A
hundred years before James Cameron turned douchebaggery into an art
form at the Oscars, American author Morgan Robertson wrote a shitty
book called Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan, about the sinking of
an "unsinkable" ocean liner. When you see the cover, you figure you're
pretty clearly looking at a fictionalized version of the Titanic story.
The
similarities between Robertson's work and the Titanic disaster are so
astounding that one has to imagine if White Star Line built Titanic to
Robertson's specs as a dare.
No surprise there; it's a story that's been told over and over (there
were 13 Titanic movies before Cameron's, including one by the Nazis)
but Robertson's book was first.
Where it Gets Weird:
He was so eager to be first, apparently, that he didn't bother to wait
for the Titanic to actually sink before writing about it. The Wreck of
the Titan
was published in 1898, 14
years before RMS Titanic was even finished being [cheaply] built.
[...]
Where it Gets Even Weirder:
While the novel does bear some curious coincidences with the Titanic
disaster, there are quite a few things that Robertson got flat wrong.
For one, the Titanic did not crash into an iceberg "400 miles from
Newfoundland" at 25 knots. It crashed into an iceberg 400 miles from
Newfoundland at 22.5 knots.
Wait, what the fuck? That's one hell of a lucky guess!
But Wait -
there's more.
(I
know what you're saying;"But Rodge, there are but six insane
coincidences; your title said 7." That's because they missed the
Godzilla/Obama thing.)
