In Part 1 of this article, we reviewed the main conspiracy theory surrounding the sinking of the Titanic, the perceived switch with RMS Olympic. Part 2 covered alternative views as to what the liner actually struck while this third part investigates some more ‘supernatural’ tales.
Did Anti-Catholic Sentiment Send the Titanic to her Death?
One of the more bizarre rumours surrounding the liner was the tale of sectarianism in her birthplace of Belfast leading to a curse on the ship. The rumour would have us believe that Titanic was given the yard number 390904 which, when read as a reflection via a mirror, resembles the statement ‘NOPOPE’. This was deemed as an indication of the company’s alleged anti-Catholic beliefs, compounded by a shortage of Protestant employees. While it was true that Harland and Wolff employed very few Catholics, it is unproven as to whether this was as a result of employment policy or merely due to the location of the shipyard in an area of Belfast that was highly-populated with Protestants.
In fact, Titanic and her sister Olympic were granted the yard numbers 401 and 400 respectively. But of course, that doesn’t make for nearly as juicy a tale!
The Cursed Cargo.
A fascinating legend surrounding the sinking – and the one that initially sparked my interest in the myths surrounding the vessel – is the tale of her cursed cargo.
The tale tells of the discovery in the 1890’s of the mummified remains of an Egyptian Priestess, often thought to be that of the Priestess of Amen-Ra. Following the discovery, the person who purchased the mummy ran into a string of unfortunate incidents and illness, culminating in his eventual death.
Following the death of the initial purchaser, the mummy was donated to the British History Museum where the remains continued to cause concerns for staff and mysterious afflictions to affect those visitors that had dared to photograph her. Ongoing incidents and an elevated interest from the British press lead to the mummy being locked away in the Museum vault until journalist William Thomas Stead, discounting the previous events surrounding the remains as mere circumstance purchased the mummy and set in action plans to have her shipped to New York.
Reports at this point separate as some state that the mummy was in fact included on the cargo list of the Titanic (although this had been proved incorrect) while others report that the remains were actually hidden underneath Stead’s car as he feared that White Star would not accept her as cargo due to the reputation of the piece. Stead then reportedly revealed that he had stowed the mummy away to other passengers during merry-making the evening before the collision.
‘Futility’ – A Premonition of Disaster?
In 1898, Morgan Robertson published his novella “Futility”, otherwise known as “The Wreck of the Titan”. The story relates the fortunes of the hero, John Rowland, following the sinking of the World’s largest liner on her maiden voyage through striking an iceberg in the North Atlantic.
While the Titan was actually travelling in the opposite direction to the Titanic in the novel and she strikes the ice head-on as opposed to the glancing blow of the real ship, there remains some startling similarities between the 2 vessels.
- Both ships sank in a similar position (approximately 400 miles off Newfoundland) on an April night on their maiden voyage.
- The Titan was also the largest ship afloat and was deemed to be “unsinkable” / “indestructible”.
- The Titan also had as few lifeboats on board as was possible and nowhere near sufficient numbers to cope with the level of passengers on board.
- The casualties of both wrecks were considerable, taking the lives of in excess of half of the passengers on board.
Indeed, the similarities went even further with the fact that the Titan hit and sank a sailing ship, while the Titanic only narrowly avoided a collision the SS New York; when the Titanic left her berth on her maiden voyage, the New York was dragged from its moorings in the wake of the much larger ship and pulled towards the liner, missing her by around 4 feet before being towed away by a patrolling tugboat.
While, of course, Robertson could not have had any pre-cognition regarding the building of the Titanic – the Olympic-class liners had not even begun their design stages at the time of the novels' release – the similarities between the story and actual events provide a quite astounding example of coincidence.
Join the Conversation