Crazy Conspiracy Theories About the Titanic – Part Two

titanicbowThe world is a much different place now then it was 104 years ago. In 1912, when people were told something happened, it was believed, but that was then and this is now. These days, the general public distrusts when anyone in authority tells them anything including a disaster with a huge loss of life. Although the RMS Titanic sank back in 1912, there are those that study her every inch, and have come up with a list of theories that explain her tragic sinking. Here are two more of the most interesting, and craziest, reasons why the biggest ship in the world never made it to New York City.

3. A German U-Boat Torpedoed the RMS Titanic For the Insurance

GermanuboatSinking the RMS Titanic for the insurance money seemed to be a very popular conspiracy theory to explain the sinking. Once again, the White Star Line was in desperate financial trouble, and having spent a lot of money to build Titanic, was now facing financial ruin over the repairs to the RMS Olympic and to the HMS Hawke as well. How could White Star Line come into a large sum of money to keep the company from filing bankruptcy? The answer was to let the brand new Titanic be sunk. According to this conspiracy theory, one of the owners of White Star Line knew a German U-boat captain, and easily arranged for this U-boat to follow the doomed liner.  However, there are many problems with this conspiracy theory, and here is absolutely no proof that the Titanic was struck by a torpedo.  While photos of the Titanic underwater do show what looks like a hole from a torpedo in her bow, this damage was the result of the huge ship sinking like a rock, and crashing into the bottom of the ocean with a tremendous force. 

4.  A Mummy’s Curse Sank the Titanic 

king-tut-sarcBelieve it or not, this is one of the most popular conspiracy theories out there about the sinking of the RMS Titanic. The story was originally started on the ship by passenger William Stead, and it kind of took on a life of its own after that. Stead fascinated everyone sitting at this dinner table by telling them that there was the mummy of an Egyptian pharaoh on board. From this tale of wonder came the conspiracy theory that Stead was in fact correct, supposedly a pharaoh’s mummy was on board. However, not only was this mummy on board, but it was kept not in the cargo hold with the other goods being transported, but in a room near the Titanic’s bridge. Because the mummy was so close to the bridge where the officers were, the curse surrounding the Egyptian mummy had an effect on Captain Smith, and his judgement.  It was the curse of the mummy that caused Smith to slip into a sort of madness that made him decide to run the Titanic at full steam, and ignore all the ice warnings the ship was sent.  While it is true that anyone that messed with the graves of ancient Egyptian pharaohs met with terrible fates, which included suicide, deaths at young ages, or madness, the fact is there was no mummy on board the Titanic, and little did William Stead know he was creating a very popular conspiracy theory from the spooky tale he told to entertain his dinner guests.

Out of all the conspiracy theories that were created to explain what happened on the night of April 15, 1912, these two are among the most interesting. The theory involving the German U-boat is particularly interesting because it involved nothing but greed, and not one thought to the well-being of the 2228 people on board. Did the White Star Line not want the passengers to survive, or where they all simply casualties of the business world? Did the lives of the richest people in the world in First Class, and the poorest in Third Class really mean so little to J. Bruce Ismay and JP Morgan?

There are two more Titanic conspiracy theories to discuss, and like the other four, these last two promise to be just as interesting, and possibly crazy, as the others, but no matter what theories are out there, many people died that night, which is tragic no matter how it is explained.