Since the loss of the Titanic many stories have been associated with it. Some are just stories with a perfectly natural explanation whilst others are much more. These are several very curious forewarnings of a tragedy, which perhaps could have been avoided.
The most well known forewarning concerning a ship "Titan" was in the novel "Futility" written in 1898 by Morgan Robertson. The writer described his ship as "the largest craft afloat and the greatest of the works of men&ldots;" "Titan was considered practically unsinkable." Her maiden voyage would depart in April but would meet with doom at the hands of an iceberg. All 3000 lives would be lost except for thirteen. There was an uncanny resemblance to the luxurious liner Titanic. Why did Robertson choose Titan as the name of his ship? He needed a name that would have an association with giant. "Titan" was apt.
The writer would add another point, which may have influenced his mind. The new lifeboat regulations had come into force by 1894 and it is probable that a fertile imagination would see the shortfall of the number of lifeboats required in ships the size of the Titan and Titanic. Robertson could calculate the size of his ship (70,000 tons and 800 feet long) and add extra lifeboats accordingly. However, they were still ineffectual because in the story, once she had hit the iceberg, she fell on her starboard side and her lifeboats were destroyed.
There has long been a superstition of maiden voyages. Society has understandablt suspicions about ships that had not been tried and tested by others. What if something went wrong? Was it better to go on a second voyage and arrive safely or be the first to travel on the liner? Several people had secured places on the trip but had cancelled before departure. What a sense of relief they would have had.
Constance Willard was a little girl on the Titanic. It appears that before the Titanic sailed Constance had her fortune told and was advised that she would die before she reached the age of 21. When the iceberg hit the ship she knew instantly that this was the moment of the forewarning. She began to prepare for the evacuation and, indeed, she survived. She always believed that had it not been for the warning, she may not have prepared herself so much and may not have survived at all.
William T. Stead Editor and Spiritualist went down with the Titanic. In January 1892 he had his palm read and it was predicted that he would die when he was 63. In 1912 he had is 63 birthday and the prophecy was fulfilled when he sailed on the Titanic.
In 1892, Stead had written an article in the London Reviews of Reviews which described in great detail the fate of a liner which struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic and went down with enormous loss of life. Hence, twenty years later he was on a liner which sank after it hit an iceberg.
Mrs C. Hughes was 14 years old in 1912. She lived in Stoke-on-Trent, England. On 12th April 1912 she dreamed that she was walking towards Trentham Park in Stoke: "Suddenly, I saw a very large ship a short distance away as if in Trentham Park. I saw figures walking about on it. Then suddenly it lowered at one end and I heard a terrific scream."
She told her Grandmother the dream and went back to sleep. The dream re-occurred. The girls uncle was Fourth Engineer Leonard Hodgkinson and went down with the Titanic.
On board the Titanic were Mr. & Mrs. Hart and their daughter Eva Hart. In 1912 Mr. Hart decided to emigrate to Canada. Mrs. Hart was not enthusiastic about the voyage. She had a distinct sense of foreboding. They had originally planned to sail on the "Philadelphia" but the trip was cancelled because of the coal strike. Mr Hart tried to convice his wife that the Titanic would be safe because it was said to be unsinkable. Mrs. Hart disagreed, thinking that this talk was tempting providence.
Eva in years later recalled her mother's behaviour. "I was little bothered about the fact that my mother slept all day. It seemed a very unnatural thing to me, and I think also I was a bit apprehensive because I sensed her fear&ldots;"
On the fateful night, Mrs. Hart was not asleep as everybody hoped but deliberatley remained in a state of readiness. She described the collision with the iceberg as a "train pulling out a station." She urged her husband to go up to the boat deck and see what had happened. Before she had being "crying wolf", being too over zealous. When her husband returned, his face told a thousand stories.
"You'd better put this on" as he handed to her a coat. Mr Hart lost his life but he made sure his wife and daughter were on the boats.
In July 1975 a large block of ice fell through the roof of the Melkis home in Dunstable, Bedford, England. At the time the family were engrossed in a TV movie about the Titanic. When the ice crashed through the ceiling, they were waiting for the ship to strike the iceberg.
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