the prophecy of the titanic sinking

the titanic sinking, is probably the most famous in history, that happened during her maiden voyage exactly the night of 14 to 15 april 1912 after a collision with an iceberg, around 1500 people perished. the mean reasons of the legend made around the tragic end of the titanic are that she was was the largest passenger steamship & the most luxurious in the world at that time, it was also considered a pinnacle of technological achievement & above all to be practically unsinkable thanks to her double-bottom hull & 16 watertight compartments.

the novel that predicted the incident!

in 1898 (14 years before the titanic sunk), american author morgan robertson published a short fictional novel named "futility", the novel featured a british ship named "titan" (the novel is also known as "the wreck of the titan").

the ship was the biggest ever made by men, unequaled regarding her luxury & technology, her nineteen water-tight compartments (16 in the titanic) allow her to keep floating even if nine of them were flooded, making her "practically unsinkable" & that's why she carried only 24 lifeboats able to carry 500 people (the titanic: 20 able to carry 1266) from the 2000 passengers on board (the titanic: 2435). the total passenger capacity of the titan was 3000 (3745 on the titanic).

the titan as the titanic sank in april after being pierced by an iceberg on her starboard side, as the titanic too, the disaster took place in the north atlantic ocean, a few hundreds miles off u.s. coast, the collision happened near midnight for the titan & exactly 11.40pm for the titanic!

those are the most striking similarities, talking about differences, there were some of course, the titan for example was on her third return trip from new york, while it was the maiden voyage to new york for the titanic. these differences though, are nothings if compared to the numerous incredibly uncanny & bizarre similitude between the fictitious & real incident.

read the novel futility on titanic-titanic.com

some other droll facts on the titanic

as a bonus, here are some interesting facts from miamisci.org

• A first-class ticket for a parlor suite on Titanic cost $4,350, which would be approximately $50,000 today.
• First-class passengers had the luxury of paying for their leisure while on board: a ticket to the swimming pool cost 25¢, while a ticket for the squash court (as well as
• the services of a professional player) cost 50¢.
• The forward part of the boat deck was promenade space for first-class passengers and the rear part for second-class passengers. People from these classes thus had the best chance of getting into a lifeboat simply because they could get to them quickly and easily.
• The Titanic had its own newspaper, the Atlantic Daily Bulletin, prepared aboard the ship. In addition to news articles and advertisements, it contained a daily menu, the latest stock prices, horse-racing results, and society gossip.
• A medical officer greeted the third-class passengers. He wanted to be sure that none of the immigrants had any health problems that would prevent them from entering the United States.
• There were only two bathtubs for the more than 700 third-class passengers aboard the ship.
• Sixty chefs and chefs’ assistants worked in the Titanic’s five kitchens. They ranged from soup cooks and roast cooks to pastry cooks and vegetable cooks. There was a kosher cook, too, to prepare the meals for the Jewish passengers.
• Dorothy Gibson, a 28-year-old silent screen actress, was the resident movie star for the Titanic. She would later star in Saved from the Titanic, a movie made one month after the disaster. Her costume was the dress she wore on the night of the sinking.
• Tennis player R. Norris Williams and his father, Charles D., felt it was too cold to remain out on deck as the ship went down, so they went into the gym to ride the exercise bikes.