Was the sinking of Titanic planned? #CCT1

CCT1= Creepiest Conspiracy Theory 1 of 15

The RMS Titanic the world's biggest cruise liner of its time, with its name translating to 'Unsinkable' ironically sank on its maiden voyage.
So was this 'accident' a well planned Insurance Scam?
Titanic was 1 of 3 Olympic class ocean liners built at the Harland and Wolff shipyards in Belfast — the other two being the RMS Brittanic and the RMS Olympic.

The Olympic was launched a year before the Titanic but seemed to share its more famous sister ship’s poor luck.

Within months of its launch in 1911, it had had 2 serious collisions — the second with Royal Navy cruiser HMS Hawke off the coast of the Isle of Wight causing serious structural damage to the Olympic’s keel and steel beams.

Repairs would be ruinously expensive, running into millions of pounds. The already troubled White Star Line was facing a potential financial disaster. 

So,Could White Star and its owner JP Morgan have devised an audacious insurance scam to try and salvage their investment in the troubled Olympic line?

What could possibly be added to this theory is that while testing none of these ships had their  names written on them.

 So could the Olympic be swapped with the Titanic and could be sunk in a staged accident while original Titanic would carry on service as the 'RMS Olympic'.?

Proofs supporting it:

1.Portholes:

The number of portholes on the Olympic and Titanic were 16 and 14 respectively. A dry dock photo shows 14 while the maiden voyage photo shows 16 portholes

 During construction — top, Titanic had 14 portholes. By its maiden voyage — bottom, it had 16

Other evidence supports the switch — the windows on the Olympic were somewhat unevenly spaced, but more evenly spaced on the Titanic.

Again, by the time of its maiden voyage, the Titanic had acquired unevenly spaced windows like the Olympic.

2. List To Port

The damage to the Olympic after its collision with the Hawke lent it a noticeable and permanent 2˚ list to port. The undamaged Titanic had no such list.

However, one second-class passenger who survived the sinking — Lawrence Beesley, later reported the Titanic did, in fact, list to port.

3. Rumours amongst crew.

There was a nationwide coal strike during the launch of the Titanic.

This had led to thousands of firemen, boiler stokers and greasers short of work. Yet despite this the Titanic struggled to find crew, with many men refusing to work on the ship at any price.

Rumours were circulating amongst the workers at Harland and Wolff that the ships had been swapped as part of an insurance scam, and Titanic was to be sunk 

Did foreknowledge of the sinking of the Titanic frighten men off from wanting to work on the ship?

4.Last Minute Cancellations:

Many of the richest and most prestigious names in early 20th-century society were booked onto the Titanic.

JP Morgan — the international financier who owned the White Star’s parent company, was due to travel on the Titanic but cancelled his trip a few days before the departure, claiming illness.

A New York Times reported discovered this to be a lie — Morgan was actually seen perfectly well with his mistress in France on the day Titanic sunk.

Industrialist Henry Clay Frick’s and his wife, banker Horace J. Harding and billionaire George Washington Vanderbilt — all connected to Morgan, were amongst several other prominent figures who cancelled at the last minute.

5. The SS Californian,

The SS Californian, also owned by JP Morgan, was a large passenger ship that was ultimately blamed for the loss of life on the Titanic.

It behaved somewhat oddly around the time of the Titanic’s voyage.

Carrying no passengers — it steamed into the middle of the Atlantic, stopped and waited. It’s only cargo was 3000 woollen blankets and jumpers.

What was the purpose behind this curious behaviour? Was the Californian intended to rescue the Titanic’s passengers after its deliberate sinking?

Edith Russel, a survivor of the sinking was adamant that Titanic officers assured her the Californian was on its way.

Author Robin Gardiner suggests serious navigation errors lead to the Californian stopping in the wrong area — some 12 miles away from the Titanic.

6.The Wreck.

The wreck of the Titanic was discovered by Robert Ballard in 1985. Some evidence from the wreck supports the switch theory.

The stamp 401 — the id number used for the Titanic at Harland and Wolff can be seen on the Titanic’s propeller.

However, some authors have suggested that the Titanic propeller was fitted to the Olympic during its repair following the collision with the Hawke.

If true, this would be strong evidence that the vessel on the ocean floor was really the Olympic.

What appear to be the letters M and P can also be seen on the side of the wreck. Could that be the remains of the ships original etched nameplate — ‘OLYMPIC’, covered over with the Titanic’s as part of the scam?

The wreck appears to show some evidence of the grey paint used as an undercoat on the Olympic. The Titanic used black paint for its undercoat.

The lack of media scrutiny also is a major point in this theory.

Proofs Against:

The Wreck

Whilst the wreck of the Titanic found in 1985 provided some evidence in favour of the swap theory, more emerged that suggest the ship found at the bottom of the Atlantic really was the Titanic.

The Titanic’s identification number — 401, is stamped in multiple places on the wreck, and on furniture and other artefacts found by salvagers. Could the swap really have been that elaborate?

Differences between the ships

Titanic scholars and historians say the proponents of the insurance swap theory have overstated how similar the two ships were.

Whilst superficially alike, there were several important structural differences, as well as aesthetic changes made to Titanic to distinguish it from its sister.

There are several internal differences in layout between Titanic and Olympic

The 1st class A deck on Titanic was enclosed in a glass screen but was open on the Olympic. Titanic’s wheelhouse was flat at the front and the Olympics curved.

Olympic’s B deck had a 1st class promenade, whereas Titanic had private verandas and suites. Indeed many passengers were booked into the suites — an impossibility if the ship was really the Olympic.

Loss of reputation

Many sceptics of the insurance swap theory have pointed out that even if an insurance scam made financial sense to the White Star line, the loss of reputation they would suffer if one of their vessels sunk would be devastating.

Losing the Titanic, on its maiden voyage, would be a publicity disaster for White Star and lead to a loss of confidence in the company amongst passengers.

The intention behind the Olympic class liners was to attract rich first class passengers and offer them the finest in luxury and opulence. With image paramount, a sinking would prove to be a catastrophe for the company.

Deliberately sinking a ship

The Titanic was infamously described as ‘unsinkable’. Whilst this proved to be incorrect, only a freak set of circumstances managed to sink it.

Could plotters really have engineered something so complex as the sinking of the world’s largest vessel, in the middle of the Atlantic ocean?

With so many variables and so many things that could go wrong how could they be sure they would succeed?

The White Star line would have ruined its reputation if their flagship was sunk

If their plan was discovered the consequences would have been dire. The perpetrators would be blamed for the deaths of 1500 people, perhaps even charged with their murder.

Would the likes of White Line and JP Morgan — a billionaire who could afford any potential losses on the Olympic really risk the gallows for an insurance scam?

The Olympic post-Titanic

The Olympic, or, if the insurance swap theory is true the Titanic disguised as the Olympic, continued to serve for many years.

It acted as troop transport in WW1 and resumed service as a luxury liner in the 20s and 30s before been finally retired in 1935.

In all of that time, no evidence that the ship was really the Titanic was ever discovered. Even when it was dismantled in 1936 there was no indication that the ship was anything other than the Olympic.

sources:
Buzzfeed
The Unreducted
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