A floating
palace sailed from Southampton in 1898 on her maiden voyage. It was the
biggest and
grandest
liner ever built, and rich passengers savored its luxury as they journeyed
to the United States.
But the
ship never reached its destination. Its hull was ripped open by an iceberg,
and it sank with heavy
loss of
life.
That liner
existed only on paper, in the imagination of a novelist named Morgan Robertson.
The name he
gave to
his fictional ship was Titan, and the books title was Futility.
Both the
fiction and futility were to turn into terrifying fact. Fourteen years
later a real luxury liner set out
on a similar
maiden voyage. It too was laden with rich passengers. It too rammed an
iceberg and sank, and
as in
Robertson's novel, the loss of life was fearful because there were not
enough life boats. It was the
night
of April 14, 1912. The ship was the RMS Titanic.
The similarities
between Robertson's Titan and the real Titanic go way beyond the name and
fate of both
ships.
Similarities
|
|
|
| British Ship | British Ship |
| 3 Propellers | 3 Propellers |
| Watertight Bulkheads 15 | Watertight Bulkheads 19 |
| Weight: 65,250 Tons | Weight: 70,000 Tons |
| Length: 882 feet | Length: 800 feet |
| Speed: 24 knots | Speed: 24 knots |
| Passenger Capacity: 3,000 | Passenger Capacity: 3,000 |
| Passengers Aboard: 2,200 | Passengers Aboard: 2,000 |
| Maiden Voyage: April | Maiden Voyage: April |
| hit iceberg on Starboard side | hit iceberg on Starboard side |
| Lifeboats 20 | Lifeboats 24 |
| numerous deaths caused by lack of lifeboats | numerous deaths caused by lack of lifeboats |
Robertson
later wrote a book, Beyond the Spectrum, that described a future war fought
with aircraft that carried
"sun bombs".Incredibly
powerful, one bomb could destroy a city, erupting in a flash of light that
blinds all who look
at it.
The war begins in December, started by the Japanese with a sneak attack
on Hawaii....sound familiar?