It was deemed unsinkable and indestructible, the largest floating vessel and the greatest achievement of men... Then, in 1912, the ship collided with an iceberg and sank in the North Atlantic Ocean, resulting in a devastating loss of life.
You would be forgiven for thinking that this ship is the Titanic, which captivated the world with its tragic story 112 years ago this week.
However, you would be mistaken. These sentences describe the "Titan," the ship envisioned by American author Morgan Robertson in his lesser-known novel published in 1898.
In his book, "Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan," Robertson eerily predicted one of the most horrifying maritime disasters in history, as reported by the Daily Mail.
Like the Titanic, the Titan collided with an iceberg in the North Atlantic, off the coast of Newfoundland, about 1,000 miles from New York's coast. The fictional catastrophe and the real tragedy took place in a relatively calm sea during the night in April.
The similarities don't end there. Both the imagined ship and the real ship were traveling at high speeds, and each had a vulnerability on the starboard side.
When the Titanic sank, over 1,500 people lost their lives, and there were similarly devastating losses of life when Robertson's ship, the Titan, went down, although he did not specify the numbers.
Furthermore, Robertson wrote that the Titan had 40,000 horsepower and a maximum speed of 25 knots, while the Titanic had 50,000 horsepower and the same maximum speed.
In his depiction of the disaster, Robertson wrote, "Lookout astern: Ice... Ice ahead of you. Iceberg right ahead... The first officer ran amidships, the captain leaped from the bridge into the engine-room telegraph cabin, and this time the lever was reversed."
He claimed to believe that while writing his novel, he was under the control of a spirit and heard "whispered commands" from a "master" in the "great silence behind."
Translation to English:
A book predicted the "Titanic" disaster 14 years in advance.
It was deemed unsinkable and indestructible, the largest floating vessel and the greatest achievement of men... Then, in 1912, the ship collided with an iceberg and sank in the North Atlantic Ocean, resulting in a devastating loss of life.
You would be excused for thinking that this ship is the Titanic, which captivated the world with its tragic story 112 years ago this week.
However, you would be mistaken. These sentences describe the "Titan," the ship envisioned by American author Morgan Robertson in his lesser-known novel published in 1898.
In his book, "Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan," Robertson eerily predicted one of the most horrifying maritime disasters in history, as reported by the Daily Mail.
Like the Titanic, the Titan collided with an iceberg in the North Atlantic, off the coast of Newfoundland, about 1,000 miles from New York's coast. The fictional catastrophe and the real tragedy took place in a relatively calm sea during the night in April.
The similarities don't end there. Both the imagined ship and the real ship were traveling at high speeds, and each had a vulnerability on the starboard side.
When the Titanic sank, over 1,500 people lost their lives, and there were similarly devastating losses of life when Robertson's ship, the Titan, went down, although he did not specify the numbers.
Furthermore, Robertson wrote that the Titan had 40,000 horsepower and a maximum speed of 25 knots, while the Titanic had 50,000 horsepower and the same maximum speed.
In his depiction of the disaster, Robertson wrote, "Lookout astern: Ice... Ice ahead of you. Iceberg right ahead... The first officer ran amidships, the captain leaped from the bridge into the engine-room telegraph cabin, and this time the lever was reversed."
He claimed to believe that while writing his novel, he was under the control of a spirit and heard "whispered commands" from a "master" in the "great silence behind."
