Titanic
100 years ago today the RMS Titanic sank into the north Atlantic Ocean taking with it over 1500 lives…or did it? We all know that a ship sank on that fateful day, we know the names of those unfortunate souls that perished. But is the ship that lies at the bottom of that watery grave truly the Titanic or was it her nearly identical sister ship the Olympic? Could the sinking of the alleged Titanic have been the greatest insurance scam of recorded history? An insurance scam that lead to a horrible tragedy that will forever mark this day in history.
I believe there is significant evidence to support just this theory. Now normally I write about complex conspiracies involving aliens, religion or the secret undertakings of the government. But this conspiracy is a quite simple one. A quite common one. In fact, it is the most common type of marine fraud carried out even today. Simple insurance fraud, switch the boats names and collect the insurance. Could that have been the motivation behind the most infamous marine disaster of all time? Was the sinking of the Titanic (or Olympic) an accident or was it the result of a sinister act of greed gone wrong? Let us take a closer look…
The first little known fact about the Titanic is that Titanic was not the first and foremost of its kind. In fact, it was the second. Titanic was actually built side by side next to its nearly identical twin sister ship the Olympic at the Harland and Wolff Shipyard in Belfast Ireland.
Olympic was launched in June of 1911, nearly a year before Titanic took her maiden voyage. At that time Olympic was the largest man made moving vessel in the world. Olympic, Titanic and eventually Brittanic were three luxury liners produced by the White Star Line. The White Star Line was acquired by American financier JP Morgan in 1903 as a drive to create a monopoly on the very lucrative northern Atlantic passenger trade. Chairman of the White Star Line was J Bruce Ismay an equally ruthless business tycoon and a perfect match for Morgan. Most of the passenger travel during the time was immigrant ships which were known as coffin ships for the poor conditions on the ships. The industry was saturated with fraud and a lack of regulation. A breeding ground the the powerful and corrupt.
On the 14th of June 1911 the Olympic took its maiden voyage under the command of Captain Edward J Smith. The problem with the Olympic they found rather early on was it had a habit of hitting things. Only one week into service the Olympic was involved in a collision with a tug in New York Harbor. An accident that nearly caused the tug to sink. Only three months later on the 20th of September the Olympic was involved in yet another collision with the British Warship the HMS Hawke in the Brambles channel in Southampton water. It was a very serious collision which would seal the fate of the Olympic. Pulled in by the powerful propellers of the Olympic, Hawkes under water ram and bows penetrated the starboard side of the Olympic causing a hole several meters high and an even larger hole below the waterline.
The British Admiralty investigated the accident and despite eye witness accounts to the contrary they deemed the Olympic at fault. As a consequence of that ruling the White Stars insurers refused to pay out on the claim. Imagine a ten million dollar ship that had only been in use for three months with severe damage. And with Titanic not close to completion White Stars owners were in a panic.
Besides the holes above and below the waterline she sustained other damage such as steel frames buckled, thousands of rivets popped, steel plating dislodged over four decks and distortion to the starboard propeller and crankshaft. To make matters worse, the keel had been bent giving the ship a pronounced list to port. Interestingly, when Titanic took her maiden voyage second class passenger Lawrence Beasley a science teacher noted that the ship seemed to have a slight but permanent list to port (perhaps because he was unknowingly on the Olympic not the brand new Titanic).
The hole was patched up in Southampton taking about two weeks. In October 1911, with the ship temporarily patched the Olympic limped back into the Harland & Wolff Shipyard to receive more permanent repairs. Once dry docked the worst news came for the White Star Line. Repairs would require cutting the ship in half, setting a new frame, and piecing it all back together again. The repairs would take months, cost millions and was deemed quite simply a waste of time. The Olympic was given a virtual death sentence. She would never pass another Board of Trade inspection again. Morgan and Ismay decided to patch the Olympic up putting in a bulk head to strengthen her until Titanic was ready.
The patchwork and repairs took seven weeks to complete showing the extent of the damages sustained. To get the Olympic back to sea and earning money as quickly as possible they had to replace the starboard propeller. The starboard propeller stamped with Titanic’s number 401 but not yet fitted to Titanic was fitted to the Olympic.
Once the Olympic was back to sea her troubles did not end. In February of 1912 leaving New York Harbor she ran over a sunken wreck and threw her propeller blade once again on the starboard side. The loss of the blade shock loaded the engine and put enormous stress on the already weakened liner. She barely made it back to Belfast on one engine and in need of even more repairs. Putting her side by side next to her almost completed sister Titanic.
So, how alike were Titanic and Olympic. So much alike that the differences wouldn’t be sighted by the average on looker.
The Olympic on her sea trials in 1911
On the forward part of the C Deck the Olympic was built with 16 portholes. 
Titanic 1911
Titanic was only given 14 yet somehow mysteriously she acquired two extra portholes before her maiden voyage. 
Titanic on her maiden voyage
Before its launch Titanic’s B deck windows are clearly evenly spaced yet by her maiden voyage they seem uneven similar to the Olympics design. 
Titanic during it's construction 1911
Titanic on her Maiden Voyage
During those days swapping the ships would have been a relatively easy undertaking. No one was paying attention to the shipyards on the weekends. Photography was in its infancy so hard proof of a switch would have been hard to piece together. All crockery, linens and such was standard White Star issue and didn’t carry the names of the individual ships. Letterheads and menus would need to be swapped out, name plates on the lifeboats and 48 life belts. Leaving only the names on the bow and stern of the ship to be changed. This all could have easily been achieved with a very small well paid crew over the course of the long weekend.
It is very unlikely any of the common workers would have noticed the difference in ships once the change occurred. Both ships had tiled and linoleum flooring yet just before Titanic’s sea trials Ismay ordered Titanic to be carpeted. Perhaps to cover Olympics scuffed and worn flooring. Very soon Titanic was ready for it’s sea trials. Interestingly, the Olympics sea trials took 2 full days where Titanic’s was over in time for lunch. With Titanic’s seaworthiness they sailed her down to Southampton with their first crew. But any experienced sailor working in the boilers would have known very quickly that Titanic was not a brand new ship. Even amidst a coal strike that had left thousands of sailors out of work the entire first crew refused to sign on for the maiden voyage of the Titanic. Either due to fear of the sailing safety of the swapped ship or not wishing to be a part of an obvious insurance scam they each, for whatever reason, walked. A brand new crew was commissioned for the Titanic’s maiden voyage and plans were set for the final resting of the Olympic at the bottom of the sea.
The plan was to sink the cursed Olympic (now Titanic) on it’s “maiden voyage” but the problem was the Titanic was two thirds booked with much needed passengers. No one was trying or planning to cause the loss of life that resulted from the reckless actions of greedy men. Ismay & Morgan along with Captain Smith planned to scuttle the Olympic in the mid-Atlantic and they would arrange for another of Morgan’s ships (the California) to wait to rescue Titanic’s passengers and Crew. This would leave White Star the heroes all while gaining a full insurance payout on Titanic.
The California, it’s crew and its Captain Stanly Lord (who had a history of involvement in insurance fraud) had been stuck at the port of London for weeks due to the coal strike. Suddenly, and mysteriously, JP Morgan had coal delivered and the California was ordered to depart immediately. It was virtually empty, no passengers, no cargo, just three thousand woolen blankets and sweaters. Exactly what would be needed for the rescue of Titanic’s entire ship.
Consider this, fifty five (mainly first class) passengers cancelled their passage on Titanic at the last minuet. Most of them being close friends and business associates of JP Morgan. Morgan himself cancelled his own passage last minuet despite having the best suite on the ship, claiming illness. Yet two days after the sinking an American journalist found him in perfect health at a French resort with his mistress. Morgan also had several valuable bronze statues taken off the titanic an hour before she sailed. Florence Ismay, wife of J Bruce Ismay also turned down taking the maiden voyage on the most luxurious ocean liner, also claiming ill health. Preferring instead to take their children on a motoring holiday.
Now one thing sailors fear more than anything is a fire at sea. Yet Titanic had a fire smoldering in the #10 coal bunker. Instead of putting out the fire, it was topped off with 400 tons of more coal. The Captain knew about the fire, as did the chief engineers. Perhaps the fire in the coal bunker #10 was plan B. If all else failed they would tell the passengers there was a fire, let the smoke through the ship and evacuate.
It was apparent that April 14th, 1912 was the planned date for the sinking of the Titanic, as the California had left the port sailing full speed for days then suddenly came to a dead stop on the night of the 14th. That night strangely, Captain Stanley Lord had chosen to sleep on a couch in the chart room fully clothed rather than in his bed in his cabin. This was the same choice Captain EJ Smith of the RMS Titanic had made that same night. Lord also ordered the boilers on the California to be kept fired up and the engines on stand by. Why? Was he expecting some sort of emergency?
That night Titanic had received six telegraphs, three from other ships giving locations of icebergs, the other three from the California which was more concerned with giving their own position stating they were “stopped for the night.” Those three telegraphs were all personally addressed to Captain Smith as if to let Smith know that the California was ready and waiting. Tragically Captain Lord failed to keep his radio operator awake to receive Titanic’s distress call.
Smith had made an alteration that night to Titanic’s route despite the iceberg warnings. Not to avoid the bergs but rather to take them full speed straight into the ice field. He must have known this being a seasoned captain. Now it was not uncommon to run full speed in an iron steam ship through ice, any berg large enough to damage a ship the size of Titanic would have been seen in plenty of time to avoid it. So why was the California stopped? And why did Titanic hit the berg at all?
Around 11pm 1st officer Murdoch was standing on the open part of the starboard side of the bridge when he saw the ice berg about 800 yards ahead. He ordered the ship turned to port and inexplicably engines full astern. By reversing the engines Murdoch was actually increasing the risk of collision. Something he too must have known. Titanic should have easily avoided the berg and even if it had hit the berg head on she would have stayed afloat. One must ask why an experienced sailor would make such a grave error. Unless it was not an error at all, rather an order.
It was 35 minuets before the first distress call was made, 35 minuets before the first emergency signal was sent, 45 minuets before they started the pumps, 45 minuets before they started preparing the lifeboats, and a full hour and a half before the first lifeboat was launched. This doesn’t seem like the actions of a steam ships crew in an emergency. Why? Because they expected a quick rescue from the California. A rescue that just never came.
So where was the California when the time came? The error seemed to fall on the part of Titanic’s navigator whose estimated location for the Titanic was an entire 12 miles off. This proved to be a fatal mistake. Smith must have thought that the ship lights that he could see off in the horizon was the California but it turned out to be an illegal fishing boat. A boat that ignored Titanic’s distress calls due to their illegal activity.
At about midnight Titanic began shooting off distress rockets which the California saw and reported to Captain Lord who asked strangely over and over again “What color are the rockets?” Due to the distance from Titanic the crew could only see the highest rockets which were the white ones. Thus Lord dismissed the signals as fireworks from another vessel. Titanic survivor Ms. Edith Russell said the officers told them “Don’t worry the California will pick everybody up.” How could he possibly have known which ship would come to their rescue.
It’s very hard to believe that in such an emergency, when they knew the boat did not have enough lifeboats to accommodate the entire populace of the ship that they would allow lifeboats to be launched only half full. Nobody could be that stupid! Unless they expected that ship just off the horizon to come to their rescue. Too bad it was the wrong ship. The California was 19 miles away and Captain Lord was waiting for colored rockets.
At around one AM it must have occurred to Captain EJ Smith that the rescue ship was not coming. By that time lifeboats were being launched to capacity and the passengers and crew were beginning to panic. The Unsinkable Titanic was going down. Smith was well aware that many lives would be lost as a result of the actions of a hand full of greedy men. Captain EJ Smith chose to go down with his ship and became one of the over 1500 casualties on the early morning of April 15th, 1912. J Bruce Ismay on the other hand, one of the men to profit from the disaster would go down in history as the coward who slipped onto one of the lifeboats at the last minuet saving his own ass. The media would have a hay day humiliating Ismay for years to come. Only a small price to pay considering the situation.
The surviving crew was returned to England nearly a month after the sinking following a US inquiry. But upon arrival into England they were not immediately reunited with their families but rather were herded into a railway shed and held for nearly 24 hrs. The reason, non disclosure. They were forced to sign affidavits swearing them to silence about the incident. Namely rumors of ships being swapped and insurance fraud. The penalty for breaking this agreement…20 years imprisonment.
The British government held White Star’s interest in the inquisitions mainly because of the socio-economical consequences of White Star going into liquidation. That would mean more than 20,000 more unemployed in an already failing economy. Also White Star’s contract with the British government allowed for the military to use any of White Stars ships during a time of war and the prospect of war was increasing day by day. See what happens when we have big business controlling our governments. See what happens when a government cares more for the interests of the big money corporations rather than a single one of those people who died aboard that boat.
The whole inquisition was a wash. Even with Harold Saunderson, representative for Harland and Wolff Shipyard referring to Titanic as Olympic several times in testimony. The ruling, Captain Smith was not to blame because he was dead and could not defend himself, the lookouts were not to blame, the design and construction of the ship was not to blame, neither her officers or owners were to blame. In fact, no one was to blame except Captain Lord who declined to testify to defend himself. It seemed Captain Lord was to become the scapegoat in the whole ordeal possibly because he had failed to complete his part of the plan.
Titanic cost $10 million to build and as a new ship she would have been insurable for the full amount. In fact, just a week before the maiden voyage White Star upped their insurance on the vessel dramatically. The Olympic on the other hand, damaged beyond economic repair was only insurable for a much smaller amount. The motive for switching the ships was clear. Just five days after sinking the Titanic their insurer’s Lloyds paid out $12.5 million to White Star Line.
But again, with every good conspiracy theory we need some cold hard facts. For those we go to what is left of the 100 year old wreckage to prove that Titanic was indeed her sister ship the Olympic. And there is enough to make a damn good case. For example, where the original black paint of the hull is corroded and worn away there is a visible gray paint which formed the undercoat.
The problem is gray paint was only used on the Olympic and not the Titanic.
Examination of the starboard propeller reveals the number 401 Titanic’s number.
But remember it was the starboard propeller that was taken from Titanic and put on Olympic in October of 1911 after her collision with the Hawke.
The discoverer of the wreckage Dr. Robert Ballard has examined the stern section of the ship with remote cameras. He found that in addition to the lateral bulkheads that were featured on both Olympic and Titanic; there is a longitudinal bulk head where there was none in the original design of either ship. The position of this bulk head suggests a temporary repair has been carried out to strengthen the keel. But why would a brand new ship need such a repair? Perhaps because it was the repair of the damage the Olympic sustained after the incident with the Hawke.
And finally a close look at the bow could reveal the most damning evidence of all. In 1986 the French National Oceanic Institute examined the wreck with Dr. Ballard. One thing they checked was the name of the ship. In White Star tradition both ships had their names engraved into the upper bow plates in letters 4 ft. high. Upon examination they found Titanic’s name riveted onto the original plates. After years of corrosion two of the letters have dropped off and are lost forever to the sea bed. But where they once were, engraved into the hull are the letters M & P.
The original Titanic never received the glory of her first voyage filled with cheering crowds and celebration. What she did do is continue on as the Olympic for 25 years. She even served as a troop transport ship for the British Government during WWII. One must ask, could the Olympic have served out 25 more years after being given a virtual death sentence? I say, unlikely.
We cannot go back a century and change what happened on the Titanic. We cannot give comfort to those families whose lives were lost so many years ago. We cannot now, hold those accountable for their crimes that lead to the deaths of 1514 people. What we can do is learn from Titanic and Olympics story. This is what happens when man rules through greed, power and corruption. This is what happens when money is valued over human life. This is what happens when, We, the people, allow the government to be governed by big business. I fear that if, We, the people do not rise up against the fascist rule that is taking place today then Titanic is truly lost. And it will only be a matter of time before the next Titanic sinks.
In loving memory of the Titanic (Olympic) all those who perished with her on April 15th, 1912
