Titanic Conspiracy?Book alleges White Star sister ship-swapping scam

A book published in 1995 claims the White Star Line swapped Titanic and her nearly identical sister ship, Olympic as part of an elaborate insurance scam. In their 262-page book, Robin Gardiner and Dan Van Der Vat make the case for their conspiracy theory, but it is a thin case indeed.

As we know from the historical record, Titanic's older sister ship Olympic (on left side of picture) had a bad run of luck since her maiden voyage in 1911, when she nearly sank a tugboat while docking in New York. A few months later she collided with the cruiser H.M.S. Hawke and suffered significant damage to her stern. She had to return to Belfast for repairs, thus delaying work on her new sister, Titanic. The Olympic was damaged again in March 1912 when she lost a propeller blade.

The authors contend that White Star, stung by heavy losses and still in litigation over the Hawke incident, simply used the March 1912 meeting of the sister ships to exchange one for the other. As the theory goes, Olympic became Titanic and merely had to undergo a single day of sea trials before setting out on a maiden voyage that, as the owners planned, would meet with disaster. This plan would rid the line of the damaged and already costly Olympic. The insurance money would then help the line try to make profits with the Olympic (Titanic in disguise) and the soon to be launched Gigantic. But, as the book goes on, Captain Smith in his recklessness hit an iceberg too soon and the ship sank before rescuers could reach her.

The theory has more holes than the iceberg-damaged Titanic herself. By March 1912 the Olympic and Titanic were significantly different in internal design and it would not be simply of matter of exchanging nameplates as the authors suggest. The book does make for fascinating reading and raises interesting questions. The conclusions reached by the authors, however, simply don't hold water.

Titanic survivor starred in first Titanic film

The first Titanic film was released barely a month after the sinking. The film, called "Saved from the Titanic," starred silent film star and Titanic survivor Dorothy Gibson of Hoboken, New Jersey. For the sake of authenticity, Gibson even wore the dress she wore during her escape from the sinking liner.

Gibson was only 28 years old when she and her mother boarded Titanic after a vacation in Europe. Gibson was returning to their cabin after a game of cards when she felt the ship quiver as a result of the collision with ice. Mother and daughter made their way to the Boat Deck and found seats in lifeboat No. 7.

Gibson died of a heart attack in Paris in 1946.

Carpathia wreck captured on video

Without the swift and courageous actions of the crew of S.S. Carpathia, the devastation caused by Titanic's sinking might have been far worse. The little Cunarder arrived on the scene scarely more than two hours after the Titanic's stern disappeared. Carpathia rescued 705 Titanic survivors and delivered them to New York.

Carpathia went on to serve England in World War I and was sunk by a German U-boat in July 1918. Five people were killed. The wreck of Carpathiawas discovered in 1999. Diveres reached the wreck and brought back small artifacts.

You can view video of the Carpathia wreck by visiting http://www.numa.net/video_gallery/carpathia.html.

To the boats:What would you have done?

Anyone who has ever thought about Titanic's last night has at some point asked themselves, "What would I have done?"

Try to imagine yourself snug in your warm bed. You're on the largest ship in the world. The press -- even shipping trade journals like The Shipbuilder -- have declared this ship unsinkable.

At midnight, a steward knocks on your door and announces that you need to get dressed and report to the boat deck. Oh, and you need to bring your lifebelt. Is it a drill? It has to be a drill. The ship is as steady as ever. Warm air is still pouring out of the little space heater in your cabin. The electric lamps are still burning bright. The hum of the engines is gone, but it was so slight that you don't even notice.

After a few moments of quiet deliberation, you hear others clamoring down the hallway. You decide to get dressed and see what all the fuss is about. When you reach the grand staircase, that mountain of oak crowned by a bronze clock (symbolizing Honor and Glory Crowning Time) and capped by a magnificent wrought iron and glass dome, you realize it is preposterous. Everything about Titanic says permanence.

The band is playing ragtime when you reach the boat deck. A chill wind stops you in your tracks. Preposterous, you say again to yourself. Officers are calling for passengers to step into the lifeboats that have now been swung out into space over the side of the ship.

I'm a lot safer here than I am in that small boat, you think to yourself. You cross to the ship's side and look over the railing. It's nearly sixty feet down to the sea. It seems a perilous journey to make -- and a needless one. You notice a few passengers relunctantly getting into the boats. With only 28 people aboard, the first boat starts its jerky descent to the sea below. You hear the screams of the women as the davit ends bob up and down, shaking the boat and everyone in it. No thanks, you think to yourself.

Would you have taken a seat in the lifeboat, assuming one had been offered to you? At this early hour, it is doubtful. Now it becomes easier to understand why only 705 people found their way into boats meant to hold 1,178. A tragically misguided trust in the ship caused a far greater devastation than was necessary.

Titanic's only remaining survivors

They were but small children when they boarded Titanic. Today, they are the only known remaining survivors of the Titanic disaster. Two travelled in third class; one in second. Each of the three lost a father on that terrible night. Only one remembers. One helps others learn about the night to remember. Another considers it a night to forget. This, in short, is their story. ...

Lillian Gertrud Asplund, born Oct. 21, 1906, was five years old when she boarded the Titanic as a third class passenger along with her family. Lillian was sent away in lifeboat 15 along with her mother and little brother. Her father and two older brothers remained on board the sinking ship and lost their lives when she sank. Lillian lives in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts today and is the last living Titanic survivor who has memories of the fateful voyage and the "night to remember."

Barbara Joyce West, born May 24, 1911, boarded Titanic as a second class passenger along with her parents and her sister, Constance. The women of the family were placed in lifeboat 10, while Mr. West remained on board and perished in the sinking. The three surviving Wests returned to England on White Star's Celtic. Barbara lives in Truro, England and never talks about the disaster, saying she wants "nothing to do with the Titanic people."

Elizabeth Gladys "Millvina" Dean, born Feb. 2, 1912, was only two months old when her family boarded the Titanic as third class passengers. The family was board for Kansas City, Kansas, where Millvina's father planned to open a tobacco shop. When the evacuation of the ship began, Millvina and her mother and brother, Bertram, were placed in lifeboat 10. Her father, Bertram Frank Dean, remained on board and perished in the disaster.

Following the disaster, Georgette Dean returned to England aboard White Star's Adriatic with her young son and daughter. Millvina never married and lives in Southampton, England, the port from which she departed on Titanic on April 10, 1912. She is the youngest of the living survivors and the last survivor who attends Titanic-related events. In 1997, Millvina crossed the North Atlantic on the QE2, completing her family's interrupted journey to Kansas.

A honeymoon ends in tragedy

There is a haunting quality to Beechwood today. For years it was the Newport base of the fabulous Astor family. It was also the scene of a wedding that is surely one of the most ill-starred in history.

It was in the ballroom of this mansion, with its sweeping views of the Atlantic Ocean, that John Jacob Astor IV married Madeleine Talmadge Force in 1911. New York society had been scandalized when Astor divorced his first wife, Ava Willing Astor, in 1909.

More shocking was this second marriage to a woman young enough to be his daughter. The newlyweds quickly fled the sharp tongues of Americans and spent a winter-long honeymoon in Europe. By spring 1912, Madeleine was pregnant.

The couple was returning to America aboard the Titanic when disaster struck. Astor escorted Madeleine to lifeboat No. 4 but was refused a seat himself. When the ship disappeared at 2:20 a.m., Madeleine thought she could hear his voice. "We're coming for you as fast as hell!" Madeleine shouted.

Astor's partially crushed body was recovered from the North Atlantic by the Mackay Bennett. He was buried after a funeral service in the family estate in Rhineback, New York. Today Beechwood looks much as it did in 1911. The house is a museum and can be rented for weddings or murder mystery evenings. For more information, visit http://www.astorsbeechwood.com.

Titanic story re-told by FLASH-animated bunnies

Titanic's alluring story has been re-told in every kind of media to come about since her tragic sinking. Our fascination with the world's most famous ship has extended to the Internet. Dozens of sites are dedicated to her story, and many offer something new.

One of the most bizarre -- and popular -- Titanic entries online is "Titanic in 30 seconds with bunnies," a short FLASH-animated parody of James Cameron's epic 1997 film Titanic. The short puts crudely drawn bunnies on the ship for her ill-fated maiden voyage. The site also features other famous films re-done with bunny actors.

To watch "Titanic in 30 seconds with bunnies", visit http://www.angryalien.com/0604/titanicbunnies.html.

E-Online offers Sink the Titanic game online

James Cameron's Titanic became the most successful film of all time after its release in 1997, so when it came Oscar time the folks at E-Online wanted to give web site visitors a way to take the director, and his cast, down a knotch. They launched an online game on their web site that casts the user as Amistad director Steven Spielberg.

When you start the game, Titanic actors and Cameron himself march back and forth along the deck. You are Steven Spielberg standing by with a cannon. The point -- to knock the Titanic cast and crew right off the ship. But beware! If you hit an Amistad actor by mistake, you lose! If you successfully rid the ship of its cast and crew, the ship sinks as director Cameron salutes from the stern.

A great white shark's dorsal fin then breaks the surface and chases Cameron off-screen to the theme of "Jaws," an earlier Spielberg film. If you want to give ole Stevie a chance at revenge, you can still play this game at http://www.eonline.com/Features/Awards/Oscars98/Titanic.

Titanic lifeboats: Too little, too late

A lot of people don't understand why the Titanic didn't carry enough lifeboats for every man, woman and child on board. The answer -- outdated regulations set forth by the British Board of Trade allowed her to sail without "lifeboats for all." At the time, the board of trade regulations for lifeboat capacity were based on the size of the ship. Titanic (and other big ships like her) was three times larger than any ship the board had dealt with when the regulations were last re-visited.

Law only required Titanic to carry 16 lifeboats. The ship's builders, however, knew the regulations didn't account for "lifeboats for all" and were planning for a time when the regulations -- or common sense -- would dictate a change. The builders installed a new kind of davit (the armature that lowers a lifeboat over the ship's side) that could swing back to lower more than one lifeboat from each davit station. In this way, Titanic could have doubled or tripled her lifeboat capacity without a major re-design.

Titanic actually exceeded existing regulations by adding four "collapsible" lifeboats to her complement of boats. As fate would have it, when the lifeboats went from a regulatory obligation to a necessity on the evening of April 14-15, Titanic found herself with 2,208 people aboard with lifeboat capacity for 1,178. Tragically, the boats weren't fully loaded and only 705 people actually escaped the ship aboard her few lifeboats.

Delayed maiden voyage may have altered history

When the White Star Line released its 1911/1912 sailing list on Sept. 25, 1911, Titanic's maiden voyage was scheduled for March 20, 1912. Unfortunately, this announcement came just five days after her sister ship Olympic collided with the British Royal Navy cruiser H.M.S. Hawke. Olympic suffered a large hole in her starboard side (pictured at right) that extended below the waterline. As a result, her voyage was cancelled. On Oct. 4, 1911, Olympic arrived at Harland & Wolff's Belfast yard for repairs. Titanic had to be moved to make way for her sister.

The repairs took more than a month. It wasn't until Nov. 20, 1911, that Olympic resumed her interrupted voyage and Titanic resumed her fitting out. This delay pushed Titanic's maiden voyage back. The date was moved again when on March 1, 1912 Olympic came back to the shipyard for replacement of a propeller blade that she had thrown during an eastbound Atlantic crossing.

We will never know how history might have been different had Titanic sailed on March 20 as originally planned. Would she have met the fatal iceberg or would she have missed that date with destiny? Would it have fallen to another ship - perhaps the Gigantic - to make history and remind mankind about the peril of trying to outdo nature. The world will never know.

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone!

Today is a day for celebrating all things Irish. Titanic is so entwined with Ireland because, of course, she was built there. It took 15,000 Irishmen nearly three years to build Titanic at the Harland & Wolff Shipyard in Belfast. At that time, shipbuilding was the lifeblood of that city, and it was with immense pride that the city cradled the iron and steel hulk that would one day become the largest moving object ever made by man.

This year my company sponsored a "parade" through our office halls for the occasion. I decided to create a Titanic float (pictured here). I called it "Titanic: Ireland's pride" because I wanted people to know that it was Ireland that gave us the great ship.

Ireland's history is full of triumph and tragedy, and Titanic is one of the most enduring examples of "Irish luck." When I think of Titanic's Irish builders, I think of what former New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan once said, "I don't think there's any point in being Irish if you don't understand that the world is going to break your heart sooner or later."

Welcome to Titanic. All aboard!

My fascination with Titanic began in 1984. I was exploring the library in my junior high school when I came across a book with a painting on the cover of a big ship. I opened the book and started to read. The book was "A Night to Remember," Walter Lord's 1955 classic account of the Titanic disaster.

From page one, I was hooked by a story that got right to the central action. It put us in the crow's nest a minute before the iceberg was sighted. From there, I was drawn into a story of, as Lord so eloquently put it, "the last night of a small town."

Like so many of my fellow Titanic devotees, it was Lord's book that first captured my imagination. Titanic has been a fascination ever since.

In 1984, Titanic books and information were hard to come by -- especially in Kansas. This was 70 years after the disaster. Before the Internet and eBay. While browsing through an almanac of all things, I found an organization called the Titanic Historical Society. I sent the president a letter and soon got an invitation to become a member.

I joined the society about a year before Sept. 1, 1985 -- the day Robert Ballard and a French-American team of explorers discovered the wreck of the Titanic. The society's membership increased three-fold virtually overnight. Soon the sad little photocopied newsletter (black and white and stapled) became a four-color magazine, and the society really came into its own.

In college friends would often ask why I was so interested in the Titanic. They wanted to know more. E-mail was first offered to us during senior year, and I started an e-mail list called "Daily Dose of Titanic." Each day I sent out an interesting tidbit. People got hooked. They couldn't get enough. And when I skipped a day, they were like addicts looking for a fix.

Now, with the power of the blog, I am bringing Daily Dose of Titanic back from the abyss. I hope you enjoy it. Daily Dose of Titanic shares in the mission of the Titanic Historical Society, which is to preserve the memory of Titanic for future generations.

Enjoy!