Titanic 25th Anniversary – MYTHS, STORIES, AND LEGENDS OF A TRAGIC AND MYSTERIOUS EVENT
More than a century ago, on the night of April 14-15, 1912, the Titanic, then the largest ship ever built along with its sister ship “Olympic,” sank. The event is still considered the most famous maritime disaster ever, as well as one of the greatest catastrophes of the twentieth century, excluding wartime events.
The ship set sail on April 10, 1912, from berth 44 in Southampton at 12:00 p.m., bound for New York. The journey was expected to take seven days, with the ship due to arrive at Pier 59 in New York on the morning of April 17. Two days after departing on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, heading to New York, the ship collided with an iceberg on the night of April 14. Within two hours, the ship sank, taking with it over 1,500 people, including the captain, crew, and passengers from first, second, and third class.
This disaster not only marked an era, inspiring essays, novels, and songs, but also gave rise to a mythology of its own. After all, the more memorable an event, the more likely it is to spawn conspiracy theories and alternative, if not supernatural, stories.
The Unsinkable: A Case of Fake News?
History has shown that the Titanic was not unsinkable after all, but was it believed to be so at the time? Since the 1980s, various commentators have suggested that the unsinkable reputation, now indelibly linked to the ship, was actually a myth that emerged after the disaster due to newspaper articles, and that the ship was never advertised as such. However, a promotional leaflet that resurfaced in 1993 claimed that these ships were “designed to be unsinkable.”
Chilling is what the vice president of the White Star Line said on April 15, 1912, in New York: “We have absolute confidence in the Titanic. We believe the ship is unsinkable.” But at that moment, the unsinkable was already at the bottom of the Atlantic.
Stories Within the Story
The Titanic Passenger Who Refused a Seat to Save Her Dog
There are many little-known love stories that happened on the Titanic, like that of Ann Elizabeth Isham and her dog. In April 1912, Ann Elizabeth Isham and her Great Dane were supposed to travel from Cherbourg to New York on the ship then known as “the safest in the world”: the Titanic. Unfortunately, after the impact with an iceberg, the tragedy we all know occurred, and most passengers lost their lives, including Ann and her dog. But the story of this Titanic passenger could have been different. When the ship began to sink, first-class passengers like Ann were the first to be placed in lifeboats. She was already seated, with a spot and a chance to be saved. However, the love she felt for her four-legged friend, who had been denied access to the boat due to his large size, led her to make the most difficult decision of her life.
In the lifeboats, human lives took priority over those of dogs, so Ann decided to return to the Titanic to be with her faithful friend. She was one of the four first-class female passengers who lost their lives on April 15, 1912, after the Titanic sank. It is speculated that among the bodies found floating in the Atlantic Ocean was that of a woman hugging the neck of a dog. Although no evidence has been found to confirm this, none has been found to contradict it either. The story of Ann Elizabeth Isham and the great love she had for her dog has fascinated many people, becoming a legend symbolizing the love for animals.
The Orchestra
Passengers initially thought it was a joke: those who had put on life jackets were teased, and some displayed chunks of ice as souvenirs, all while the orchestra continued to play. One of the most famous and romantic stories surrounding the Titanic is about the orchestra. It is said that as the ship went down, the eight musicians continued to play until the end on the forward deck. According to most accounts, the last song played was the Christian hymn “Nearer, My God, to Thee.” Though it seems like something out of a movie, it is, in fact, true.
The Mummy’s Curse
Some legends about the Titanic invoke some sort of curse. The most famous and interesting is probably the one that claims the ship was carrying an Egyptian mummy, which, like all proper mummies, would have brought disaster to its desecrators. The true origin of the legend has been reconstructed, and it turns out to be as fascinating as the supernatural explanation. One of the victims of the sinking was the famous journalist and spiritualism enthusiast William T. Stead, who, according to some imaginative accounts, also predicted the disaster in his stories. Between April 12 and 13, some passengers gathered to tell ghost stories, and Stead told one that he had actually invented with amateur archaeologist Douglas Murray. Stead’s story featured the lid of a sarcophagus, now in the British Museum, which was said to be cursed. Stead died in the disaster, but later, a passenger reported the incident. The legend then mutated, and it was claimed that the Titanic was carrying a cursed mummy, perhaps brought on board by Stead himself, from which the inevitable disaster arose.
The Blasphemous Ship
What if the Titanic sank because it offended the Catholic religion? A strange theory, but no less popular for that, is based on the alleged hull number of the Titanic, 390904. If this number is seen reflected in a mirror, with a lot of imagination, it can be read as NOPOPE. According to the legend, Catholic workers who worked on the ship would have fled the shipyard, offended by what appeared to be a violent Protestant slogan. The theory goes that from the construction of the ship, a bad omen hung over it…
It is unclear how the legend began, but in the 1950s, film producer William MacQuitty placed ads in newspapers to gather testimonies useful for the film “A Night to Remember” (1958). He received a letter that, in addition to stating that every nail driven into the Titanic by the workers had been accompanied by a curse on the pope, revealed the blasphemous hull number. Although it is hard to deny that there may have been religious tensions around a shipyard located in Belfast, the story doesn’t hold up. In “The Secrets of the Titanic Curse,” Massimo Polidoro explains that the actual hull number was 131428, and according to Snopes, no part of the Titanic bore the cursed number.
By Susie B. and Elena
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