The Two Books That Eerily Predicted The Sinking of The Titanic

According to Statista, at least 6 out of 10 people find it hard to believe in psychic abilities and the unknown. Majority of the time, any strange or eerie occurrence is dismissed as coincidence and there’s still no scientific fact to corroborate phenomenons like ghosts or the ability to speak to them. Neither is there any non-falsified scientific evidence that can predict your future accurately. Nor is there any technology that can take you back in time. But the famous case of the Titanic is so peculiar, that it comes as close to the proof of clairvoyance and the ability to predict the future as we might ever get.

The Titanic as you may know from its depiction in its subsequent movie, is one of the most tragic events in history. A British passenger liner, the Titanic sank in the year 1912, on the 14th of April, after hitting an iceberg at around 11:40 p.m. during a trip from Southampton to New York City. It was the greatest and largest ship ever made at the time. There were about 2224 passengers on board, of which about 1500 people lost their lives. In addition to emigrants looking to start a new life in the United States, the ship carried some of the wealthiest people in the world at the time, with its first-class accommodation including a gymnasium, a pool, high-class restaurants and even libraries. Regardless of its luxurious offerings, the ship which had been initially deemed “unsinkable,” sank, leaving the majority of the men on board fighting for survival, as women and children were ushered into safety first. As there were a lot of operational and regulatory failures involved, the sinking of the Titanic caused a huge uproar and outrage due to the tragic loss of life. In popular culture, Titanic is the inspiration for the “disaster” film genre. The tragic events are represented in movies, theatre, exhibits, memorials and songs.

After the sinking occurred, however, people started to realise that the operational and regulatory failures, in addition to other details were predicted by Morgan Robertson in his book “Futility or The wreck of the Titan,” which was published in the year 1898, 10 years before the Titanic was ordered, and 14 years before the Titanic was built.

Uncanny similarities between the book and the actual events

1 - The name

How did Morgen Robertson predict a very similar name to that of the ship, when the ship wasn’t even ordered nor conceptualised until at least 10 years later?

2- The location of the sinking

In The Wreck of the Titan, this fictional ship hit an iceberg at the same place the Titanic, 14 years later, sank—the North Atlantic ocean. There are many possible places the ship could have sunk, why this same spot?

3 - Description of the ship

Morgan Robertson described the fictional Titan, as the largest craft ever made with luxurious compartments, and even compared the steward’s cabin to a first-class hotel. The fictional Titan was built with the latest technology and Morgan even described the ship as unsinkable. The real Titanic was built with the latest technology possible at the time, with remotely activated watertight doors, and famously deemed unsinkable. How could Robert have predicted this?

4 - Specifications of the ship

Nationality of the fictional Titan - British

Nationality of Titanic - British

Material of construction of the fictional Titan - Steel

Material of construction of Titanic - Steel

Number of propellors of the fictional Titan - 3

Number of propellors of the Titanic - 3

Passenger capacity of the fictional Titan - 3000

Passenger capacity of Titanic - 3000

5- Details of the impact

In addition to the very eerie prediction of some of the specifications of the ship itself, Morgan also predicted details of the impact which was very similar to the actual events.

Time of impact of the fictional Titan - Near midnight

Time of impact of Titanic - 11:40 P.M

Point of impact of the fictional Titan - Starboard

Point of impact of Titanic - Starboard

Month of sinking of the fictional Titan - April

Month of Sinking of Titanic - April

Speed at impact of the fictional Titan - 25 knots

Speed at impact of Titanic - 22.5 Knots

6 - Number of lifeboats

What ultimately caused the tragic loss of life on the Titanic is the number of lifeboats that were available to passengers. In the wreck of the Titan, Morgan’s Titan only carried 24 lifeboats which was the minimum required number of lifeboats, enough to save 500 people in the case of an accident. The real Titanic, because it was regarded as unsinkable just like the fictional Titan, only carried 20 lifeboats which ultimately lead to scarcity when the ship sank.

When interviewed after the Titanic Sank in 1912, about the eerie similarities between the fictional Titan and the Titanic, Morgan stated that he’s merely knowledgeable about maritime operations. Many do not buy this explanation, however, as the similarities are so convincing that he was regarded as a clairvoyant or a time traveller before his death in 1915, 3 years after the Titanic sank.

Another book that had strange similarities to the events surrounding the Titanic is “How the Mail Steamer went down in Mid Atlantic, by a Survivor,” written in 1886 by W.T. Stead, a well-known spiritualist and investigative journalist.

In Stead’s book, an unnamed ocean liner sinks in the Atlantic. Just like Morgan’s Titan, there’s a shortage of lifeboats on deck and the protagonist sailor in the book, Thompson, was initially worried about it. The ocean liner later collided with a small sailing ship in a fog. Just like in the actual Titanic, women and kids were given priority seating in the lifeboats leaving almost 60% of the passengers dead.

Stead in his book, actually completed the work with a warning.

“This is exactly what might take place and what will take place if the liners are sent to sea short of boats."

As if those predictions are not haunting enough, Stead who had always predicted his own death as either by drowning or lynching, actually later drowned in the Titanic, as he happened to be one of the passengers.

Very very creepy.

Whilst there might be explanations of coincidences or expertise in ships, the haunting similarities between these two books and the actual disaster leaves a lot of questions.

Other haunting facts about the Titanic

1- If the crew had alerted the captain a mere 30 seconds before they did, the disaster would have been avoided.

2- The emotional moment depicted in the movie, where band members continued to play to calm the passengers down, actually happened in real life. They played for 4 hours after the ship hit the iceberg.

All of the band members perished.

3- The owner of the company that makes Hershey’s chocolates, Milton Hershey, was meant to be on the Titanic. Luckily for him, he decided to sell the ticket at the last minute.

4- The cost of making the movie Titanic, is more than the costs of the construction of the ship itself.

5- Over 1500 people died in the Titanic, around 300 bodies were recovered, the rest are yet to be found.

6- A lifeboat drill which was scheduled for the same day the ship sank, was cancelled for unknown reasons. The drill could have helped the crew and the passengers to be better prepared.

7- Another ship that had stopped 20 miles away from the disaster could have saved the Titanic, but instead the captain dismissed the flares coming from it as “company rockets.” The radio operator who should have received the distress signals went to sleep.

8- The majority of the victims had died from hypothermia, with very few surviving for more than 15 minutes in such frigid temperatures. But the ship’s baker, Charles Joughin, who was rescued 2 hours after being in ice, claimed he hadn’t felt any of the cold and survived because of all the whiskey he had drunk on the ship.

Whiskey apparently saved his life.

References-

MORGAN ROBERTSON., 1898. WRECK OF THE TITAN OR FUTILITY. [S.l.]: SELTZER BOOKS.

W.T. Stead, 1886. How the Mail Steamer went down in Mid Atlantic, by a Survivor. [online] Available at: <https://www.attackingthedevil.co.uk/pmg/steamer.php> [Accessed 24 March 2021].

En.m.wikipedia.org. 2021. Titanic - Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic> [Accessed 24 March 2021].