10 Reasons Why RMS Titanic May Have Been Deliberately Sunk

RMS Titanic is one of the most tragic maritime disasters in history, taking the lives of 1,517 on the fateful night she struck an iceberg on 14th April 1912, 375 nautical miles south of Newfoundland, Canada.

However, have you ever questioned whether the vessel was deliberately sunk? Here are 10 reasons why RMS Titanic may have been a premeditated event by the White Star Line.

1. RMS Olympic

First-Class Salon on the , 1912

RMS Olympic is the elder sister to RMS Titanic, as they are two of three Olympic-class liners created by the White Star Line, along with RMS Britannic. Three months after RMS Olympic’s maiden voyage, she collided with the British warship HMS Hawke, just off the Isle of Wight. The collision tore two large holes in RMS Olympic’s hull below the waterline.

The accident resulted in an insurance dispute between the Royal Navy and the White Star Line, with Olympic being blamed for the collision due to her scale. The White Star Line were therefore left with significant legal bills, which has caused many to believe RMS Titanic was deliberately sunk so the liner could effectively recover their finances. Why did the White Star Line up their insurance from £7milllion to £12 million one week before Titanic departed Southampton?

2. Twin Ships

RMS Titanic and Olympic

RMS Olympic and RMS Titanic were twins – and even adorned the same crockery and interior. There were only a few subtle differences (which we will come to later). It would have therefore been relatively easy to have switched the ships by making small changes, such as the ship’s name – a job that could have been performed by a small, well-paid crew over a weekend period.

3. Cancellations

JP Morgan

50 passengers cancelled their voyage on RMS Titanic a few days earlier, including the owner of the White Star Line, JP Morgan (pictured). Several wealthy, high profile people also cancelled their passage on the ship, including JP Morgan’s friends, Milton and Kitty Hershey, the owners of Hershey’s chocolate, and Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of the wireless radio that helped RMS Titanic contact other vessels. It is fair to say that Marconi would have benefited from the exposure of his invention following the disaster.

Florence Ismay, the wife of J. Bruce Ismay, the chairman of the White Star Line, also cancelled her journey at the very last minute. Did they know something many other passengers and crew didn’t?

4. The Competitors

Guggenheim, Astor and Straus

Three of JP Morgan’s biggest competitors were first class passengers aboard RMS Titanic: John Jacob Astor, Benjamin Guggenheim and Isidor Straus. All three men died in the disaster, and therefore killed off the competition. All three men were outspoken opponents of JP Morgan’s Federal Reserve.

5. Subtle Differences

Titanic/Olympic

RMS Titanic and RMS Olympic only had minor differences. While RMS Olympic had 16 port holes, RMS Titanic had 14. However, Titanic had 16 on her maiden voyage. Also, J. Bruce Ismay also ordered for Titanic’s linoleum flooring to be carpeted – was this to cover Olympic’s worn floors?

6. Inspections

Titanic spectators

The Olympic-class liners were the largest vessels in the world at the time of their launch. The White Star Line therefore opened RMS Olympic up to the public in both Belfast and Liverpool before she set off on her maiden voyage. However, RMS Titanic remained closed until she commenced hers. Did the White Star Line have something to hide?

7. The Crew

Titanic Officers

J. Bruce Ismay stepped onto a lifeboat to avoid the same fate as the other passengers and crew aboard the ship. Despite all the panic surrounding the event, he managed to send three telegrams to Cedric New York Harbour to ensure the surviving crew members could immediately return to Southampton. The crew were also held for 24 hours once they reached New York and ordered to sign papers – with many believing they were signing a secret act.

8. Captain Smith

Captain Smith

Captain Edward James Smith was the captain aboard RMS Titanic, and the previous Captain of RMS Olympic. He was responsible for the ship crashing into HMS Hawke, and may have felt it was his duty to help the White Star Line recover from the disaster.

To add fuel to the flames, Captain Smith unusually hand-picked employees who he felt he could trust, and even dismissed some crew to bring in new employees.

9. Charles Lightoller

Charles Lightoller

Second Officer Charles Lightoller was reportedly evasive at the US Titanic inquiries, and claimed the boat turned to port before the lookout pulled it to the crow’s nest. He also reported that there was no mist 10 minutes before the disaster. However, he said at the UK inquiry that he was in his cabin at the time of the collision. Why would he lie?

He also lied about the number of iceberg warnings from the bridge that morning – when they received 6 warning messages from various ships. Was he trying to act as though the iceberg came as a surprise?

10. Engraving

Titanic Wreck

Both Olympic and Titanic had their names engraved four-foot hight onto the ship. However, the examined wreck forced two of the Titanic engraving  to fall from the ship’s scrap, revealing the letters ‘M’ and ‘P’ – ‘Olympic’.

So, what do you think? Was the sinking of RMS Titanic real or a deliberate act by the White Star Line? Did the government cover up the scandal? As 20,000 jobs at Harland and Wolff would have been lost, they’d lose Irish investment and lose their next election. We’d love to hear your thoughts.

Looking for more Titanic top 10 articles? Read 10 Titanic Passengers You Have to Know About.

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The List Love is the hub of high quality high quality facts that educate and entertain. We provide all the fun and facts you need to broaden your mind and smile! Our goal is to help you laugh and learn with our entertaining top 10 lists, and won’t rehash the same old things commonly found online.

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18 Responses

  1. Yves Legault says:

    On reason #4, I would add that, by April 1912, John Jacob Astor was one of the last financier still supporting Nikola Tesla, against J.P. Morgan,s will.

  2. starr says:

    You might want to add. That’s their was a coal strike but ismay ordered the californion to have the coal. And it left with no passengers just blankets and life jackets and that was before the distress calls was made

    • The List Love says:

      Brilliant point. We had read that but completely forgot to add it in. It adds to the conspiracy that RMS Titanic’s position was confused, and that the Californian was originally supposed to be the rescue ship and not RMS Carpathia, which unfortunately arrived hours later when it was too late.

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  4. Chris says:

    All of this can be debunked by one fact: the White Star Line’s insurance policy on the Titanic. It was insured for $5,000,000 (not $12,000,000 as stated in this article) however, it cost more than $7.5 million each to build the Olympic and the Titanic. In addition, White Star Line had to pay back $664,000 to the passenger’s families due to loss of life and personal belongings. Not to mention the expenses the company shelled out to hire various cable boats and crews to retrieve the bodies.

    With that in perspective, collecting $5,000,000 on a ship that cost $7,500,000 to build, plus $664,000 in lawsuits and thousands more for body retrievals left the company with a deficit of over $3,000,000 in losses. That doesn’t sound like a deliberate sinking or an insurance scam.

    Sources:
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2442450/5m-insurance-policy-document-Titanic-revealed-auctioneers.html
    http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2012/spring/titanic.html
    http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-extraordinary-story-of-the-titanic/

    • Brilliant. We love the conspiracy being debunked. Not everyone knows the facts and figures, and the conspiracy is just a conspiracy, and the sources really do back your claims.

      Are we right in believing that the White Star Line actually charged the families for the retrieval of their loved ones’ bodies, though? Which is they reason why many of the bodies were never recovered from the ocean.

      • Chris says:

        Actually, the White Star Line had financed the body retrievals (about £300 a day) and 150 funerals for those buried in the Halifax cemeteries (another 166 were buried at sea). I believe the reason why so few bodies were retrieved from the sea, was due to a rather large storm that struck the area shortly after the initial chartered ships had headed back to port for more supplies. This had scattered those who were wearing a life vest for miles. In fact, another White Star Line cruise ship, the Oceanic, had reported spotting three bodies adrift in Lifeboat A about a month after the sinking.

        Another reason for so few retrieved victims, was that several hundred crew members and passengers were undoubtedly trapped in the ship as she went down. Sadly, the remains of those who were not wearing a life vest either sank to the bottom or drifted away below the sea level.

        Sources:
        http://www.titanic-titanic.com/recovering_titanic_dead.shtml
        http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2437189/Rare-picture-Titanic-victims-shows-prayers-said-bodies-buried-sea.html

        • This is all very interesting! I had heard about the White Star Line discovering three bodies much later. Thank you so much for sharing this fantastic knowledge with us.

      • shawn says:

        the minuscule amounts for insurance are nothing compared to world domination of the energy and financial sectors.
        astor funded tesla who had to be stopped,astor hated the federal reserve along with guggenheim and strauss.
        the insurance portion is just a distraction. ask yourself what is the situation of the world with oil, and the federal reserve central bank system. these are the foundations of the world that may not have happened if this wreck had not occurred.

        • Anonymous says:

          i always wondered how could the captain commit suicide even if he was a mason ? i finally figured it out . he did not plan on dying, no sane person would ! he was assured another ship would pick him up,he saw it 10 miles off which was not far ,easy to see. he knew his lifeboat was only minutes away, how could they not come to pick them up. he didn’t know he was slated to die along with the big guns. but the wrong color flares were used, by who? somehow they pulled it off, and the rescue boat kept going. morgan and the bankers cabal win we lose.

  5. Adrian says:

    J P Morgan..evil corrupt man..stole Tesla’s work and put the US Federal Reserve to bankers’ hands…read about him in David Icke or John Hamer books

  6. Zachary says:

    According to the conspiracy If the Titanic was really the Olympic what happened to the tITANIC?

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