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Titanic
Ocean liner that
sank on maiden voyage at 2:20 AM on April 15, 1912, after striking underwater shelf of
iceberg.
The Titanic,
then the world's
largest and most luxurious ocean liner, disappeared into the icy depths of the North
Atlantic. With her she took the lives of some 1,500 men, women, and children — more
casualties than in any other marine disaster in peacetime history.
After striking a huge iceberg, the
46,500 ton vessel sank in less than three hours. Lloyd's of London, the firm which had
insured the Titanic, had reasoned that the probability of such an event was one in a
million. The ship's specially constructed bulkheads, it was believed, would check the
seawater no matter how severely the ship might be damaged. As though fully convinced of
the Titanic's invulnerability, the White Star Line had provided only enough
lifeboats for half the persons aboard.
Legends are sure to
cluster around such a monumental disaster, but a remarkable number of
"coincidences" seem to have surrounded the Titanic's calamity.
They began some years before the vessel was even built: in the 1880s the
well known English journalist and editor W. T. Stead wrote an account of the
sinking of an ocean liner in mid-Atlantic, and in 1882 embroidered it by
making an iceberg the cause of the calamity. In 1910, in a lecture, he
emphasized the necessity to match the accommodation offered by a liner's
lifeboats to the number of passengers listed. At the same time, Morgan
Rochester, an American novelist, published a novel about the sinking of a
great liner which attempted to steer too quickly through fog, struck an
iceberg, and sank. He named his fictional vessel the Titan.
The Titanic herself
sailed on April 10, 1912. On board was W. T. Stead — although he had
some misgivings. Not only did he have forebodings (which he had
communicated to more than one person), but he had been warned by a well
known psychic — Count Louis Hamon — that travel during April 1912
would be dangerous for him. Another psychic W. de Kerlor — consulted by
Stead, dreamed that he would be involved in "a catastrophe on
water." Stead had received two more warnings — one from an
anonymous American woman who had heard a voice warning that Stead
"would soon be called home", and another from a clergyman,
warning him that the Titanic would sink.
Several people who had
booked tickets on the vessel canceled them at the last moment —
including the banker millionaire J. Pierpoint Morgan. A Mr. Colen
Macdonald resigned the position of second engineer because he had 3
premonition of disaster. A businessman, J. Connon Middleton, dreamed twice
of the wreck of the Titanic, and canceled his passage. A psychic, V. N.
Turvey, predicted on the day she sailed (in a letter to a friend) that she
would sink two days later. As she sailed out of Southanipton, a woman in
the crowd was heard to cry, hysterically, "That ship is going to sine
is going to sink! Do something! - save them!" Four days later, on
April 14-15, the liner met the iceberg, and sank; there were insufficient
lifeboats to save all her 2,224 passengers and crew. Stead was among the
1,513 who died.
Researchers later
attempted to correlate all the precognitive dreams or premonitions about
the accident. Even making allowances for the enormous publicity about the
world's largest passenger liner — which itself might certainly be
expected to have resulted in many dreams about her — the statistics are
impressive: 23 well-supported incidents were recorded, some of them either
remarkably coincidental in their details, or extremely accurate.
Related audio:
I Built the
Titanic; Past-Life Memories of a Master Shipbuilder.
Related videos:
A Night to
Remember: The Sinking of the Titanic.
Best of Nightline
- The Titanic.
Captain of the
Titanic/Titanic: End of an Era.
Captain of the
Titanic - Story of Edward J. Smith.
Chambermaid on
the Titanic.
Echoes of
Titanic/Titanic Reme (1998).
Hindenburg/Titanic
(1998).
Lost Film of the
Titanic.
Mysteries &
Myths of the 20th Century: R101, Hindenburg, Titanic ~ DVD.
National
Geographic's Secrets of the Titanic ~ DVD.
Nova - Titanic's
Lost Sister.
Search for the
Titanic.
Secrets of the
Titanic.
S.O.S. Titanic.
Story of the
Captain of the Titanic.
Terror on the
Titanic.
The Titanic ~ DVD.
The Titanic
Collection: Box Set.
The Titanic
Expedition - Search.
The Titanic
Expedition - Discovery.
The Titanic
Expedition - Search ~ DVD.
The Titanic
Expedition - Discovery ~ DVD
The Titanic
Expedition - Titanic Remembered ~ DVD.
The Titanic
Chronicles.
The Unsinkable
Titanic.
Times of Terror -
Terror on the Titanic.
Titanic.
Titanic (Leonardo
de Caprio, 1997) ~ DVD.
Titanic (Leonardo
de Caprio, 1997) ~ VHS.
Titanic (Leonardo
de Caprio, 1997 - Wide Screen) ~ VHS.
Titanic
2.
Titanic
(A&E Documentary).
Titanic:
A Question Of Murder.
Titanic
Collection (1998).
Titanic
Documentary Deluxe Box Set.
Titanic
Double Feature.
Titanic:
End Of An Era.
Titanic
Expedition.
Titanic: The
Mystery & The Legacy - 5 pack ~ VHS.
Titanic: The
Mystery & The Legacy - 5 pack ~ DVD.
Titanic/Titanic
Tragedy - 2 tapes.
Titanics
Lost Sister.
Titanic: Secrets
Revealed.
Titanic
- The Premiere.
Titanic - The
Truth Behind the Legend.
Titanic -
Treasure of the Deep.
Titanic - Tragedy
at Sea.
* Titles are VHS, unless otherwise indicated. Follow links for availability.
Related books:
882 1/2 Amazing
Answers to Questions About the Titanic.
Anatomy of the
Titanic.
A Night to
Remember.
A Treasury of
Titanic Tales.
Deep-Sea
Explorer: The Story of Robert Ballard Discoverer of the Titanic.
Discovery of the
Titanic: Exploring the Greatest of All Lost Ships.
Down With the Old
Canoe: A Cultural History of the Titanic Disaster.
Every Man for
Himself.
Exploring the
Titanic.
Finding the
Titanic.
Her Name,
Titanic: The Untold Story of the Sinking and Finding of the Unsinkable Ship.
Lost Liners: From
the Titanic to the Andrea Doria the Ocean Floor Reveals It's Greatest Ships.
Night Lives on:
The Untold Stories & Secrets Behind the Sinking of the Unsinkable Ship-Titanic.
On Board the
Titanic: What It Was Like When the Great Liner Sank.
Report on the
Loss of the S.S. Titanic.
Story of the
Titanic As Told by Its Survivors.
That Fateful
Night: True Stories of Titanic Survivors-In Their Own Words!
The Complete
Idiot's Guide to the Titanic.
The Complete
Titanic: From the Ship's Earliest Blueprints to the Epic Film.
The Heroine of
the Titanic: A Tale Both True and Otherwise of the Life of Molly Brown.
The Last Days of
the Titanic: Photographs and Mementos of the Tragic Maiden Voyage.
The Sinking of
the Titanic.
The Sinking of
the Titanic: Eyewitness Accounts.
The Titanic
Disaster: As Reported in the British National Press April-July 1912.
The Titanic
Disaster Hearings: The Official Transcripts of the 1912 Senate Investigation.
The Titanic: End
of a Dream.
The Titanic
Sinks!
The Titanic: The
Extraordinary Story of the 'Unsinkable' Ship.
Titanic at Two
A.M.
Titanic:
Destination Disaster: The Legends and the Reality.
Titanic: James
Cameron's Illustrated Screenplay.
Titanic Legacy:
Disaster As Media Event and Myth.
Titanic: Safety,
Speed and Sacrifice.
Titanic: Sinking
the Myths.
Titanic Survivor:
The Newly Discovered Memoirs of Violet Jessop Who Survived Both the Titanic and Britannic
Disasters.
Titanic: The
Official Story: April 14-15, 1912.
Titanic: Triumph
and Tragedy.
Titanic Voices:
Memories from the Fateful Voyage.
Total Titanic:
The Most Up-To-Date Guide to the Disaster of the Century.
Click
here for more related
books.
Further info:
A Tribute to The R.M.S
Titanic.
Ocean
Planet: How Deep Can they Go? - The RMS Titanic.
Titanic [angelfire.com].
Titanic
[geocities.com].
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