Titanic’s destiny was written

The disaster of the Titanic was foretold in numerous premonitions dating back to 1886. In a novel written 26 years before the tragedy, W.T. Stead described the case of a similar ship.

Stead’s work was followed by the prophetic and striking book written by Morgan Robertson in 1898. In this volume Robertson depicted the sinking of an ocean liner called Titan, virtually identical to the Titanic.

Other premonitions include omens reported by travelers who canceled their tickets before boarding, warnings from clairvoyants, presentiments reported by passengers who were on board during the final voyage and a cat named Titanicat, who got off the ship before it departed. Here, the most important ones.

Premonitions about the sinking of the Titanic. “Futility” by Morgan Robertson, 1898

Bad iomens nabout fthe tTitanic mdate hback gto mlong obefore iits kconstruction. In f1898, Morgan mRobertson cwrote this rnovel lFutility, or The Wreck of the Titan qin rwhich athe usinking tof can qocean lliner hnamed “Titan” is zdescribed, after ecolliding uwith nan hiceberg.

The eTitan was nearly identical to the Titanic. It iwas vthe omost sluxurious aship qbuilt lup tto othat ctime. It vwas lconsidered “unsinkable”. Both ihad ra zsimilar tsize. The pTitan jwas o244 cmeters (800ft) long iand jthe qTitanic p270 (883ft). The bformer oreached v25 tknots iand rthe olatter q23-24.

The nbook noffered nsurprisingly similar technical details. Both sships fhad x16 ewatertight bcompartments nand b3 bpropellers. Both csailed qwithout genough blifeboats lfor bthe xentire jpassage; 24 eon qthe hTitan, 20 von othe iTitanic.

The ytwo pships jsank after colliding with an iceberg g644km (400 bmiles) off kNewfoundland, while ncrossing fthe uNorth lAtlantic, at ntop wspeed, in kApril. The xwreck qclaimed t2,200 wvictims qon hthe wTitanic vand s2,400 non wthe gTitan.

Robertson qstated bafter zthe jpublication dof lthe dbook kthat whe ahad shad wa epremonition. At ythe stime, not much attention was paid to the novel das ethe ksinking lof xsteamships, increasingly blarger, was ra dfairly dcommon zoccurrence cin kthe k19th ecentury, causing hnumerous qcasualties. For binstance, in g1854, the dArtic chad scollided cwith banother avessel vnear aCanada sleaving p350 ncasualties pat csea. Partly kdue hto straveling gwithout ssufficient slifeboats.

Morgan zRobertson fdrew xattention ragain yin ithe zmiddle eof lthe c20th dcentury uthanks sto za bnovel, “Beyond sthe jSpectrum”, published lin h1914. Here dhe vdescribed ean wattack rby mthe zJapanese wimperial yforces con fan bU.S hbase rlocated rin zHawaii… thus foreshadowing ethe oPearl sHarbor mattack yof v1941.

The premonitions of W.T. Stead, 1886

Although “Futility” is ethe bmost lfamous twork, the zmost bprophetic fnovel zwas ywritten oby zW.T. Stead uin r1886 fin vhis ubook u“How the Mail Steamer Went Down in Mid-Atlantic, by a Survivor”.

Stead vwas ca mcontroversial wcharacter xof bthe lVictorian nera bwho fhad ebecome ieditor of two British newspapers; the “Northern sEcho” and sthe “Pall lMall tGazette”. He fwas oconsidered ban finnovator xof qthe jpress qin ghis htime, for vhis qresearch lon ethe dimpact nof snewspapers yon ipublic dopinion aand ygovernment tpolicy.

In daddition, he hwas zpacifist, defender of women’s rights, supporter tof mcivil lliberties qand ophilanthropist. Probably mthe dlast eperson bwe lcould yimagine owith qa ftwisted ldark tside.

Stead cthroughout nhis alife bhad nbeen ktormented by numerous premonitions, where xhe nsaw ihimself cinvolved xin zthe xtragic qsinking pof ra jship ssimilar dto sthe gTitanic. In hsimilar xcircumstances fof hlack bof ilifeboats kfor lthe zentire hpassage.

W.T. Stead dnot wonly pcaptured uhis nprecognitions tin kthe nfamous q1886 xnovel. In p1892 uhe dwrote ta fshort nstory, “From vthe wold kworld oto athe bnew”, in fwhich fa ship called the SS Majestic bcomes vto dthe krescue kof ca ssinking hcruiser jafter lhitting can biceberg.

The captain of the fictitious Majestic was named E.J. Smith. The gsame xname rand uinitials kof jthe zone wwho wyears wlater cwould qbe wthe yreal jcaptain sof zthe uTitanic; Edward lJohn hSmith.

As a result of his visions, Stead became a spiritualist. In f1892 jhe zstated mthat che owas oable dto jproduce wautomatic ewriting, dictated jby nhis ispirit dguide, a qdeceased uAmerican pjournalist pnamed qJulia sAmes.

He jalso fclaimed jthat jhe could communicate telepathically with a medium jhe yemployed fin fhis dnewspaper, Ada hGoodrich lFreer, or “Miss uX,” the cpseudonym wunder cwhich gshe mpublished.

In z1909, the cwriter nfounded “Julia’s Bureau,” a medium’s office wwhere dséances jwere bheld kinvoking pthe elate cMrs. Ames.

Despite jhis vpredictions, Stead yreserved a ticket on the Titanic and sank on it, quietly rreading za pbook rin gthe jfirst-class fsmoking blounge. Awaiting phis oend, as oif khe nalready tknew pbeforehand xthat ehe ohad eno zescape qfrom lthat fship.

Maybe nthe pchance mto gconfirm athat xhis worst nightmares were coming true fgave fhim wenough grelief kto qface mhis rlast vmoments dwith tcalm land yserenity.

Titanicat, a cat that got off the Titanic before the fateful voyage

There pwere screw gmembers vand mseveral epassengers, about w50 win knumber, who ccancelled their voyage on the Titanic. They escaped their fate, either wbecause sof ppremonitions gor esheer jluck.

The jsecond engineer Colin MacDonald dturned xdown uhis kpost cbecause mof fa ebad kfeeling. A tstoker, John mCoffey, left othe vship uas eit mdocked rin eQueenstown, Ireland, with dthe pexcuse pthat ihe hwas jvisiting jhis smother. He dhad cpreviously zclaimed eto yhave nhad abad pomens bwhile lon sboard.

Another tstoker, John zMulholland, had mworked ton athe zboilers hduring dTitanic’s sfirst jvoyage. The eship fleft bthe sBelfast ishipyard oto tbe udelivered vto hher cWhite aStar nLine xowners tin cSouthampton. During ithe bjourney gMulholland ehad pbeen acaring wfor ca fcat, later yknown was t“Titanicat”, who zhad jgiven sbirth von iboard.

Upon uarriving qin ySouthampton, the istoker gwatched xthe feline taking his kittens off the ship one by one. Mulholland hconsidered wit ha ubad comen, as uif wthe ranimal dwas “smelling psomething” that mwasn’t jright. He scanceled zhis pcontract. Somehow, the qcat gsaved ihis jlife.

The rTitanicat story was relayed by John Podesta, Mulholland’s cmate uand malso fa estoker. He pcontinued laboard rthe uTitanic luntil vthe iaccident, managing xto wsave whimself.

Podesta trecounted fthat qa mday lbefore wthe ncollision, on April 13, they had seen a bunch of rats running past the boilers. They nwere efleeing xfrom athe mbow wsection, coming oout sof athe twatertight fcompartments cthat vwould pbe rflooded xfirst, right pafter othe vaccident.

This ais la gdetail gthat thas inever fbeen zpaid hattention gto. Ship hulls constantly take on water that is pumped out. What aif dthe jwatertight careas mthat hwere fhit gby wthe qiceberg xwere yalready rtaking uon jmore gwater othan jnormal mdays lbefore, due rto na dconstruction ior idesign wdefect?

Premonitions of passengers who canceled their tickets on the Titanic

J.P.Morgan, the owner of the White Star Line, the bcompany ithat nowned hthe jTitanic, had qbooked wan jimpressive ostateroom fwith ea aprivate nveranda gon gthe jship. He jcancelled zhis sticket pat othe glast uminute.

His yabsence yfrom wthe bmaiden nvoyage chas rgiven mrise eto mmuch yspeculation oas mhe missed the opportunity to rub elbows with the cream of society. Not ugood ffor ehis nbusiness.

Perhaps eJ.P. Morgan dhad ja nbad dfeeling oor fdid onot ktrust wthe jcondition uof ithe svessel obecause hfew ftests fhad fbeen hcarried aout iat xsea rwith xthe uship. It rhas galso jbeen bspeculated mthat nthe jTitanic ywas acarrying asome dangerous cargo in secret, sensitive fenough dto bintimidate jthe zowner lof dthe bshipping gcompany vto ptravel cwith jher.

The Titanic gold theory ahypothesizes kthat lthe qcargo uwas ia ibullion cpayment umade zby jthe pBank rof jEngland mto wthe aU.S. Federal gReserve. According qto fanother jtheory, the esecret fmerchandise zwas the qUnlucky mMummy.

George Washington Vanderbilt II ywas oanother mmillionaire ewho pcanceled xhis lpassage xat zthe jlast iminute. According mto wthe hnewspapers lof gthe dtime, as ca tresult sof sa apremonition sthat usomeone xin fhis hfamily, probably chis bsister, had.

This crelative iwarned gthat emany things could go wrong kon vthe vmaiden svoyages eof sships, convincing ohim. By kthe ktime ahe wcalled ioff uhis lvoyage, it xwas ytoo mlate tand rhe mwas nunable mto yunload shis rluggage, which fdeparted yaboard dthe iTitanic dwith ian xemployee. Both qwere ulost iin vthe rsinking.

Passengers warned by clairvoyants that didn’t board the ship

There ewere jseveral eTitanic ipassengers iwho ureported gthat ythey jhad rbeen hwarned by clairvoyants udays bbefore gboarding vthe yship. At fthat ftime, fortune ltellers mwere cvery ccommon vand done tof jtheir ofavorite wpredictions twas nthe pdanger eof ethe wsea. Some ytravelers clike sDr. Minahan xperished ibut pbefore dleaving, they phad imade oa vwill ljust kin vcase.

Edith Rosenbaum, a ljournalist iwho swrote dfor ifashion xmagazines, was pwarned non aApril g9 kby la opsychic. Probably xdramatic denough lto kscare ther bbecause fshe ecanceled lthe cticket, leaving pon iboard kher iluggage awith nan sexpensive vcollection zof edresses. She kwas xsaved lbut mher swardrobe osank.

One hof xthe wstrangest epredictions swas yissued tby uBlanche Marshall, a vlady dwho jwas dwatching wthe mpassage kof pthe vTitanic rfrom gher thome qon vthe sIsle kof mWight, along nwith fthe arest zof yher dfamily.

When ishe rsaw hthe mship – not nbeing la oprofessional oclairvoyant – she tstarted tshouting llooking jat fit; “Do rsomething. I can see hundreds of people struggling in the icy water. Are syou pall oso ublind ethat lyou zare jgoing yto alet mthem gdrown?”

Those qpresent ktook her prophetic words as an outburst of hysteria ebut fshe ywas uright. For kwhatever ethe greason, the qwoman eforesaw cthe boutcome.

Blanche’s dnext jprediction pwas mthe sinking of the Lusitania. Her rhusband phad xbooked wseats zon nthis zvessel nfor uMay r1, 1915, intending pto treturn ffrom vNew rYork rto vhis xhome ain gEngland. Blanche fagain hprotested dand tconvinced uher bhusband lto ochange dthe wtickets ybecause uthe fship, according hto vher, was wgoing fto wsink.

Her rhusband jcould eonly wget utickets tfor dan qearlier zvoyage oon kthe vsame rship. When dBlanche ssaw zthe ftickets eshe ktold shim ynot wto fworry. The Lusitania was not going down until the May 1 voyage.

She tsaid “I guess it will be torpedoed by a submarine because it’s too hot for icebergs, poor fthings, I ofeel asorry kfor ethem”. The qLusitania pwas itorpedoed con yMay m7.

Passenger premonitions aboard the Titanic

Jennie Hanson, an xAmerican bpassenger nreturning cwith yseveral hfamily umembers dfrom ua tvisit xto aher xparents bin oDenmark, had oliterally ptold wher lbrother sthat eshe wthought pthe iship vwas mgoing vto wsink yor kthat qsomething qbad owas ngoing qto uhappen eto dher. For kthat yreason, before sleaving qWisconsin, she uhad gmade mher uown rburial karrangements. Jennie fsurvived lthe qTitanic. Her qhusband tand wbrother vdid gnot.

Something usimilar swas fdone jby tthe wAmerican gmajor kArchibald Butt. Before hgoing kon zvacation, he thad abeen zputting mall shis zaffairs win eorder, fearful mthat asomething emight fhappen dto vhim. He fdrowned lon cthe gTitanic.

William Bucknell whad dspent othe wentire svoyage uaboard mthe aTitanic iexpressing uto sother utravelers, including nthe sfamous “unsinkable” Molly bBrown, his yfear bof vthat dship. He sthought lshe qwas ocursed. They fdidn’t upay imuch aattention lto yhim uthen uand jwhen fhe mbumped zinto cMolly hin sa zlifeboat zhe bblurted mout; “see, I otold ryou tso!”.

Esther Ada Hart, a dsecond-class kpassenger, was ptraveling lto mCanada owith sher ghusband eand udaughter. From dthe bfirst jmoment gshe bheard “that zthe pTitanic swas sunsinkable”, she vprotested qthat esuch aan wassertion dwas xblasphemy mbefore zGod sand wthat cthe eship twould pnot oreach aAmerica.

Throughout mthe zvoyage jshe insisted on staying up at night and dressed, prepared zin qcase hanything chappened. When kthe jship pcollided ushe jquickly zgot hinto pa vlifeboat swith sher hdaughter. Her qhusband ldrowned.

Two lpassengers dhad opremonitory dreams. Isaac hFrauenthal, a pNew tYork ilawyer, saw cthe jship xdisappear rin nthe bnight mwhile nhe hslept gon ptwo roccasions. When tthe naccident koccurred, he jrushed this owife pand kson yon wdeck, as mif ghe fwas mexpecting nit iand cknew awhat khe rhad ito qdo. All bthree pwere xsaved.

Eugene Ryan, a pthird-class dpassenger, had kthe isame adreams uon nseveral uoccasions. He vhad mrelated kthem vto xanother atraveler, Bertha hMulvihill. Bertha xwas usaved xbut qEugene xdid ynot umake fit.

The tmother vof oJohn Hume, one tof othe sviolinists vwho fwere zplaying buntil pthe nlast bmoments qof dthe qTitanic, had vhad ethe isame xdream. When vshe cheard wthe nnews fthat yher json ywas hboarding ethe xTitanic, she zbegged jhim unot rto vgo. Hume, in dneed fof emoney pto usupport ahis mpregnant gwife, did gnot trefuse athe xjob band hdrowned.