A Titanic Conspiracy?, page
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Topic started on 3-10-2003 @ 02:19 AM by MorningtonCrescent
the ship itself, not the movie.

it's been rumored for years that the Olympic, the Titanic's nearly identical older sister, was switched with the Titanic in a bid to collect insurance money. on the surface that seems absurd, but it isn't outside of the realm of possibility. the Olympic was viewed as something of a lemon; it was involved in a collision with a warship and had been sent back to drydock numerous times for repair. the White Star Line was relying on income from the Olympic to pay for the building of the Titanic and the youngest sister the Gigantic (later renamed the Brittanic), so when the numbers came in lower than expected, White Star had a problem. so, a plan was concocted to switch the Olympic and the Titanic, sink the Olympic near enough to another ship to get the passengers off the ship and collect the insurance money.

The Olympic and the Titanic looked very nearly the same. in fact, the White Star Line used pictures of the Olympic in all of its promotional materials for the Titanic. (there were internal differences, but I'll get to that later.) slap on a new brass nameplate, and you've got another ship.

now onto the sinking. why would White Star intentionally kill so many people? obviously, they wouldn't. that's not good for business. someone fouled up and landed up sinking the ship too far away from nearby ships. J. Bruce Ismay (the president of White Star) ordered Captain Smith to go full-speed ahead, despite both of them being fully aware of an iceberg field straight ahead. now, it could be said that Ismay was trying to reach New York quicker to make Titanic seem faster, but that wasn't likely to change the perception of White Star ships. the Cunard line was the holder of the fastest ships on the North Atlantic at that time, and White Star based its marketing on luxury, not speed. they also knew about the lack of lifeboats, but in 1912, that wasn't seen as a problem. lifeboats were just there to ferry passengers from the sinking ship to a rescue ship. so everything goes horribly wrong, Captain Smith goes down with the ship along with over a thousand others and Ismay lives out the rest of his life in hiding.

but, with every good conspiracy theory, there is a catch. the internal design of the Titanic is a sticking point. there are numerous rather significant differences between the Olympic and the Titanic. the Titanic had a French style cafe, the Olympic did not. the layout of the Turkish baths on the Titanic were different than on the Olympic. the Olympic had a dorm-style third class, while the Titanic had seperate rooms that slept from 4-16 people. also, so many people would have to been involved in a switch, it's unlikely everyone would have kept silent. but, we won't ever really know. I don't think anyone has asked any Titanic survivors about the layout of the inside of the ship, and there really weren't a lot of third class passengers left to ask about third class. White Star did eventually get an insurance settlement, but that went to families of the deceased.

I'm a font of useless Titanic info, so any Titanic questions in general I can probably answer. oh, and what do I think about this? like I said, it isn't outside of the realm of possibility.


reply posted on 4-10-2003 @ 05:47 PM by Silk
Not to seriously pour water on your parade - but James Cameron invested a lot of money in getting the footage he did as research - and was used in the film. I think some one who know maritime engineering and the ships layout would have commented long before on this ?. Also Discovery Channel and Woods Hole have also spent significant time researching the causes of the disaster - and the current theory is actually sub standard steel used in the rivets and plating.

Given the project management required to build a huge capital investment like Titanic - rigging a ship to sink would be a bit of a major thing to do. Lets face it the ship was built in Belfast - and construction I understand supervised from Liverpool. Haarland had a huge reputation at stake in building this ship - and suffered after its sinking. Im no marine engineer - ask my dad hes the one who built ships - but to fake a ships demise - sorry for the pun just doesnt hold water. I would also add that a visit to a certain bar in Belfast - where a huge ammount of recovered materials are on display - mention of such a slur on the ship building skills and ethics of the people involved might be met with a sure and direct response.

Why not ? - the ships hull is still down there - and her sister was available till the early '90s to examine - also pictures and manifests accound for her departure at a time her sister ship was also accounted for.

It is howver intersting that the conspiracy theory behind her sinking grew in popularity prior to the release of a film that although successful was hugely inaccurate in its portrayal of a liner of its class - and subsequently went on to win Oscars.

FWIW White Star Line actually existed into the 1970s - albeit under another flag - and as a tanker fleet.


reply posted on 30-8-2007 @ 02:53 PM by themonitor
To those of you who doubt this conspiracy theory....
there is a surprising amount of evidence to support the theory that the 2 ships were indeed switched. Firstly the Titanic and the Olympic had 2 very different designs of boilers. According to the footage shot at the wreckage of the ship, the one that sank had the old style boiler (the olympic's boiler)

Also there is a very famous photo of the 'Titanic' before it sailed it's maiden voyage. It has a patch of paint that is a slightly different colour to the rest of the ship, in the exact location where the olympic collided with the HMS Hawk (which was equiped with an underwatewer Ram!)
That patch of paint was also the exact same shape and size as the resulting collision. (interesting no?)

I also find it quite strange that the design of the Titanic was altered to make it look more like the Olympic, only a few months after the collision with the HMS Hawk.

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. Because the HMS Hawk was a military ship, the insurance policy for the olympic was void. No other insurance company would insure the Olympic because it was no longer 'sea worthy'.
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!)



To tell you everything I know about this theory would take too long, suffice it to say that at one point I was addicted to the idea and dug up a lot of evidence. Most of that evidence would seem to indicate to me that the ships were indeed switched. If you want to find some more info yourself, that's what google is for!
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