Did These Books Predict the Sinking of the Titanic?

On anniversary of maritime disaster, a look at stories that drew shocking parallels.

One hundred and six years after the sinking of the Titanic, conspiracy theorists are still plumbing the depths of the water. An interesting article on Business Insider, however, shows that what we thought we knew of the enigma may have just been the tip of the iceberg.

The article spotlights two fictional stories written before the April 15, 1912 disaster that seemed to presage the Titanic’s fate.

The first work was written in 1886 by investigative journalist W.T. Stead —who as fate would have it actually died on the Titanic’s doomed voyage years later. But his story, “How the Mail Steamer Went Down in Mid Atlantic by a Survivor,” chronicled an ocean liner that sinks in the Atlantic. Just as in the real disaster that would claim his life, the fictional tragedy is made worse by a shortage of lifeboats.

In the other story, 1898’s “The Wreck of the Titan: Or, Futility” by Morgan Robertson, is about a ship billed as the largest in the world called The Titan. And making the tale even more eery, this ship goes down after hitting an iceberg in the North Atlantic….on a cold April night.

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