A Titanic Conspiracy?

I heard much the same, and more simplified, from someone. The Olympic had hit something - perhaps a quay, or as explained in the first posting here. The ship was thus a little tilted, or otherwise damaged. The insurance didn't want to pay out because they said it was their own negligence. The Titanic was going to voyage out. So, they secretly switched ships. The nameplates were changed around, as was the cutlery, uniforms, etc. So, the Olympic went out - pretending to be the Titanic. And so, they could get their insurance payout. A main difference between the two ships, was one had 4 windows around where the ship was steered, and the other 5. Pictures of the wreck clearly showed what the Olympic had. Also, the pictures showed lettering having been Olympic that was replaced with Titanic.

Anyway, what does seem somewhat suspect about that whole Titanic disaster, is the Californian being so nearby. It heard and saw the distress flares, and such like, but ignored it all. Surely a ship's Captain would know much better.

The Titanic disaster was in some ways like the Hindenburg one. E.g. they were both going from Europe to the US, and both occurred 2 years before a world war started.

Originally posted by themonitor
The Problem was that when the Olympic collided with the Hawk, the main drive shaft of the ship was damaged. This shaft was never meant to be replaced and was beyond repair. ...
The damage to the drive shaft meant that although the main drive propeller would still run, the bearings were damaged and there was no way of knowing how long it would run for.
....many of the survivors of the disaster did report the ship vibrating quite violently during the journey. (no, I am not making this up!)

The collision with HMS Hawke, which several eye-witnesses stated was not accidental, also bent Olympic's keel. Since the collision was on Olympic's starboard side, the resulting list would be to port.

One of the survivors (a 2nd-class passenger called Lawrence Beesley, a science teacher) stated that the ship that sank had had a slight list to port.

A propeller was also badly damaged and was replaced in Belfast with one that was destined for Titanic - hence the number 401 highlighted by Ballard's photographic record.

Wow so maybe both conspiracies are true? They switched Titanic with Olympic for the insurance scam, and then killed off those three men who opposed the Federal Reserve Act as well, thus killing two birds with one stone? If so, then it was a brilliant crime. Beautifully executed.

I've never understood something about the sinking of the Titanic.

How can ice possibly cut through a thick metal hull? Isn't that theoretically impossible? Has ice tearing through metal ever been replicated under scientific testing conditions?

Also, isn't this unprecedented in that it's never happened to a ship before, even to ships made of wood?

You can tell that the Olympic and Titanic were NOT switched by examining one crucial external detail on both ships.

On Deck A, the Olympic was built with the promenade deck fully open. Completely exposed to the elements.
On the Titanic, the forward half of the promenade deck on Deck A was enclosed with steel.
Notice the difference:
Olympic


Titanic


Now to switch these ships, they would have had to add quite a bit of steel plate to the Olympic and remove these same plates from the Titanic. Which would not have gone unnoticed.

Now look here:



These are images of the Titanic wreck. As you can see, the steel enclosed promenade deck is still visible.

And here is the Olympic in 1922, long after the collision with the "Hawke". As you can see, the promenade deck on Deck A is still fully exposed.


Now what does this all mean? That more than likely, the Titanic and Olympic were definately not switched. The Olympic was the first of her class and the only to have an exposed promenade deck. Taking what they learned with her, the Titanic and Brittanic both were built with enclosed promenade decks. It is unlikely they would have gone through the trouble to change this, given that at the time of the sinking it would have been impossible to see the wreck of the Titanic for verification.

I don't know if the Titanic was a conspiracy or not. But there are many suspicious things about it:

- Why did the captain of the Titanic order the ship to move at full speed through the waters at night with no visibility? Other ships in the area all slowed down, including the Californian. The captain was the most experienced and knew those waters very well too. Yet he acted against all logic.

- Why did the Californian not rescue the Titanic? It was close enough to see it sinking, yet it left.

- Why was the Titanic story written about 14 years prior in 1898? The word "Titan" was used for the ship in the story and it also sank 400 miles off Newfoundland, which happened in real life as well.

- How can ice break through metal? Isn't that physically impossible?

- How can the ship suddenly break apart while sinking? How can an unsinkable ship just break apart?

- Why did they call the Titanic "unsinkable"? No ship has been called that before. It seems as though they were setting it up to take a bigger fall by calling it "unsinkable".

- How come three powerful men who opposed the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 just happened to die on the Titanic?

- How come JP Morgan, the billionaire tycoon, canceled his ticket on the Titanic suddenly? Why would he suddenly cancel going aboard, unless he knew something or was warned? If it was just an accident, then how could he know anything or be warned about it?

Doesn't any of this raise an eyebrow? Aren't they suspicious?

Originally posted by Eurofile007
I don't know if the Titanic was a conspiracy or not. But there are many suspicious things about it:

- Why did the captain of the Titanic order the ship to move at full speed through the waters at night with no visibility? Other ships in the area all slowed down, including the Californian. The captain was the most experienced and knew those waters very well too. Yet he acted against all logic.

- Why did the Californian not rescue the Titanic? It was close enough to see it sinking, yet it left.

- Why was the Titanic story written about 14 years prior in 1898? The word "Titan" was used for the ship in the story and it also sank 400 miles off Newfoundland, which happened in real life as well.

- How can ice break through metal? Isn't that physically impossible?

- How can the ship suddenly break apart while sinking? How can an unsinkable ship just break apart?

- Why did they call the Titanic "unsinkable"? No ship has been called that before. It seems as though they were setting it up to take a bigger fall by calling it "unsinkable".

- How come three powerful men who opposed the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 just happened to die on the Titanic?

- How come JP Morgan, the billionaire tycoon, canceled his ticket on the Titanic suddenly? Why would he suddenly cancel going aboard, unless he knew something or was warned? If it was just an accident, then how could he know anything or be warned about it?

Doesn't any of this raise an eyebrow? Aren't they suspicious?

1. The Captain of the Titanic (Edward Smith) would order his ship to full speed in low visibility mainly because he wasn't a very good Captain. Prior to becoming Captain of the Titanic, he was Captain of the Olympic. And under his watch, he hit the HMS Hawke. Just 6 months later, he would do the same with the Titanic, only this time slamming into an iceberg. It is also possible that Captain Smith was attempting to break the transatlantic speed record at the time. Back then, speed was everything. Business depended on it.

2. The SS Californian did not assist the Titanic due to a combination of negligence and miscommunication. At the time of the sinking, the Titanic was more than 10 miles away and growing. The Californian's wireless operator had switched off the wireless set and gone to bed. So they did not receive a distress call from the Titanic. Later into the night, the crewmen on watch saw emergency rockets launched but could not discern where they were coming from. The attempted to contact the ship in the distance with a morse light but got no response. So the Californian continued on to Boston.

3. Coincidence. Morgan Robertson, author of "Futility: The Wreck of the Titan", spent most of his life at sea, starting out as a cabin boy and working his way up to first mate. He knew a lot about ships. And wrote about them often.

4. No, it's not impossible. That is like saying that a tree couldn't wreck your car because a tree is made of wood and your car is made of steel. You have to also remember that an iceberg is extremely dense and that the Titanic was skinned with 1" thick steel plates that were only riveted together. Which means that the ice would have only needed to apply enough force to break some of these rivets in order for the ship to begin taking on water. And while the ship was skinned with steel, most of the rivets were made of iron.

5. The ship most likely broke apart due to the application of irregular force. The longer a ship is, the more stress that is applied to the keel. As the forward portion of the ship filled with water and became heavier, buoyancy was still pushing the aft section upward. Eventually, this stress became strong enough to rip the vessel in half.

6. Calling the ship unsinkable was a marketing ploy. At the time, the Titanic was the top of the line. She had some of the best technology available. She was brand new and the largest ship ever built. It was designed to be impressive. But as the passengers learned, you should never believe the hype.

7. Coincidence. At the time, rich men commonly took trips on luxury liners. And the Federal Reserve Act wasn't all that popular. In 1913 it was, in fact, the third attempt at creating a centralized banking system in the US. And the wall street bankers onboard the Titanic who opposed the Federal Reserve Act viewed this and past attempts at making a centralized banking system as the government attempting to become their direct competition. Banking was their cash cow.

8. Dumb luck. At the time, JP Morgan was sick and dying. He decided to skip the maiden voyage and stay in France to continue theraputic treatments. The loss of the Titanic almost completely destroyed his empire and he died a year later.

I admit I haven't read the entire 'theory' links, but one question. Where were the ships supposed to have been switched? It couldn't have been in the shipyard because I'm from Belfast, and although I wasn't around at the time (100 years ago!) I do know, from seeing other ships built in the 70s, that they were clearly visible from the hills around the city. If the ships had been 'switched' then there's a whole lot of people who didn't notice, and it's hard to pull anything on the cynical Irish.