Oleron
17th September 2004, 12:37 AM
I watched a show on TV last night which expounded the theory that the Titanic was switched for its sister ship, the Olympic, as part of an insurance swindle.
The theory is a bit vague and I missed the start of the show but from what I could gather it seems to centre around the fact that Olympic was damaged and in need of expensive repair, so the idea came up to rebadge her as Titanic and scuttle her on her 'maiden voyage'. Thus collecting bags of insurance cash instead of having to pay for refitting.
The evidence seems to be based on several slightly odd occurences before the Titanic set sail for Southampton.
The owner cancelled his ticket for the maiden voyage, claiming illness. He was really in the South of France with his mistress.
The boiler house crew all resigned when the Titanic reached Southampton, claiming that the boilers were old and dangerous.
The evidence of a Belfast blow-hard called Paddy the Pig, who started the rumour that the 2 ships were switched.
The superficial similarity of the 2 ships, near identical.
The 'Californian' cargo ship that left New York with no cargo, sailed to the mid Atlantic and stopped. The theorists claim it was arranged to rendezvous with the Titanic and rescue the passengers when the ship was scuttled.
The plan went astray, say the conspiracists, when the Titanic hit an iceberg, just out of sight of the 'Californian'.
This evidence seems very weak to me but it hasn't stopped several books being written on the subject.
The theory fell apart completely for me when they showed the lead conspiracist a piece of hull plating salvaged from the Titanic debris field. It had 2 large portholes and 2 small portholes in sequence. When the Titanic design schematics were examined the plate was identified conclusively. When the Olympic plans were examined there was no plate that had the portholes in this order.
The nut actually explained this by saying that if the ships were switched the conspirators would have made sure the portholes were re-drilled to make Olympic look like Titanic!
Then theres the small point that 15000 Belfast workers were employed on the Titanic. Did none of them notice the switch?!
Shot down in flames. This theory would be laughable if it didn't involve the death of 1500 people.
The program served a useful purpose for me though. It showed the lengths to which some crazies will go to protect their pet theories.
The theory is a bit vague and I missed the start of the show but from what I could gather it seems to centre around the fact that Olympic was damaged and in need of expensive repair, so the idea came up to rebadge her as Titanic and scuttle her on her 'maiden voyage'. Thus collecting bags of insurance cash instead of having to pay for refitting.
The evidence seems to be based on several slightly odd occurences before the Titanic set sail for Southampton.
The owner cancelled his ticket for the maiden voyage, claiming illness. He was really in the South of France with his mistress.
The boiler house crew all resigned when the Titanic reached Southampton, claiming that the boilers were old and dangerous.
The evidence of a Belfast blow-hard called Paddy the Pig, who started the rumour that the 2 ships were switched.
The superficial similarity of the 2 ships, near identical.
The 'Californian' cargo ship that left New York with no cargo, sailed to the mid Atlantic and stopped. The theorists claim it was arranged to rendezvous with the Titanic and rescue the passengers when the ship was scuttled.
The plan went astray, say the conspiracists, when the Titanic hit an iceberg, just out of sight of the 'Californian'.
This evidence seems very weak to me but it hasn't stopped several books being written on the subject.
The theory fell apart completely for me when they showed the lead conspiracist a piece of hull plating salvaged from the Titanic debris field. It had 2 large portholes and 2 small portholes in sequence. When the Titanic design schematics were examined the plate was identified conclusively. When the Olympic plans were examined there was no plate that had the portholes in this order.
The nut actually explained this by saying that if the ships were switched the conspirators would have made sure the portholes were re-drilled to make Olympic look like Titanic!
Then theres the small point that 15000 Belfast workers were employed on the Titanic. Did none of them notice the switch?!
Shot down in flames. This theory would be laughable if it didn't involve the death of 1500 people.
The program served a useful purpose for me though. It showed the lengths to which some crazies will go to protect their pet theories.