Did the Titanic Ever Sink?

Almost everyone knows the story of the RMS Titanic, "the unsinkable ship" that sank on its maiden voyage in 1912. The boat is infamous for its mass death toll of 1,517 and its lack of life boats. What if I were to throw out the idea that maybe those 1,517 people lost their lives, not on the Titanic, but on a sister ship of the giant ocean liner?

The Story We All Know

The RMS Titanic was a British ocean liner whose maiden voyage was on April the tenth, 1912. On the fourth night of its voyage, right before midnight, it struck an iceberg and began to sink, and was fully submerged on April fifteenth at about 2:20 am. There was an estimated total of 1,517 casualties, 832 of which were passengers, the other 685 were crew members. In this story that we are all told, everything seems to be put together in a cute little package. But what if this story is just a cover up for a bigger tragedy, a way to gain money off of the deaths of hundreds and an escape from a large potential loss.

The Forgotten Sister

Enter the RMS Olympic, the older sister ship to the RMS Titanic. The RMS Olympic was built from 1908-1910 and had its maiden voyage without any problems in 1911. It ran from 1911 to 1936 and was scrapped from 1936 to 1937. The ship had four collisions, but its first was definitely its worst. It is noted as "The Hawke Incident" and took place in 1911 as the Titanic was being constructed. The collision took place between the RMS Olympic and the HMS Hawke and it came with many legal fees, as the Olympic was determined to be the cause of the collision. Surprisingly, or not surprisingly, the Titanic's construction was delayed because of the collision and the Olympic was sent into dry dock for repair. Or was it?

Twisted Sisters

The Olympic's repairs were to be very expensive, but also included unnecessary expenses, such as new flooring and a B deck remodel for the titanic, both of which made the boats nearly identical to each other making it very possible to pull a parent trap and switch the two boats. The truth also lies in the windows of the two ships. The Titanic was originally pictured to have fourteen windows, but when it set sail it had sixteen, two of which were placed in odd positions. This was identical to the design of the Olympic making it an easy swap.

Okay, But Why?

Short answer, money. As I mentioned before the Olympic had an ugly collision with the HMS Hawke and was forced to pay legal fees. The theory is, that if they only did a remodel that was visible, the investors would not have to pay for the extensive damage to the machinery. They would also be able to claim the insurance money for their brand new luxury cruise liner and easily make back the money they lost. There are a few "accounts" of the engineers that worked on the Olympic saying that they were told to make it a Titanic replica, but I'd take those with a grain of salt. I haven't found one that isn't word of mouth.

In Conclusion

In conclusion, the Titanic could have been a cover up for something more sinister. The lives of the Titanic's crew and passengers were worth the insurance money of a ship that could only profit if it had sunk.

Note that this is just a theory and I am not trying to slander or demoralize the family members of any of the original investors of these two ships. These are just theories made for entertainment purposes only.

Sources Cited

"Titanic Facts • 1,000+ Fascinating Facts and Figures!" Titanic Ship • Titanic Facts. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 June 2018.

"Welcome to Owlcation." Owlcation. Owlcation, n.d. Web. 12 June 2018.

"Shorthand - The Visual Storytelling PlatformBeautifully Simple Storytelling." Shorthand - The Visual Storytelling Platform. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 June 2018.