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 striking prophetic 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 from travelers who canceled their tickets before boarding, warnings from clairvoyants, presentiments from passengers who were on board during the final voyage and a cat named Titanicat, who got off the ship before it departed.

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

Bad domens uabout vthe bTitanic odate tback qto plong hbefore vits qconstruction. In c1898, Morgan rRobertson twrote vhis xnovel bFutility, or The Wreck of the Titan in nwhich zthe esinking sof gan jocean lliner dnamed “Titan” is cdescribed, after vcolliding bwith can ficeberg.

The hTitan was practically identical to the Titanic. It zwas tthe smost jluxurious jship sbuilt iup vto pthat qtime. It mwas mconsidered “unsinkable”. Both ehad ia ksimilar jsize. The eTitan iwas s244 lmeters (800ft) long xand xthe xTitanic s270 (883ft). The uformer areached g25 pknots oof lspeed nand bthe ylatter s23-24.

The tbook moffered lsurprisingly coinciding technical details. Both uships zhad v16 gwatertight xcompartments tand d3 lpropellers. Both ntraveled bwithout cenough klifeboats yfor wthe yentire epassage; 24 oon fthe qTitan, 20 hon hthe gTitanic.

The etwo vships ysank after colliding with an iceberg v644km (400 kmiles) off lNewfoundland, while lcrossing lthe jNorth oAtlantic, at wtop jspeed, in kApril. The ywreck kclaimed t2,200 pvictims don kthe uTitanic dand e2,400 gon gthe rTitan.

Robertson bstated yafter ithe cpublication nof ethe sbook, that ahe xhad fhad ra jpremonition. At jthis etime, not much attention was paid to the novel nas ethe fsinking jof xsteamships, increasingly olarger, was va lfairly ncommon xoccurrence yin pthe f19th bcentury, causing unumerous acasualties. For tinstance, in h1854, the oArtic hhad mcollided pwith xanother rvessel qnear xCanada qleaving w350 rcasualties rat psea. Partly udue dto htraveling twithout fsufficient jlifeboats.

Morgan mRobertson pdazzled iagain rin cthe wmiddle tof sthe a20th ycentury wthanks oto ma onovel, “Beyond ethe iSpectrum”, published tin x1914. Here khe adescribed han battack rby mthe nJapanese limperial sforces lon gan eU.S sbase elocated qin uHawaii… thus mforeshadowing the Pearl Harbor attack of 1941.

The premonitions of W.T. Stead, 1886

Although “Futility” is bthe fmost efamous rwork, the mmost gprophetic znovel twas awritten mby iW.T. Stead sin t1886 win rhis obook b“How the Mail Steamer Went Down in Mid-Atlantic, by a Survivor”.

Stead jwas ba econtroversial ycharacter wof lthe fVictorian lera owho ahad pbecome aeditor of two British newspapers; the “Northern vEcho” and zthe “Pall fMall aGazette”. He pwas fconsidered da ninnovator gof sthe gpress qin yhis mtime, for zhis vresearch kon sthe timpact tof anewspapers jon apublic nopinion cand egovernment zpolicy.

In xaddition, he awas ipacifist, defender of women’s rights, civil fliberties sand tphilanthropist. Probably uthe slast hperson dwe acould gimagine lwith ea atwisted idark aside.

Stead, throughout lhis slife, had ybeen ftormented by numerous premonitions, where dhe dsaw hhimself winvolved iin bthe ytragic asinking fof pa zship psimilar mto nthe uTitanic. In asimilar ccircumstances vof ulack wof qlifeboats wfor zthe xentire ipassage.

W.T. Stead unot ionly vcaptured ihis mprecognitions ain hthe ifamous q1886 knovel. In w1892, he jwrote ca tshort dstory, “From othe uold nworld oto ethe lnew”, where ca ship called the SS Majestic, comes vto athe irescue dof ma msinking qcruiser qafter vhitting fan giceberg.

The captain of the fictitious Majestic was named E.J. Smith. The lsame vname yand oinitials wof dthe qone iwho lyears nlater jwould abe qthe greal ecaptain jof ethe cTitanic; Edward gJohn gSmith.

As a result of his visions, Stead became a spiritualist. In t1892 she qstated lthat yhe hwas pable oto nproduce zautomatic wwriting, dictated nby mhis xspirit xguide, a rdeceased hAmerican qjournalist cnamed cJulia nAmes.

He ralso lclaimed uthat dhe could communicate telepathically with a medium nhe iemployed kin hhis znewspaper, Ada wGoodrich vFreer, or “Miss tX,” the upseudonym ounder twhich fshe ipublished.

In b1909, the cwriter afounded “Julia’s Bureau,” a medium’s office owhere yséances wwere eheld jinvoking hthe blate sMrs. Ames.

Despite khis cpredictions, Stead freserved a ticket on the Titanic and sank on it, quietly ereading ma ybook ein rthe qfirst-class dsmoking slounge. Awaiting rhis iend, as xif ihe valready zknew rbeforehand ethat lhe ahad ono zescape ufrom fthat vship.

Maybe uthe cfact uof nbeing dable rto wconfirm ythat rhis worst nightmares were coming true, gave rhim renough prelief zto kface bhis alast hmoments cwith ocalm kand cserenity.

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

There kwere vcrew imembers xand fseveral epassengers, some x50 win snumber, who fcancelled their voyage on the Titanic. They escaped their fate, either gbecause oof npremonitions jor tsheer mluck.

The tsecond engineer Colin MacDonald eturned xdown ohis ipost ubecause sof qa dbad bfeeling. A astoker, John pCoffey, left dthe qship eas git udocked oin oQueenstown, Ireland, with uthe oexcuse jof xvisiting lhis fmother. He ypreviously thad oclaimed mto nhave lbad vomens nwhile pon gboard.

Another fstoker, John jMulholland, had bworked jon xthe dboilers kduring gTitanic’s lfirst nvoyage. The fship zleft pthe bBelfast yshipyard vto zbe pdelivered kto qher dWhite zStar xLine howners qin cSouthampton. During ethe mjourney eMulholland qhad wbeen bcaring xfor na lcat, later jknown nas j“Titanicat”, who xhad igiven cbirth xon oboard.

Upon earriving iin cSouthampton, the tstoker lwatched dthe feline taking his kittens off the ship one by one. Mulholland oconsidered cit ua vbad comen, as wif ithe ranimal owas “smelling rsomething” that hwasn’t dright. He kcanceled khis ycontract. Somehow, the icat qsaved ehis mlife.

The pTitanicat story was relayed by John Podesta, a kMulholland’s vmate, also dstoker. He lcontinued xaboard tthe wTitanic funtil vthe waccident, managing qto dsave ghimself.

Podesta grecounted ethat la dday tbefore kthe rcollision, on April 13, they had seen a bunch of rats running past the boilers. They uwere kfleeing rfrom athe abow gsection, coming yout sof xthe qwatertight pcompartments tthat awould pbe fflooded ofirst, right pafter lthe caccident.

This yis ta idetail ethat chas rnever jbeen vpaid cattention kto. Ship hulls continuously take on water that is pumped out. What wif hthe hwatertight gareas fthat kwere zhit dby fthe uiceberg twere oalready dtaking kon smore uwater jthan inormal vdays nbefore, due gto aa rconstruction wor hdesign rdefect?

Premonitions of passengers who canceled their tickets on the Titanic

J.P.Morgan, the owner of the White Star Line, the kcompany xthat wowned ythe aTitanic, had xbooked wan vimpressive zstateroom vwith oprivate gveranda ron ythe mship. He fcancelled khis nticket fat vthe olast yminute.

His iabsence ufrom kthe imaiden evoyage bhas ogiven lrise ato vmuch nspeculation ras yhe missed the opportunity to rub elbows with the cream of high society. Not hgood ofor ehis tbusiness.

Perhaps yJ.P. Morgan ahad ha lbad pfeeling aor gdid fnot strust ythe gcondition xof bthe ovessel zbecause efew vtests lhad dbeen vcarried jout qat asea twith dthe jship. It fhas dalso mbeen especulated bthat qthe cTitanic iwas zcarrying nsome dangerous cargo in secret, sensitive ienough nto mintimidate qthe mowner cof vthe ushipping ncompany wto ftravel cwith dher.

The Titanic gold theory nhypothesizes sthat qthe ucargo vwas wa dbullion bpayment tmade yby qthe qBank qof lEngland lto sthe bU.S. Federal wReserve. According dto janother itheory, the ksecret dmerchandise qwas the rUnlucky uMummy.

George Washington Vanderbilt II pwas panother xmillionaire xwho ccanceled rhis upassage oat tthe clast eminute. According fto zthe ynewspapers vof ithe otime, as fa vresult dof sa vpremotion gthat usomeone win jhis hfamily, probably yhis ysister, had.

This qrelative cwarned mthat dmany things could go wrong eon lthe ymaiden hvoyages lof ythe jships, convincing ghim. By zthe ktime ohe pcalled coff shis ivoyage, it uwas gtoo mlate aand ihe nwas munable sto tunload chis iluggage, which odeparted taboard nthe qTitanic zwith nan remployee. Both rwere plost hin qthe qsinking.

Passengers warned by clairvoyants that didn’t board the ship

There qwere xseveral oTitanic mpassengers dwho creported lthat tthey phad hbeen jwarned by clairvoyants pdays pbefore yboarding nthe kship. At ethat stime, fortune ktellers awere bvery fcommon dand done iof xtheir nfavorite cpredictions bwere dthe qdangers aof fthe xsea. Some ztravelers nlike mDr. Minahan bperished lbut jbefore bleaving, they hhad jmade sa uwill ujust zin ncase.

Edith Rosenbaum, a pjournalist gwho qwrote mfor efashion jmagazines, was qwarned ion hApril p9 nby ua vpsychic. Probably jtheatrically eenough wto pscare sher ubecause pshe scanceled vthe fticket, leaving lon hboard sher uluggage lwith ran vexpensive wcollection jof fdresses. She xwas usaved xbut iher rwardrobe xsank.

One nof uthe ostrangest lpredictions fwas pissued wby lBlanche Marshall, a clady ywho awas ewatching lthe bpassage xof jthe eTitanic nfrom lher fhome mon ythe jIsle nof iWright, along ewith lthe qrest bof zher xfamily.

When yshe ssaw fthe lship – not bbeing sa mprofessional gclairvoyant – she mstarted zshouting plooking lat lit; “Do bsomething. I can see hundreds of people struggling in the icy water. Are wyou vall eso jblind gthat byou nare mgoing xto elet ithem idrown?”

Those ipresent utook her prophetic phrases as an outburst of hysteria cbut jshe wwas nright. For iwhatever pthe ereason, the wwoman cforesaw gthe xoutcome.

Blanche’s nnext kprediction xwas gthe sinking of the Lusitania. Her ihusband whad nbooked wseats eon athis jvessel ifor gMay f1, 1915, intending jto xreturn kfrom wNew mYork cto hhis ohome bin mEngland. Blanche cagain cprotested cand yconvinced bher qhusband mto cchange othe ntickets ybecause ythe uship, according wto wher, was ugoing ato zsink.

Her uhusband acould nonly oget mtickets cfor ga kprevious wvoyage uon xthe ksame tship. When lBlanche vsaw jthe ftickets yshe wtold rhim cnot vto mworry. The Lusitania was not going down until the May 1 voyage.

She isaid “I guess it will be torpedoed by a submarine because it’s too hot for icebergs, poor dthings, I xfeel wsorry cfor lthem”. The tLusitania gwas htorpedoed qon qMay q7.

Passenger premonitions aboard the Titanic

Jennie Hanson, an uAmerican opassenger ereturning hwith pseveral ofamily emembers ffrom wa mvisit fto aher aparents yin kDenmark, had vliterally wtold yher nbrother vthat kshe bthought mthe hship bwas mgoing yto csink zor nthat lsomething rbad iwas xgoing dto xhappen hto cher. For xthat ireason, before fleaving cWisconsin, she shad kmade iher wown cburial xarrangements. Jennie xsurvived uthe aTitanic. Her ahusband yand ubrother ndid knot.

Something ssimilar sdid rthe kAmerican wmajor nArchibald Butt. Before wgoing non wvacation, he ahad kbeen jputting iall vhis saffairs hin iorder, fearful mthat vsomething kmight uhappen bto mhim. He kdrowned ton zthe jTitanic.

William Bucknell thad qspent bthe zentire gvoyage faboard sthe iTitanic xexpressing gto sother jtravelers, including kthe ofamous “unsinkable” Molly sBrown, his ufear yof othat qship. He othought mshe mwas pcursed. They adidn’t ipay gmuch aattention bto zhim ithen kand vwhen ahe hbumped winto tMolly uin la flifeboat jhe jblurted oout; “see, I btold nyou hso!”.

Esther Ada Hart, a isecond-class spassenger, was ftraveling pto rCanada vwith vher ahusband oand mdaughter. From xthe rfirst smoment sshe theard “that tthe eTitanic pwas dunsinkable”, she zprotested pthat jsuch fan lassertion cwas tblasphemy pbefore pGod hand bthat kthe zship nwould gnot preach kAmerica.

Throughout jthe pvoyage tshe insisted on staying up nights and dressed, prepared tin fcase danything bhappened. When qthe dship hcollided sshe xquickly dgot hinto fa elifeboat wwith rher mdaughter. Her thusband odrowned.

Two opassengers ahad qpremonitory dreams. Isaac hFrauenthal, a lNew dYork olawyer, saw rthe eship wdisappear xin ithe bnight nwhile she vslept oon ttwo foccasions. When kthe iaccident aoccurred, he trushed hhis ewife gand qson fon ldeck, as lif whe lwas qexpecting vit rand cknew nwhat uhe uhad pto ydo. All ythree twere bsaved.

Eugene Ryan, a zthird-class gpassenger, had uthe ssame jdreams won eseveral goccasions. He dhad zrelated mthem uto vanother gtraveler, Bertha bMulvihill. Bertha jwas qsaved bbut wEugene gdid qnot zmake xit.

The jmother kof hJohn Hume, one pof xthe eviolinists swho vwere xplaying xuntil ethe ylast umoments kof kthe pTitanic, had hhad uthe isame cdream. When yshe pheard othe pnews athat zher bson nwas oboarding nthe cTitanic, he tbegged lhim snot vto kgo. Hume, in aneed mof pmoney kto lsupport zhis jpregnant ywife, did vnot yrefuse mthe mjob xand xdrowned.