h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Controversial i know, but i wonder if anyone has anything to add to the following 'possibility', or would like to discuss it , or better still go and 'sleuth' it.

It is believed in certain circles that the Titanic did not sink...it was her sister ship that had been launched a year earlier. They were switched....which leads one to the possibility that the sinking was planned.

is it ok to put forward such controversy here for discussion i wonder, i hope so as it surely makes for a great story, wonder where this conversation will end up.

what would be the motives? how would you explain all the missing lives? what about the 700 odd witness reports from survivors? what about the wreckage that has been investigated countless times by tv companies, scientists and curious researchers? where is this story to be found?

The sister ship the Olympic was launched a year earlier in 1911. I believe that she sustained some damage as she went down the slipway and hit the water, but even worse than that, not too long afterwards she was hit by a naval vessel whilst docked somewhere. This collision resulted in some serious damage that effectively screwed up the beam of the ship. ( it made her cruise through the water slightly squiff), An awful situation for the owners.

As i have heard it the two ships were docked together in Ireland ( i have seen photos of this ) and all that was really required was to swap over a few nameplates etc etc, a job that was done by a small and well paid team overnight, everything else down to the crockery had White star on it.

I have not particularly researched this but there is also a lot of other circumstantial eveidence...for example the cancellation at the last minute by the white star owners and a few others who were supposed to be on the boat.

There was a disaster, there were survivors, there is wreckage. I would be interested to have the wreckage examined by people familiar with the original damage to the Olympic...there was quite a big hole in the side of her ( seen the photos of that too )...and i also belive there is a photo available somewhere that vaguely shows an 'o' and an 'l' shadow showing where the "titanic' nameplate is situated.

Why was she travelling so fast?

Why didn't that ship on the horizon see the distress rockets and pull in immediately to help...weak excuse....could it be that it was there waiting to pick up survivors of the planned' scuttling' spot but an iceberg got in the way and changed the location.

The insurance was paid in days.

It needs more research, granted...anyone else interested.

So what happened to the Titanic? (Renamed Olympic)

Were the two ships the same size? (Why do we hear that the Titinic was the largest ship ever built?)

As far as i know she stayed in service until about 1936...yeah they were virtually identical....also makes you wonder..hey?

The power of the marketing media is phenomenal!!

Well...having now researched this a bit more thoroughly i am quite convinced it is true.

Removed on request

a mountain of evidence ...circumstantial and otherwise that all falls into place.

What! you mean they swapped the ships idenity? cool!!!!!!

Was it the same agency that did the man on the moon thing in the late sixtys? They would have the experance to do that, if they done the titanic frist!

it didn't take any experience...it was relatively simple and probably accomplished by a handful of people over a weekend. ....the ships were moored side by side....all it actually required was the names on the bow and the stern being changed, the nameplates on the lifeboats, 48 lifebouys and the stationery and menus....everything else was standard white star issue.

Remember there were no photographers lurking around looking for stories, no camera crews and photography was still in its infancy.

ahha so plot thickens, yea what a thought, no press, no nothing,
ahha! need you say more! I know when to keep mum!

Ok...i'll thicken the plot for you.

The olympic, which was launched 9 months before the atlantic was involved in two collisions and had some grief with an underwater wreck that damaged her propeller blade.

The second of the collisions was with HMS Hawke, a serious bash where the olympic took some heavy damage including getting her keel bent which gave her a list to port.
the Admiralty ruled that the olympic was to blame which meant the white star line could not claim insurance.

The titanic on the other hand was brand new and eminently insurable.

A week before the 'titanic' sailed her insurance was increased dramatically. Five days after she sank the policy was paid out!!!

The 'Olympic'...( the seriously damaged ship)...carried on giving good service until 1937 including being requisitioned by the government and used as a troop ship in WW1

Sayes it all!!! I'm convinced. Thats why my car insruance has gone up!

Not trying to convince you.....merely thickening the plot

It sounds plausible.. So what you're suggesting is that the Olympic Sank with the name Titanic on its bough (sp??) and the titanic sailed happily ever after..
A fascinating theory.. But why was the titanic dubbed the biggest ship to ever sail???

the ship that refused to answer the distress calls was more than likely smuggling contraband and feared discovery hence why they delayed. they did later come to their aid, i believe only under immense pressure of the possibilty of extensive questioning if they didn't. and when they did finally come to assist they took a weird detour through the ice field, where i believe they dumped their cargo.

that is the only conspiracy i see. what happened to the Titanic was a disaster and nothing more in my books

Why was the titanic dubbed the biggest ship ever to sail munch??....up until the disaster the two were advertised together. As a matter of interest the White Star line used photographs, interior and exterior, of the Olympic to advertise the coming of the Titanic. Then afterwards it is as though the Olympic did not exist, although she certainly did. Apart from giving long service she was requisitioned by the government for WW1, during which time she managed to ram and sink a german u-boat.

There were two ships that were in a position to help the Titanic Creachy. The one that could be seen from the Titanic was in all probability a steamer called the Samson that was in fact busy with the illegal activities of seal hunting on the ice floes which is why she did not investigate the liner she saw sending up flares.

The Californian was stopped for the night about 19 miles away on the other side of the Samson. She could just see the Samson on her horizon.The Californian had left Port of London in a hurry five days before the Titanic left Soton, with a full crew, fully fuelled, empty except for a consignment of woollen sweaters.

Her crew saw 8 white flares going up from the Samson which was reported to her Captain who responded by asking what colour the flares were.He was sleeping fully clothed for the night in the chart room , the engines had been kept steamed up for the night but he did nothing.

The titanic sent up red, white and blue flares.

One wonders whether the captain of the Californian was in fact waiting for coloured flares.

The navigator of the Titanic had earlier made a mistake of about 12 miles as to the position of the Titanic....we know this from the position of the wreck.....had they been where he said they were they would of been about 5/6 miles and clearly visible from the Californian.

so if this conspiracy is true, and the Titanic was sunk for insurance purposes or was indeed actually the Olympic, then why did the crew and senior officers panic. practically every boat was lowered with far less inside than they could have held. they had plenty of time to, just over an hour i think, to get people organised.
and if the Californian was in position in readiness for this event then why did they turn off there radio?

no, it is all a set of unfortunate mishaps and miscalculations that led to a disaster at sea. the only people up to something shifty were the crew of the Samson.

I completely agree that there were a set of unfortunate mishaps and tragic miscalculations.

Actually they did not panic....on the contrary. The first boats lowered were completely underpopulated, one of the first ones only had 12 people on board. Furthermore, the first boats over the side, were told to not go far in case they had to come back!!!

Survivor Mrs Edith Russell testified that the officers told everbody in her vicinity at the time "don't worry, the californian will pick everbody up".....how could they have been in a position to say that??