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The American author Morgan Robertson (1861 - 1915) published in 1898 the short fictional novel "Futility" in which a British passenger liner called the 'Titan' hits an iceberg and sinks on her maiden voyage without enough lifeboats in the month of April in the North Atlantic.

The fictional ship is eerily similar to the yet-to-be conceived Titanic in size, speed, equipment, numbers of passengers (both rich and poor), and those lost.
Both ships were British and sailed in April with a top speed of 24 knots. They had the same passenger and crew capacity of 3,000 but sailed with a little over 2,000. Also they were between 800 and 900 feet long and driven with triple propellers. Each also sank 95 miles south of the banks of Greenland.
Here's the most astonishing fact: both ships sank after being pierced by an iceberg on their starboard side!

Kind of strange, don't you think? Especially when you remember that the novel was written 14 years before the Titanic disaster. When Robertson wrote "Futility", there were no ships anywhere near the size of the Titanic in use, or being built.
Robertson was trying to illustrate mankind's growing lack of respect for the forces of nature, and the increasingly dangerous reliance on technology with the novel.


Robertson's Titan..................................................Actual Titanic

British ...................................Country ....................British

Unsinkable ...........................Nickname....................Unsinkable

800 feet................................. Length..................... 882 feet

70,000 tons....................... Displacement................ 60,250 tons

24 knots.............................. Top Speed.................. 24 knots

3...................................... # of Propellers............... 3

19............................ # of watertight bulkheads........ 15

about 3,000.......................... Capacity..................... about 3,000

2,000.................. Actual # of passengers aboard....... 2,200

24............................... # of lifeboats aboard............ 20

Starboard side forward...... Area of damage............... Starboard side forward

April............................... Month of disaster............... April



A drawing of the Titan sinking

Notice in the picture of the fictional sinking Titan, the lifeboats are FULL.

For some reason I thought the Titanic had 4 propellers :blink:

Great story Tony, the similarities are really eerie

She was touted as a Triple Screw Ship-3 Giantic propellers

This mysterious story is one of the great tidbits in Titanic lore. Incredibly accurate predictions, to say the least. There are some differences. of course, including the casualtiy numbers....if I recall correctly there were many less survivors on the Titan. A number in the teens? 18, 19 maybe? Not sure now, I'm sure someone can tell us.

This is what I've found out...

Only one third of the passengers on each ship survived.

From- Wreck of the Titan, on Ghost ships site.

I stand corrected! :)
Thanks for the info!

I was reading one of my Titanic books today, and it mentioned that only 13 survived from Robertson's Titan?
From The Complete Idiot's Guide to The Titanic, by Jay Stevenson and Sharon Rutman, pg 243.
And the authors make note that the Titan was on it's third voyage when it's disaster struck.

Your right, Foss!

This is from the Futility text, chapter 1

Floss, I think you are right, Chapter 7 has this in it...

hushed, and the ensuing silence broken by dull, booming reports — as from bursting compartments — Rowland knew that the holocaust was complete; that the invincible Titan, with nearly all of her people, unable to climb vertical floors and ceilings, was beneath the surface of the sea.


Surely doesn't sound like 1/3 to me. I wonder where Ghost Ships got their info, they are usually pretty good.

eerie ... YES! I still have goose bumps.

I vaguely remember the story of this book and it's similarity with the Titanic story. I think it was in one of the three editions of the People's Almanac that i read this. But don't quote me. I may have read it elsewhere.

Today at a book store I actually found and bought the book "The Wreck of the Titan". It was on the clearance rack for a dollar, marked down from $78.00. The book is in beautiful mint shape and has 4 other stories Robertson wrote in it. I can't wait to read it and see the parallels!!!!

Awesome find!! I'm eager to hear your thoughts on this!

Wanna hear something eerier?

One coincidence is strange enough but check this one out (not that it has anything to do with the sea!):

Robertson was prophetic in another one of his writings. His book Beyond the Spectrum was eventually published in 1914. Once again he had trouble finding a publisher and was laughed at his peers because the story was so far fetched.

The premise of the story is a 'futuristic' (by 1914 standards) global war fought in a large part by airplanes, which in 1914 were dangerous machines for travel and literature on their military use was non-existant because it predated even WW1!

This story started in December (no year given) because of a surprise attack on Hawaii by the Japanses and ends with a plane dropping a 'sun bomb' so destructive that it's use forced the Japanese to capitulate. This bomb was so powerful it could destroy an entire city with one blinding flash of light. Again.... sound like anything we've read in our history books? Even more crazy was the fact that this one was published 37 years before Pearl Harbor and 41 years before Hiroshima!

That is just too strange for me! Nostradamus move over, you've got company. I have to do some more research and find out what else he has written!

You'll love this Jamie!!!!!

Beyond the Spectrum is one of the stories in the book I bought. It contains:

Wreck of the Titan
The Pirates
Beyond the Spectrum
In the Valley of the Shadow

Oh wow Julie, thats great. If you read any of the others let me know how they are, particularly 'Beyond the Spectrum.' I had never even heard of anything outside 'Wreck of the Titan' buy him before! Congrats, thats amazing!

IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED HERE IS A LINK THE WRECK OF THE TITAN


this is the complete story..if you cannot find the book
i just finished reading it myself ....VERY INTERESTING...

WOW..thanks, I was just talking to Julie about this :)

no problem loren....if you get a chance check out ebay..they have some of these books for sale ....i think they may be originals...

speaking of MORGAN ROBERTSON i was in a used bookstore in Haggerstown MD yesterday and found a first print 1915 biogrophy of him.....it has a photo of him and is autoraphed at the bottom.....i paid $2.50 the young casher at the counter had know idea what it was ....maybe it is only worth that ????but who knows ...it has sparked my interest in him ..i was amazed to learn he has writen over 1000 short stories..alot of them to do with the sea....i wonder if clive used him for some inspiration......i was going to scan and put up pics if anyone is intersted in seeing his pic and the book....

Good job!!!!!! I would love to see them. I finished reading Wreck of the Titan last night and to be honest I had to go back and find where the Titan wrecked. It really was a personal interest story, a good one, but the wreck happened in 1 page and the rest of it was character driven. I would love to see what Robertson looks like!

Yeah that is a little creepy yike: