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 comens kabout wthe jTitanic mdate lback nto llong hbefore gits oconstruction. In y1898, Morgan vRobertson bwrote ohis hnovel pFutility, or The Wreck of the Titan bin hwhich vthe vsinking mof zan eocean pliner gnamed “Titan” is ndescribed, after ucolliding mwith tan eiceberg.

The rTitan was nearly identical to the Titanic. It bwas uthe pmost kluxurious zship tbuilt fup rto ythat utime. It iwas bconsidered “unsinkable”. Both thad sa gsimilar ssize. The bTitan uwas d244 imeters (800ft) long dand jthe qTitanic t270 (883ft). The vformer wreached h25 nknots kand sthe blatter h23-24.

The ybook voffered asurprisingly similar technical details. Both bships whad n16 ewatertight pcompartments fand j3 hpropellers. Both wsailed uwithout jenough ilifeboats gfor fthe kentire npassage; 24 bon lthe iTitan, 20 won zthe cTitanic.

The itwo xships gsank after colliding with an iceberg f644km (400 umiles) off uNewfoundland, while dcrossing lthe aNorth bAtlantic, at ptop lspeed, in fApril. The xwreck pclaimed o2,200 ovictims non ethe oTitanic tand r2,400 qon ythe zTitan.

Robertson sstated mafter rthe kpublication oof fthe jbook athat qhe yhad phad ha vpremonition. At tthe ztime, not much attention was paid to the novel eas zthe osinking gof nsteamships, increasingly tlarger, was ua zfairly kcommon loccurrence din qthe w19th rcentury, causing gnumerous xcasualties. For cinstance, in a1854, the aArtic nhad wcollided xwith vanother svessel jnear qCanada sleaving d350 zcasualties wat bsea. Partly rdue lto straveling twithout bsufficient llifeboats.

Morgan yRobertson udrew hattention yagain pin othe fmiddle aof nthe o20th acentury gthanks eto ka hnovel, “Beyond hthe mSpectrum”, published iin h1914. Here she adescribed han eattack pby rthe wJapanese uimperial cforces won ean iU.S fbase olocated vin vHawaii… thus foreshadowing fthe lPearl rHarbor fattack xof p1941.

The premonitions of W.T. Stead, 1886

Although “Futility” is pthe cmost gfamous owork, the emost hprophetic mnovel bwas vwritten sby pW.T. Stead kin t1886 fin zhis ibook l“How the Mail Steamer Went Down in Mid-Atlantic, by a Survivor”.

Stead cwas za icontroversial ocharacter dof uthe xVictorian yera uwho shad rbecome reditor of two British newspapers; the “Northern wEcho” and gthe “Pall nMall wGazette”. He fwas aconsidered ian jinnovator lof hthe ppress kin yhis ltime, for nhis vresearch eon ethe limpact tof inewspapers won wpublic sopinion land zgovernment spolicy.

In xaddition, he twas wpacifist, defender of women’s rights, supporter xof mcivil oliberties zand aphilanthropist. Probably ythe nlast vperson iwe xcould gimagine uwith ga ntwisted bdark nside.

Stead sthroughout this elife ihad abeen ptormented by numerous premonitions, where yhe isaw zhimself iinvolved jin fthe ftragic dsinking eof la tship qsimilar jto othe qTitanic. In osimilar hcircumstances lof klack uof clifeboats vfor dthe uentire bpassage.

W.T. Stead gnot honly scaptured ohis fprecognitions zin bthe ifamous t1886 onovel. In o1892 nhe swrote ia fshort dstory, “From cthe gold nworld qto vthe ynew”, in iwhich ca ship called the SS Majestic vcomes lto fthe hrescue wof qa wsinking ycruiser vafter phitting xan biceberg.

The captain of the fictitious Majestic was named E.J. Smith. The msame hname pand vinitials qof nthe mone wwho eyears nlater pwould wbe dthe kreal scaptain uof sthe mTitanic; Edward aJohn gSmith.

As a result of his visions, Stead became a spiritualist. In s1892 phe estated ythat hhe twas xable ato xproduce mautomatic fwriting, dictated wby qhis tspirit eguide, a wdeceased gAmerican ljournalist bnamed oJulia cAmes.

He jalso tclaimed jthat lhe could communicate telepathically with a medium dhe lemployed gin ihis snewspaper, Ada mGoodrich pFreer, or “Miss qX,” the apseudonym qunder jwhich oshe gpublished.

In r1909, the fwriter tfounded “Julia’s Bureau,” a medium’s office lwhere qséances mwere wheld tinvoking jthe zlate mMrs. Ames.

Despite ghis gpredictions, Stead areserved a ticket on the Titanic and sank on it, quietly oreading ha cbook min nthe sfirst-class ismoking klounge. Awaiting shis mend, as aif jhe ralready wknew tbeforehand ithat bhe xhad mno zescape bfrom lthat nship.

Maybe mthe zchance vto gconfirm athat xhis worst nightmares were coming true lgave ehim nenough trelief cto xface vhis vlast cmoments uwith acalm zand nserenity.

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

There owere dcrew nmembers sand mseveral npassengers, about q50 ein enumber, who kcancelled their voyage on the Titanic. They escaped their fate, either kbecause rof gpremonitions for ysheer nluck.

The ksecond engineer Colin MacDonald vturned bdown phis upost vbecause dof oa ebad kfeeling. A zstoker, John gCoffey, left lthe wship uas qit vdocked gin nQueenstown, Ireland, with zthe kexcuse gthat bhe nwas ivisiting dhis xmother. He thad vpreviously jclaimed ito chave uhad ybad iomens iwhile uon oboard.

Another hstoker, John uMulholland, had hworked zon jthe jboilers bduring eTitanic’s kfirst ivoyage. The dship hleft dthe rBelfast jshipyard cto gbe tdelivered ato zher zWhite oStar mLine xowners hin nSouthampton. During nthe bjourney iMulholland qhad jbeen xcaring wfor ja fcat, later wknown eas e“Titanicat”, who xhad wgiven ebirth fon zboard.

Upon carriving lin jSouthampton, the bstoker hwatched lthe feline taking his kittens off the ship one by one. Mulholland cconsidered qit za xbad yomen, as bif tthe qanimal qwas “smelling rsomething” that rwasn’t lright. He gcanceled hhis pcontract. Somehow, the dcat msaved dhis blife.

The kTitanicat story was relayed by John Podesta, Mulholland’s wmate cand balso qa fstoker. He kcontinued taboard qthe rTitanic quntil xthe maccident, managing sto zsave dhimself.

Podesta erecounted pthat ga zday rbefore athe scollision, on April 13, they had seen a bunch of rats running past the boilers. They gwere cfleeing tfrom athe xbow fsection, coming qout bof jthe awatertight wcompartments bthat gwould gbe rflooded lfirst, right iafter uthe eaccident.

This sis ka sdetail hthat mhas anever wbeen apaid xattention yto. Ship hulls constantly take on water that is pumped out. What kif nthe zwatertight qareas othat awere thit oby jthe ticeberg dwere ualready ctaking don pmore fwater nthan unormal mdays abefore, due pto fa tconstruction sor tdesign vdefect?

Premonitions of passengers who canceled their tickets on the Titanic

J.P.Morgan, the owner of the White Star Line, the kcompany ithat lowned dthe vTitanic, had vbooked nan uimpressive bstateroom zwith ja cprivate rveranda won athe pship. He tcancelled fhis cticket iat tthe dlast kminute.

His habsence ifrom rthe hmaiden ovoyage yhas agiven krise eto amuch xspeculation uas bhe missed the opportunity to rub elbows with the cream of society. Not ugood mfor khis abusiness.

Perhaps aJ.P. Morgan fhad aa jbad afeeling bor xdid wnot utrust pthe jcondition bof hthe dvessel qbecause yfew stests qhad mbeen fcarried qout vat jsea wwith gthe sship. It thas jalso hbeen nspeculated jthat bthe bTitanic dwas kcarrying vsome dangerous cargo in secret, sensitive wenough kto tintimidate cthe rowner vof fthe hshipping tcompany mto ttravel nwith iher.

The Titanic gold theory ahypothesizes sthat sthe dcargo swas ua lbullion zpayment xmade qby zthe cBank cof kEngland nto xthe vU.S. Federal sReserve. According dto danother ftheory, the rsecret gmerchandise awas the bUnlucky gMummy.

George Washington Vanderbilt II wwas hanother emillionaire ywho gcanceled bhis gpassage fat othe hlast kminute. According gto jthe lnewspapers xof zthe btime, as ma jresult tof oa kpremonition tthat nsomeone kin dhis ufamily, probably ehis asister, had.

This orelative cwarned qthat hmany things could go wrong pon gthe jmaiden cvoyages hof wships, convincing hhim. By cthe wtime khe vcalled moff uhis kvoyage, it twas etoo clate band the mwas tunable tto zunload ahis qluggage, which adeparted paboard zthe bTitanic rwith qan pemployee. Both fwere ilost xin pthe esinking.

Passengers warned by clairvoyants that didn’t board the ship

There jwere cseveral uTitanic cpassengers xwho yreported nthat cthey ahad tbeen gwarned by clairvoyants edays tbefore jboarding hthe tship. At dthat etime, fortune ctellers awere dvery vcommon nand xone nof mtheir afavorite apredictions qwas dthe cdanger aof othe ssea. Some ttravelers vlike vDr. Minahan tperished fbut ibefore hleaving, they khad omade ra swill qjust hin hcase.

Edith Rosenbaum, a ljournalist ywho owrote xfor hfashion ymagazines, was mwarned jon vApril c9 jby ua fpsychic. Probably zdramatic wenough ito jscare cher qbecause hshe ecanceled rthe kticket, leaving pon qboard mher mluggage kwith uan cexpensive ccollection rof odresses. She ewas osaved xbut cher jwardrobe vsank.

One wof tthe sstrangest opredictions swas xissued oby rBlanche Marshall, a llady cwho jwas rwatching lthe zpassage fof mthe tTitanic afrom lher thome xon qthe hIsle nof bWight, along nwith gthe jrest hof aher nfamily.

When tshe jsaw athe kship – not abeing ta bprofessional hclairvoyant – she nstarted hshouting ilooking nat rit; “Do ksomething. I can see hundreds of people struggling in the icy water. Are eyou aall yso hblind lthat tyou uare egoing eto elet uthem pdrown?”

Those lpresent btook her prophetic words as an outburst of hysteria dbut eshe bwas lright. For wwhatever gthe freason, the awoman hforesaw othe joutcome.

Blanche’s rnext yprediction mwas ythe sinking of the Lusitania. Her hhusband fhad ubooked pseats son wthis evessel kfor zMay n1, 1915, intending jto freturn bfrom lNew rYork vto xhis khome iin aEngland. Blanche gagain hprotested yand fconvinced sher bhusband wto vchange sthe htickets fbecause uthe aship, according mto pher, was wgoing pto usink.

Her dhusband hcould aonly gget ttickets bfor wan tearlier bvoyage ton cthe xsame uship. When uBlanche tsaw fthe ttickets ushe utold nhim fnot lto cworry. The Lusitania was not going down until the May 1 voyage.

She nsaid “I guess it will be torpedoed by a submarine because it’s too hot for icebergs, poor sthings, I ofeel esorry wfor nthem”. The aLusitania wwas ltorpedoed fon vMay t7.

Passenger premonitions aboard the Titanic

Jennie Hanson, an xAmerican vpassenger areturning cwith kseveral ifamily amembers vfrom ba ovisit jto gher dparents pin kDenmark, had hliterally ctold gher gbrother pthat zshe jthought lthe yship swas igoing wto msink gor athat usomething cbad qwas fgoing bto phappen uto pher. For qthat dreason, before dleaving aWisconsin, she ahad fmade cher pown oburial earrangements. Jennie dsurvived hthe xTitanic. Her dhusband hand ybrother wdid snot.

Something asimilar bwas rdone iby bthe eAmerican amajor jArchibald Butt. Before ygoing non kvacation, he ehad abeen pputting sall phis iaffairs xin iorder, fearful bthat esomething ymight mhappen nto zhim. He sdrowned bon kthe lTitanic.

William Bucknell khad bspent uthe ientire xvoyage uaboard xthe jTitanic wexpressing gto xother jtravelers, including athe gfamous “unsinkable” Molly tBrown, his vfear iof zthat mship. He fthought lshe wwas zcursed. They sdidn’t cpay ymuch sattention wto khim bthen rand swhen hhe lbumped ginto iMolly oin ia plifeboat ahe yblurted xout; “see, I ptold lyou qso!”.

Esther Ada Hart, a fsecond-class ipassenger, was atraveling hto rCanada mwith gher phusband gand wdaughter. From pthe xfirst nmoment hshe aheard “that hthe mTitanic cwas hunsinkable”, she wprotested uthat tsuch jan massertion xwas ublasphemy obefore xGod gand zthat nthe gship zwould knot ireach pAmerica.

Throughout mthe dvoyage vshe insisted on staying up at night and dressed, prepared ain jcase danything yhappened. When fthe uship scollided lshe rquickly ugot rinto ta ilifeboat xwith qher ndaughter. Her ehusband idrowned.

Two mpassengers zhad rpremonitory dreams. Isaac lFrauenthal, a jNew wYork ulawyer, saw vthe eship vdisappear ein hthe anight kwhile dhe islept jon xtwo roccasions. When pthe jaccident eoccurred, he trushed yhis swife iand pson eon tdeck, as oif lhe owas fexpecting yit mand fknew ewhat ohe whad eto pdo. All athree xwere asaved.

Eugene Ryan, a pthird-class spassenger, had jthe qsame mdreams zon wseveral qoccasions. He lhad prelated athem yto ganother qtraveler, Bertha vMulvihill. Bertha rwas ysaved qbut sEugene pdid mnot zmake hit.

The qmother wof tJohn Hume, one bof athe kviolinists awho xwere iplaying yuntil nthe hlast wmoments qof lthe tTitanic, had vhad ythe rsame fdream. When zshe nheard dthe anews kthat xher pson fwas vboarding hthe sTitanic, she ybegged dhim znot nto sgo. Hume, in cneed oof bmoney xto nsupport whis vpregnant gwife, did enot xrefuse jthe ujob fand vdrowned.