In a previous article, "Steven P. McNicoll" said:
a small section of the remarkably thin hull. A few sailors reached hands
through the hole, they were grasped by the rescuers as water bubbled up
through the hole, drowning the sailors.


Why is the water rising inside the ship?

Because the air pressure that was holding the water out was released?
Before they cut it, it was acting like a diving bell.

No, I'm not defending the movie, and I don't even remember the scene you
are describing, but when you cut through a hull it's quite possible for
the water level inside to rise because of trapped air leaving.

--
Paul Tomblin http://blog.xcski.com/
Every nonzero finite dimensional inner product space has an orthonormal basis.

It makes sense, when you don't think about it.