RMS Titanic/Addendum/Conspiracy

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'Titanic switch'

Perhaps the most persistent conspiracy theory surrounding the Titanic tragedy is the idea that the ship was deliberately sunk as part of an insurance scam.[1] This is sometimes referred to as the 'Titanic switch' because it also includes the claim that the name of the Titanic was swapped with that of its sister ship Olympic, and that therefore the 'real' Titanic sailed on for over 20 years of safe and reliable service while Olympic rested at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Proponents of this view allege that, following a well-documented collision involving the Olympic a few years earlier, the owners of the vessels discovered that the Titanic's sister ship was far more damaged than publicly disclosed. Fearing that insurers would refuse to pay out, they opted to rename the ship, scuttle it, make this look like an accident and collect the insurance money. Evidence for any of this is limited and would have required the owners to recklessly endanger many people. The plot also stretches credulity since it would presumably have involved a great many people to be involved to have carried out and covered up the switch, who then all took the secret to their graves. Finally, analysis of the wreck itself has for most commentators put the theory to rest.[2]

Roman Catholic conspiracy

This conspiracy theory relies on the belief that the Roman Catholic church had long plotted world domination, and in 1912 sought to eliminate opposition to such a takeover by orchestrating the sinking of a vessel packed with likely opponents to its plans to create the U.S. Federal Reserve and thence control the global economy.[3]

Footnotes

  1. See Gardiner, R. (2009) Titanic: The Ship That Never Sank?
  2. For a lengthy refutation, see Hall, S. and B. Beveridge (2004) Olympic & Titanic: The Truth Behind the Conspiracy.
  3. See the preface of Hall and Beveridge (2004) for a brief refutation.