Did you know that a novel predicted the sinking of the Titanic 14 years earlier?

The novel that predicted the Titanic 14 years earlier: in 1898, Futility narrated the sinking of the ocean liner Titan after colliding with an iceberg....

Table of Contents

1. The book that “told” the shipwreck before the shipwreck
2. Titan vs Titanic: similarities that give you chills 🧊🚢
3. Prediction or good sailor’s instinct?
4. The visionary, his other hunches and coincidences that make you think

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The book that “told” the shipwreck before the shipwreck

A sailor with a sharp pen wrote in 1898 a story that sounded like a cruel joke of fate. Morgan Robertson, seasoned in the merchant navy since he was fifteen, titled his short novel with bitter irony: Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan. Futility, no less. And yes, you can imagine the rest.

The plot: a gigantic ocean liner, the Titan, collides with an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sinks. Pitch dark night, icy water, insufficient lifeboats. When it came out, the book passed almost unnoticed through bookstores. Years later, on April 14-15, 1912, the Titanic repeated the script in real life. Then someone shouted: wait, I’ve read this before. Boom, reissue and posthumous fame for Robertson 📚

The author did not improvise. He was born in Oswego, New York, in 1861, son of a Great Lakes captain. He sailed for more than two decades, reached first officer, then studied jewelry at Cooper Union, damaged his eyesight with diamonds and chemicals, and turned to writing. He published in McClure’s and the Saturday Evening Post. He wasn’t a drawing-room genius, but he saw the sea with radar eyes.

Titan vs Titanic: similarities that give you chills 🧊🚢

I usually distrust “perfect prophecies.” But here the coincidences don’t ask permission; they bang on the table. Look:

- Both giants were presented as almost unsinkable. Pride at full throttle.
- Both sailed fast on their maiden voyage. Bad timing for rushing.
- Impact with iceberg in the North Atlantic, near Newfoundland, in April.
- Three propellers, two masts, and four funnels. On the Titanic, one was decorative. Pure marketing.
- Huge capacity, obscene luxury and… few lifeboats.
- Cruel numbers: in the novel about 3,000 people traveled and 13 survived. On the Titanic there were 2,224 and 706 were saved.

The accuracy didn’t come from a crystal ball. It came from the absurd regulations of the time: rules counted lifeboats by tonnage, not by people on board. The outcome was predictable. Robertson lived it, wrote it and, unfortunately, reality copied it.

A fact that haunts me: both sea monsters raced at full speed in waters with reported ice. Ego also makes the hull creak.

Read this other article: The story of the deadliest natural disaster in history

Prediction or good sailor’s instinct?

I propose an honest game: take away the word “prophecy” and replace it with “diagnosis.” Robertson knew the North Atlantic, the ice corridors and the psychology of shipping companies competing for speed and luxury. If you cross those variables, disaster stops looking like magic and appears as a poorly solved equation.

Still, the chill doesn’t go away. After the Titanic, the world corrected late but corrected nonetheless. Rules were born that still live today:

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