Ominous Warnings for Disaster

[Jacquelyn Nickles]

There seams to be a group of people out there that believe that the Titanic was doomed from the start, bound to approach a disaster, or even judged by God. It is an interesting philosophy although hard to prove. Does anyone have a comment on this?


This is what I have found on the subject so far...

Titanica Imax(pharaphrased): The builders of the ship heard a strange pounding noise from within the metal for sometime and believed that someone got built into the ship. This was an ominous sign that something was going to go wrong.

The Idiots Guide to the Titanic: An eclipse could be seen by most of Canada the morning after the Titanic sank.

and other little things like those. Do you think that it is possible that the Titanic was fated to be a tragedy?

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>Do you think that it is possible that the Titanic was fated to be a tragedy? <<

No.

A lot of this came up ex post facto to the disaster itself. What's seldom appriciated is that there was really nothing unusual about the way the ship was built...aside from her size...or operated. It was business as usual right up until the time she struck ice.

The mythmaking was well underway befor the ship had even slipped beneath the surface and has since taken on a life of it's own.

 

[Dave Gittins]

Jacquelyn, the story about the man built into the ship was a repeat of a tale about Great Eastern. It supposedly accounted for her unsuccessful career. In South Australia we have a similar tale about a bridge.

The eclipse was real. It was a solar eclipse but the book is wrong. It took place on April 17th, two days after the event.

We are always seeing events that produce coincidences. Almost all of them are forgotten because they are not connected to some important event. When they are, some idiot cries, "Premonition!"

I had an example the other night that I was going to mention on this forum as a silly example. My watch stopped at 2-30 a.m. on April 15th, about the same time as Titanic hit the bottom. Did this mean anything? Not a sausage! The watch is getting old and temperamental. Next night, it stopped at 3-00 a.m. Last night, it didn't stop at all!

 

[Mark Chirnside]

Hi,

To add two euro cents, I find it interesting that there were so many wierd and wacky events with regard to Titanic's sinking -- though as others have said hindsight plays a massive part. There are likely as not portents for a variety of potential disasters -- but these never happened so we don't hear of them. Titan is an interesting story, although her size and other details can be attributed more to seafaring predictions as to ship design and its progression than anything spooky. I still think that was a wierd story! Then there's Merseyside's Mr. Mercer and a host of others.

Best regards,

Mark.

 

[Nathan Robison]

There are many Titanic writers who have tried to relate the disaster to some kind of "Greek tragedy." Huh?? There is a tendency to interpret the disaster as some sort of Oedipal forebodingness. This is just nonsense.

Michael is most likely correct as to the source of this fantasy; sensationalist writers who began writing books soon after the disaster like Everett Marshall and Mowbray frequently highlighted these fantastical occurrences. But in simplest terms, navigational imprudence combined with shipbuilding limitations resulted in disaster.

I would also have to agree with Mark..."Titan" is an interesting story, but it is just that - a story.

In future years will we look back on Tom Clancy as being fastastically farsighted?

--NR