The answer to this is very simple: The name during her building and her sailing are in partly different positions because in the first construction image it was written over on the negative. Even if that simple fact is not enough, the other alleged details regarding the Californian are being misrepresented. Claim: J. Ever since "Titanic" came out 25 years ago, a debate has arisen about a pivotal scene toward the end that has become almost as iconic as the film itself. Of course there is no testimony from Ballard himself, or from any of the other expeditions who would clearly have also seen this. Could it be And if these researchers and historians are supposedly "in" on the conspiracy then why would they release this image at all and risk the 'truth' being known? overlook something as simple as the number of portholes on the outside of the ship? THIS IS NOT A THEORY. His winning sonnet sequence was later published with the assistance of his professor, poet John Fuller, as Our Western Furniture (1968) and was broadcast on the BBC. Claim: A large proportion of the engine crew signed off just prior to the ill fated voyage starting from Southampton, during a coal shortage which meant that many sailors were out of work due to their ships being laid up. It has to be admitted that this is plain bizarre and shows at what lengths some will go to try and justify a conspiracy. Not to mention, Titanic was part of what was intended to be an "Olympic Class" trio of ships on the transatlantic service. It is a measurement of volume or the enclosed internal space of a ship. not go to sea as Titanic with Olympic written on the bells. Toggle navigation. The warped keel apparently gave the Olympic a permanent a 2 degree list to port and the ship builders stated that it could not be corrected without rebuilding half of the ship. 18. According to Britannica.com "on April 11, 1912, the Carpathia departed from New York City for Fiume, carrying some 740 passengers." Two libretti and an oratorio were published as The Love Bomb (2003). His father, a hotel proprietor and licensed victualler, was also born in Portsmouth whilst his mother was a native of Alfriston, Sussex. He was the son of William Francis Butler (b. The fields are mined and the moon is bright. In discussing the claim that "Olympic was fitted with Titanics starboard propeller shaft" Mark Chirnside summarises: "There is no evidence that Harland & Wolff ever used one of Titanics propellers, or propeller blades, on Olympic; there is every reason to believe that they would have had a spare Olympic propeller in any case.". Did they think they would just stand there and watch? Ice on the deck was not from an iceberg The story come from Frank Finch, a retired seaman living in New South Wales, Australia, who wrote a letter to the number of revolutions some time on Monday or Tuesday to 78, which he claimed would drive the ship at There are two keys errors in this hypothesis. Claim: The Olympic's hull was painted white for its launch so that it would show up in photographs better. from a Sky TV show entitled "Conspiracies", presented byDanny Wallace. Presenter Danny Wallace says: "This is a cracking conspiracy theory and all too tempting to believe were it not for the mass of evidence against it so it seems Titanic and Olympic never were switched, there never was an insurance scam." But most critically, there is no photographic evidence or -most noticeably- testimony from Dr Robert Ballard regarding this suspect "longitudinal bulkhead." Claim: The ship was going full steam, but was achieving only 21 knots, rather than its theoretical maximum of 23, despite the Atlantic being exceptionally calm on the night of the sinking. ", Olympic (left) and Titanic during construction at Harland & Wolff, Belfast. First of all, here is the 'meme' by a James Colmer that accompanies this claim: Anyone vaguely familiar with Titanic will immediately spot the critical flaw in this 'switch' meme. Hardly "numerous" or warranting any suspicion, especially considering There are three key points regarding this claim: 1. It is a wild claim based purely on imagination. It is correct that Olympic's hull was painted white for her launch to stand out stronger in photographs and film, and that Titanic was not. He always maintained that the iceberg alone did not sink Titanic, that it had a fire burning in the coal bunkers for a week and that the Captain and the company knew about it. James Fenton, in full James Martin Fenton, (born April 25, 1949, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England), English poet and journalist who was remarked upon for his facility with a wide variety of verse styles and for the liberal political views threading his oeuvre. The crew aboard Titanic from Belfast to Southampton were (except for the deck officers) local operators (or "runners") who mostly worked on voyages that were made locally, and did this with a number of ships, not just Titanic. The wheelhouse actually sits within the bridge enclosure and behind the forward bulwark (see deck plans below). Also, fragments of linoleum have been recovered from the wreck, further proving this to be more likely than carpet. The list is believed to be accurate, but may contain some errors. Claim: Panelling from third class areas of the ship now adorn a private flat in the Wirral. Auden, with whom he developed an intermittent friendship and to whose poems his own were later stylistically likened. Nor does it prove Gardiners speculation that the name had been ground There is no evidence the insurance was increased - let alone by more than double its value, which would immediately raise suspicion. It must be pointed out that after the Titanic disaster, Olympic's wheelhouse was changed to a rectangular configuration, one of many improvements made during the 1912/13 refit. Titanic was not open for the press and public inspection Otherwise there is no other evidence crew were forced to sign any "Official Secrets Act." Titanic or Olympic: Which Ship Sank? surviving crew got to port they were all taken aside and met by two men, one It seems those intent on proving a 'switch' have mistaken the missing bridge enclosure, the rectangular gap in the forward bulwark (painted white) for the wheelhouse. Olympic's wheelhouse in 1912 was curved at the front (left diagram) while Titanic's was straight. This line of reasoning goes with the assumption that Olympic's keel was damaged, for which there is no evidence as discussed in the point above. They also allege that the three wireless messages the Californian sent Titanic were personally addressed to Captain Smith, telling him of her position, as if the Californian was telling Smith that she was ready and waiting. Firstly, how would White Star believe they could pull something like this off when no doubt hundreds of crew would see water pouring into the ship through the seacocks? In fact, White Stars profit old ordinary seaman aboard Titanic. Check this comparison: Comparison of where the actual damage to the Olympic was, and where the meme says it is on the Titanic wreck. Difference in tonnage 7. 42. Although the ship had 14, then later 16, portholes on the port side, she had 15 on her starboard side, and this number remained consistent throughout. exploded and caused the fatal damage. An example of the many adverts that show the Olympic instead of Titanic - logical considering one was the older sister. Some also claim that the reason some crew did not sign up was specifically because 'the only thing that could not be made to look new were the ship's boilers, having already been used for 12 months on Olympic before the switch' and noticing this on the Belfast to Southampton crossing they decided to 'get off' at Southampton. Or they have perhaps mistaken the front of the officer's quarters as the wheelhouse, which it is not. These above images are used by conspiracy theorists alleging a difference in the windows on B-deck -which should not be surprising as two private verandahs and suites were added to this section of the ship after its launch. would have remained in surplus. Edith Rosenbaum, George Rhiems, Albert Dick and Vera Dick and William Sloper. Titanic was at full steam but not achieving maximum speed 7. 401: Titanic's propeller is on Olympic - Able Bodied Seaman Joseph Scarrott "there was a large quantity of ice and snow on the starboard side of the foredeck I saw a child who will never sleep. Damage from Olympic 's collision with Hawke was more significant 3. Firstly, a Harland & Wolff photograph of Olympic, taken when the vessel was in the Thompson Graving Dock in 1911, which shows her to have had a 'vertical joint in her hull plating immediately forward of the port side anchor hawse pipe'. (Click to enlarge), Titanic author Steve Hall summarises the porthole history: "At the time of the Titanic's launch there were 14 portholes in the port side plating between the focsle deck and the sheer line of the hull, but by December the same year, the ship was fitted with an additional 2 portholes, giving her a total of 16. Again no mention here that lifeboats were seen from B Deck. The origin of this seems to have come from Paddy the pig, also known as James Fenton, who later in life related the following: When the the cast iron fireplace with its veined marble surround to still be in place. The highly imaginative claim that the Cunard ship the Carpathia was a planned rescue ship collapses not only as it is wholey without evidence, but the numbers are inaccurate and any logic absent. Where rust and marine life have flaked the top layers of paint from the hull of the wreck discovered by Dr Ballard patches of what appear to be white paint are exposed. Titanic being towed out to her sea trials. It was also carrying no passengers, at a time when due to the coal strike and so many ships confined to port there would be plenty of people eager to pay above the cost in cash to get to Boston. Quite clearly the B-deck forward starboard windows are narrow - matching the wreck exactly. 1949) grew up in Lincolnshire and Staffordshire and was educated at Repton and Magdalen College, Oxford where he won the prestigious Newdigate Prize for his sonnet sequence 'Our Western Furniture'. This is not heard in the documentary and so Steve Hall is mis-quoted as if he is summarising the entire 'switch' situation, when his comment was actually directly in relation to the wreck - not the theory in its entirety. 19344. In Titanic's case, it was likely due to improper ballasting--too much on the port side or too little on the starboard. Indeed - much of the advertising and for that matter news coverage of the disaster, used artwork, photographs and newsreel footage of the Olympic. Ballard has written several books between 1987 - 2021 and all state in no uncertain terms that he discovered the Titanic - not the Olympic. Titanic advertising used photographs and artwork of the. Fentons adaptations of the Chinese play Zhaoshi guer (The Orphan of Zhao) and Miguel de Cervantess novel Don Quixote were produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2012 and 2016, respectively. Claim: As welding had not yet been invented, it was customary for White Star Line to etch or cut the names of their liners into the steel and not rivet them to the outside. He later served as Oxford Professor of Poetry (199499), and lectures given during his tenure in that post were collected as The Strength of Poetry (2001). CLAIM: Titanic's insurance was increased 5 days before the maiden voyage which resulted in J. P. Morgan receiving $12 million in insurance payouts from Lloyds Maritime Insurance. No, and for one very simple reason: it is a faux marble fireplace. to Gallatin TN (Pop. Patrick Fenton, who lived in Australia regularly told people that when he had worked as a seaman on the Titanic, he had witnessed an explosion on the ship which had caused it to sink, rather than the collision with the iceberg. Even more conclusively, a New York Times newspaper article of Thursday 28th March 1912 reveals that in March "J. Pierpont Morgan has written a cordial letter to Local "runners". The second photograph is of Titanic, while still being fitted out in 1911, which shows no similar joint in her hull plating just ahead of her port side anchor. Due to the lack of media coverage 2. The closest we have is when he is questioned about the binoculars and is asked: 19342. James J. Fenton, MD, is a pulmonologist at National Jewish Health. The Abyss un film del 1989 scritto e diretto da James Cameron, e interpretato da Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio e Michael Biehn.. La sua realizzazione fu estremamente travagliata e si protrasse per circa due anni ad un costo mai confermato ufficialmente ma stimato in 69,5 milioni di dollari. In fact his comment was made at least 30 years after the disaster (he was 20 while aboard Titanic), so could well have been an exaggeration. I have contacted Steve Hall directly (November 2018) to clarify this and there are 4 important points to be considered: 1. Secondly, the angle and lighting conditions are very different from the other images, so it is not a fair comparison. Captain Smith was photographed by a newspaper photographer on the bridge of the Titanic. Hence it is Olympic, not Titanic. "cargo of a few thousand woolly jumpers and blankets." And that there were not binoculars on the Titanic? Above: Titanic, left and Olympic, right. In July 2013 he wrote to Alexandra Bruce of ForbiddenKnowledgeTV (http://www.forbiddenknowledgetv.com) the following: I have just been made aware that you are broadcasting a film under the heading "Was the Titanic Deliberately Sunk by J P Morgan" (original title "Why They Sank Titanic") on your Forbidden Knowledge TV Internet TV channel. Baber compiled a list of Morgan's returns from Europe from 1904 to 1912 and "only twice (1908 and 1910) in those years did he return to New York from Europe before July, and in one of those years (1908) he returned that early only to attend a family wedding, heading back to Europe a few days later and staying there until late August." boilers were on. Claim: Numerous ships were stationed nearby, despite a coal strike, to take off the passengers, which is why the shortage of lifeboats would not matter. Author Steve Hall admits it could be the Olympic 15 $18.4 17.55 Silver Cricket Fob Recess Antiques 85.00 $104.27 99.42 Silver & M,O,P Fruit Knife.Sheff.1910 By J.Fenton. The difference in windows on B-deck between the time of her launch and her maiden voyage is explained by one of the key differences between the two ships: The Titanic's design used some of the most advanced technology available at the time and the ship was popularly believed to be . 33. For example there are several photographs taken by newspapers aboard Titanic prior to its departure. According to the documentary "Titanic Breaking New Ground", James Cameron sends a robot submarine into the sitting room of the promenade suite on B deck and films This is where Gardiner's theory starts to get even more bizarre. Gardiner bases this hypothesis on the idea that the supposed iceberg was seen at such a short distance by the lookouts because it was actually a darkened ship. We have been told by the look-out people that there were binoculars on the Olympic? Florence Ismay (wife of J Bruce Ismay, chairman of White Star) also cancelled along with their children, and just like Morgan she said she was ill, and instead went on a motoring holiday! James Fenton (b. Thirdly, the description "numerous" is very misleading. Damage to Olympic caused by its collision with HMS Hawke. THERE IS NO MORE THEORY. 2. It is clearly in a different area. Frankfurt (140 miles) Norddeutscher Lloyd Line Eastbound, Galveston to Bremerhaven. 13. Olympic had an "overlap of the plates, or strakes" forward of the bow anchors (described as "the doubler forward at the bower anchors"), while Titanic was different in that "the strake butted up against the doubler and did not overlap it.". how in just four and one-half days the Titanic reached the position where she sank if she was never able to travel at more than 12 knots! The fact that the Olympic went on to serve 24 years is simply because the damage was repaired. It makes complete sense that the local Belfast runners did not sign up for a transatlantic maiden voyage that they were not experienced or interested in doing (losing all the local jobs they were used to) when local Southampton crew were used to such "long-haul" trips. Was the confusion because they had been switched? in a high position in the company, the other man was in a very high position This is one of the most popular pieces of 'evidence' of a switch but also the easiest to disprove. the Hawke collision that would supposedly justify a 'switch' scenario. He has worked as political journalist, drama critic, book reviewer, war correspondent, foreign correspondent and columnist. Worked as political journalist, drama critic, book reviewer, war correspondent, foreign correspondent and.... Is plain bizarre and shows at what lengths some will go to try and justify a conspiracy the we... 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