep warm while they pondered whether to take this life boat drill seriously. Some of the equipment is still in place on the wreck. The window frames to the boat deck are broken out and gone. The walls were bent as the #2 funnel fell to starboard, over the roof of the gym.

Placing the gym on the starboard side while leaving an open alcove on the port side was an asymmetrical feature of Olympic and Titanic. On Britanic, a room was added on the port side to fill the alcove and was intended for use as a children's day care.

The #2 funnel serviced boiler rooms #3 and #4. The interior bracing for the funnel and the double liner for the smoke uptake are visible in the photos.

The #2 funnel on the wreck differs from the #1 funnel in that the interior bracing is present and obvious. The #1 funnel deceptively appears to be an open tube. This remains a mystery.

The port side promenade looks intact enough, but the side structures are damaged enough where this is a hazardous place to park a submersible for launching a robot camera. Check the side view

The starboard side features a hole in the deck for 40% of the width of the deck. The aft davits for boats #7 and #8 remain. #8 on the portside lies flat with the boom extended over the side (photo above a bit), and the starboard davit stands erect and tangled with cables, but the boom is broken off .

What did JJ see?

Where's the wood?

Where's the dome?

What about the roof to the gymnasium? Did it collapse recently or was it found collapsed in 1986?

Why don't they just send their robot cameras down the halls of the ship?

Where did the band play?