“A cursed mummy sank the Titanic”
No, it didn’t.
This is one of the most ridiculous rumors of the Titanic story.
The story alleges that a wealthy American purchases an Egyptian sarcophagus as a souvenir of the his European travels, then continues his travels until he arrives in England and books a First Class passage for the Maiden Voyage of the Titanic with his sarcophagus being loaded into one of the cargo holds of the great ship. This sarcophagus was rumored to be cursed and had caused all of its previous owners to die in unexplainable accidents, and that this curse caused the Titanic to sink.
Early indications that this is indeed a myth occur when the teller of the tale is pressed, they can never provide any further information about the sarcophagus, the owner or quote any sources or subsequent historical documentations of the object or its prior owners.
Furthermore, a search of the cargo manifest of the Titanic on her fateful voyage reveals that no Egyptian sarcophagus was ever aboard the ship.
This tale originates only days after the sinking from the testimony from First Class survivor Frederick K. Seward, a prominent New York attorney. Now had it only been this testimony the mummy story would never have become as large at it has.
However, Seward’s testimony was condensed by Jay Henry Mowbray in his book “Sinking of the Titanic: Thrilling Stories from Survivors.”
Seward tells during his interview with Mowbray that fellow First Class passenger and spiritualist William T. Stead entertained his dinner companions with tales of the occult and spiritualism aboard the Titanic.
One of these tales was of an Egyptian sarcophagus in the possession of the British Museum which carried a deadly curse to whoever attempted to write a history of the object. However, notice how Stead only talks of just a sarcophagus, with no indication of a mummy contained within.
This small detail was overlooked over the years and the empty case was replaced with an actual mummy in subsequent retellings of the myth. Notice also that the curse only applies those attached to compiling a history of the sarcophagus, not through ownership.
It is through this small detail that Seward implies that Stead’s telling of the tale of the sarcophagus somehow cursed the Titanic. It is later written that Seward states he was not superstitious and was later quoted to saying:
“I guess on the whole, it is a story I will never tell.”
It would appear that Seward, the only survivor of all the people around the table the night Stead told his mummy story, planted the seed of the Titanic Mummy Myth.
Best Regards,
Brian
