What a Drag

The legend of a man dressing up as a woman to get on one of the Titanic's
lifeboats is untrue. The story was concocted by reporters about survivor
William T. Sloper, who had spurned their request for an interview. After
disembarking from the Carpathia, a tired Sloper was in no mood to talk to the
press, and he forcibly ejected several newsmen from his room at the Waldorf
Astoria. The journalists took their revenge by printing a story that had
Sloper dressing up in women's clothes to get off the Titanic. Convinced a
libel suit would be more profitable for his lawyers than himself, Sloper never
sued. Instead he spent the rest of his life debunking the allegation.


Uncanny Coincidence

English writer Morgan Robertson wrote Futility, an imaginary account of a
collision between a large trans-Atlantic oceanliner and an iceberg on her
maiden voyage to New York. He called his ship the Titan. Did he cash in on the
disaster? Hardly. Robertson published his book in 1898--14 years before the
Titanic sank. Here are a list of other similarities between fiction and
reality:

                             The Titan        The Titanic

          Displacement (tons)    70,000        66,000
          Length                 800 ft.       882.5 ft.
          Propellers             triple screw  triple screw
          Capacity               3,000 people  3,000 people
          Described as           "unsinkable"  "unsinkable"


Robertson later wrote a book, Beyond the Spectrum, that described a future
war fought with aircraft that carried "sun bombs". Incredibly powerful, one
bomb could destroy a city, erupting in a flash of light that blinds all who
look at it. The war begins in December, started by the Japanese with a sneak
attack on Hawaii. . . .


Insurance Fraud and the Old Switcheroo


Some people claim it was not the Titanic that went down but rather her
sister, the Olympic.  In a scheme to defraud its insurers, White Star
switched ships with the intention of losing the Olympic and reclaiming its
losses. So claims the theory outlined by Gardiner & VanderVat in their book
The Titanic Conspiracy (Birch Lane Press, 1996).

The Olympic had an unfortunate first year.  In September 1911 she ran into a
British cruiser, ripping her own hull and requiring costly repairs. White
Star could claim no damages from insurance because the Olympic was clearly at
fault.  Desperately White Star sought compensation in a hopeless lawsuit
against the British Admiralty. Of course, White Star lost.

A few months later the Olympic lost a propeller blade and returned again to
the shipyard for repairs.  While in the yard the Olympic and Titanic were
constantly rotated in and out of the one available dry dock.  Strangely, the
propeller's repair, which should have taken one day, stretched to five days.
Was this the perfect time to swap ships? Switching a few nameplates and life
preservers, say supporters, would be all it would have taken.

Why? If the Olympic was indeed severely crippled, White Star would want to
substitute the unsound Olympic for the new Titanic, sink her, and collect the
insurance.  J. P.  Morgan, White Star owner and ruthless robber-baron, would
go to great lengths to save an investment.  Interestingly, Morgan and his
friend Robert Bacon, the U. S. Ambassador to France, canceled their bookings
on the Titanic at the last minute.

This conspiracy, say the authors, explains why Captain Smith ignored warnings
and deliberately sailed at full speed into a known ice field. He meant to
sink her, but his execution was premature. He struck his target too soon. The
expected rescue ships were farther west.

The real Titanic served White Star for 23 years until her retirement in 1935.


Iceberg Cocktails?  Not Very Likely

According to several witnesses, when the Titanic hit the iceberg, chunks of
ice fell onto well deck C (between forecastle and bridge). As dramatized in
the film A Night to Remember, passengers saved pieces as souvenirs and, in
fun, dropped it in their drinks.

However, it's unlikely the ice came from the iceberg. Emergency lifeboat #1
would have certainly been destroyed if the berg was that close. Instead, it
was launched in perfect condition and showed no damage. The ice probably came
from the ship's rigging when jolted by the collision.

Moreover, many survivors told of the iceberg's foul odor. Icebergs often reek
of freshly thawed and decaying vegetable and animal matter--a funk not at all
suitable for Scotch on the rocks.




Was Inferior Steel to Blame?

In 1994 metallurgists gathered pieces of the Titanic's hull retrieved from
the wreck site.  The steel edges appeared jagged with no evidence of bending.
Upon testing, the metal proved far more brittle than modern steel.

When the Titanic was built, shipbuilders tested only for tensile strength,
not flexibility.  Scientists speculate that if the builders had been
concerned with embrittlement, the hull would have absorbed more shock and
suffered less damage.  The Titanic might have remained afloat long enough
for the Carpathia to rescue her.

Adding to the brittleness was the water temperature of 28 degrees Fahrenheit.
For high-quality modern steel to shatter as the Titanic's hull did, the water
temperature must reach 130 degrees below zero.