In the early hours of April 15th 1912, RMS Titanic had her name permanently etched in the annals of maritime history. Over the years, a multitude of rumours have circulated surrounding her sinking ranging from evidential studies of her speed of descent and debris spread on the ocean floor all the way through to supernatural influences. This three-part article delves into the more fanciful of those rumours.
A Tale of Two Sisters
RMS Titanic was built alongside her sister RMS Olympic at the Harland and Wolff Shipyard in Belfast, Ireland between her initial laying down on 31st March 1909 until her pre-completion launch on 31st May 1911. The 3rd Olympic-Class sister, RMS Britannic, would be built later.
Titanic and Olympic were almost identical in size, profile, and detail with only very minor differences between the two Goliaths. While the majority of building works on the two vessels took place at the same time, Olympic was always to be the lead ship for White Star Line's Olympic-Class fleet and as such she was started and completed earlier than Titanic; her pre-completion launch took place on 20th October 1910.
On 20th September 1911 off the coast of the Isle of Wight, the Olympic was struck - and severely damaged - by the British warship HMS Hawke. Despite the damage, Olympic managed to return to Southampton under her own power. As an interesting aside, the collision with HMS Hawke occurred while Olympic was under the command of Captain Edward Smith, who would be lost at sea less than a year later with Titanic.
The damage caused by the collision with HMS Hawke had dramatic implications for White Star Line; found culpable for the collision, the company’s insurance would not cover her repair costs and having the ship out of service while Titanic lay unfinished in the Belfast shipyard could have serious implications for the company. Getting Olympic repaired and operational again was pushed to the forefront of the White Star Line’s interest.
A Plan of Fraud on a Massive Scale
The popular urban legend kicks into place here, as instigated and investigated by Robin Gardiner in his book, "Titanic: The Ship that Never Sank?" (Ian Allen Publishing, 1998). To save time and money, says the legend, White Star Line merely patched up the damage to the Olympic; meanwhile, under cover of darkness, Titanic was readied as the new Olympic. Very little between the two ships was branded with the individual vessels’ name so, by changing the bell, lifeboats, and name plates along with minor amendments to navigational equipment, the two ships could easily be switched.
According to Gardiner, White Star Line’s plan was to run Titanic as the Olympic and scuttle the original Olympic during her maiden voyage disguised as the newer vessel thus allowing them to claim the insurance money for the Titanic while ridding themselves of a money trap in the original Olympic.
White Star Line planned for rescue ships to be posted in the vicinity of the planned sinking, hence there was no need for sufficient lifeboats on board to cope with the number of passengers as the boat would sink slowly and several runs could be carried out to the rescue boats. Of course this plan backfired spectacularly as we all know but Gardiner suggests that even this is not necessarily in the reported way.
Subsequent Investigation.
For a more balanced view on this argument, Bruce Beveridge and Steve Hall’s book “Olympic and Titanic: The Truth behind the Conspiracy” (Six Star Publishing, 2004) offers an unbiased and reasoned account of the fact and fiction of this theory and is a highly recommended starting point for further reading on this subject.
Subsequent studies and investigation of the wreck appear to have proved that it is indeed the original Titanic that lies on the sea bed and Olympic overcame the damage caused from the collision with HMS Hawke and continued to serve the White Star Line until her retirement and scrapping in 1935. Despite these conclusions, the tale remains a fascinating theory that continues to be debated today.
Part 2 of this article looks at the theories surrounding the sinking of the vessel, and more precisely: "What sank the unsinkable?"
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