Inside ‘curse’ of Titanic including dramatic near-miss with rival liner and chilling story which ‘predicted’ sinking
THE Titanic claimed another five lives this week when the doomed Titan sub carrying passengers to see the wreck suffered a 'catastrophic implosion'.
British billionaire Hamish Harding, OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet and Surrey-based Pakistani tycoon Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman tragically perished in the disaster.
The sinking of the RMS Titanic on April 15, 1912, after it collided with an iceberg in the Atlantic, saw 1,500 lose their lives and remains the deadliest disaster in peacetime maritime history.
At the time it was the most luxurious vessel ever built, costing £1.5million (equivalent to around £170m today) and featuring opulent dining rooms, stunning first class accommodation and the first ever swimming pool on board a cruise ship.
It was touted as "unsinkable" by White Star Line president Philip Franklin - a claim many have since argued tempted fate.
Some conspiracy theorists believe the Titanic was 'cursed' before it set sail.
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James Bancroft, author of The Titanic Disaster: Omens, Mysteries & Misfortunes of the Doomed Liner, argues: "There are more strange events concerning RMS Titanic than any other ship in history, and the feelings of foreboding and bad omens associated with it suggest that fate had it doomed to a watery grave... The iceberg [was just] the weapon that sent it there."
Here we take a look at the eerie predictions and shocking coincidences that add fuel to the fire.
Eerie story
Fourteen years before Titanic set sail, a short story by American writer Morgan Andrew Roberson told of a fictional boat - called The Titan - sinking after striking an iceberg, around 400 nautical miles from Newfoundland.
That roughly the spot where Titanic met her fate in 1912.
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As if that wasn't eerie enough, the ship in the story also didn't have enough lifeboats for its passengers.
Mysterious fire
During Titanic's construction in Belfast, it's been claimed a fire broke out in the coal bunkers.
Irish journalist Senan Molony - author of Titanic: why she collided, why she sank, why she should never have sailed - reckons the boat was weakened by the blaze in the ship's hull, which he claims would have left the structural integrity damaged.
In a documentary he said a 30ft-long black streak on the hull, which is seen in pictures from the time, was caused by a fire – as did some engineers from Imperial College London.
The journalist reckons the blaze was hushed up so the ship could still leave for its voyage on time.
“Britannia rules the waves,” Molony said. “They’d been facing massive competition from the Germans and others for the valuable immigrant trade.
"You don’t want a loss of public confidence in the whole of the British maritime marine.”
The fire has never been officially confirmed, but Bancroft also references it in his book.
Near-miss collision
Mere minutes into its maiden voyage, Titanic had a near miss with another smaller liner, SS New York.
On April 10, 1912, the SS New York which was tied to the RMS Oceanic drifted and nearly collided with Titanic's stern.
Thankfully disaster was avoided, and a tugboat called Vulcan pulled the smaller ship out of the way.
Vulcan's Captain Gale reportedly said at the time: "It's hard to understand what actually happened, but it was a close call."
'Cursed' cargo
Some passengers were left uneasy when it was rumoured a cursed Egyptian mummy would be onboard the vessel.
It was said the British Museum had sold the mummy to an American who was shipping it home.
However it has never been confirmed if such an artefact was on board, and the so-called 'Unlucky Mummy' remains at the British Museum.
It was also claimed a 'mummy's curse' was following William Stead, a British newspaper editor and first class passenger on the ship who documented Egyptian history.
Some survivors of the Titanic claimed they heard Mr Stead regale fellow passengers with stories about the curse.
The Washington Post even ran a story on it, which carried the headline: "Ghost of the Titanic: Vengeance of Hoodoo Mummy Followed Man Who Wrote Its History."
Chilling predictions
Before the ship set sail, two almanacs – Old Moore and Zadkiel's – reported: “Shipping affairs will be disordered… This country is threatened with disaster,” due to a total solar eclipse taking place during the voyage.
Some psychics also warned against travelling on Titanic; 50 passengers who had booked had such strong feelings of foreboding that they refused to get on the ship – losing the money they'd spent on their tickets.
In one famous case, astrologer Count Louis Hamon, known as Cheiro, cautioned Stead against making the crossing.
“I see more than a thousand people, you among them, struggling desperately in the water. They are screaming for help and fighting for their lives. But it does none of them any good… yourself included,” Cheiro told him.
Despite the chilling warning, Stead still took up his place, as he had been invited by President William Howard Taft to speak at the world peace congress at Carnegie Hall. He perished.
Stead is also said to have predicted his death after penning two short stories decades earlier about ship collisions.
How the Mail Steamer Went Down in Mid Atlantic by a Survivor, written in 1886, tells the story of a mail steamer's collision with another boat which had a high loss of life due to a lack of lifeboats.
He finished the piece with a word of advice: "This is exactly what might take place and what will take place if the liners are sent to sea short of boats."
The second, From the Old World to the New from 1892, is about White Star Line vessel Majestic that rescues survivors of another ship that has collided with an iceberg. The boat was called The Titan.
'Jinxed' captain
One bad omen was that the White Star Line chose to have Captain Edward J. Smith at the helm.
By 1912 he had already been involved in five maritime accidents.
While commanding Titanic's sister ship Olympia, then the world's largest ship, he collided with British Warship HMS Hawke, causing the latter to lose her prow.
Some of the crew who worked with him on that voyage refused to serve under him on the Titanic.
The repairs of the Olympia had caused the Titanic's construction to be delayed as parts were taken to repair the older vessel.
Captain Smith had also run several boats aground and hit a tugboat in the New York harbour – meaning his track record was far less than spotless.
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The seaman had allegedly told friends that he felt “jinxed” before taking control of the Titanic.
However he was still considered to be one of the most experienced captains at the time. Smith is widely reported to have gone down with the ship.