Man appeared to predict the Titanic would sink 14 years before it did

In what is either a creepily accurate psychic prediction or the spookiest coincidence in history, a novel published 14 years before the sinking of the Titanic seemingly predicted the ocean liner's fate.

Morgan Robertson's Futility: The Wreck of the Titan was released in 1898 and follows the story of a fictional Titan, an 'unsinkable' ship that was one of the largest in the world.

Sound familiar?

On top of this, the fictional ship's measurements were almost identical to those of the Titanic, with the Titanic measuring just 25 metres, or 82 feet, longer than its fictional counterpart.

To make matters even weirder, the Titan hit an iceberg while sailing across the northern Atlantic Ocean in April and carried just over the minimum requirement for lifeboats. This led to a catastrophic loss of life due to having just 13 passenger lifeboats.

To compare, as far as we know, the real Titanic disaster occurred on 15 April 1912, in the northern Atlantic Ocean and also carried just 20 lifeboats, as they believed if an accident were to happen, another ship would help move people to safety. The lack of lifeboats resulted in more than 1,500 deaths, with just 706 passengers and crew surviving.

Following the sinking of the Titanic, the author was labelled a psychic for the remainder of his life. Paul Heyer, Titanic scholar and professor at Wilfrid Laurier University, told AP News: "Everybody ran to him and said, 'Oh my god, you're psychic.'

"'No,' [Robertson] said, 'I know what I'm writing about, that's all.'"

YouTube / Tubi

Robertson's knowledge of ships and seafaring stemmed from his upbringing. Not only was he the son of a ship captain but he was also an experienced seaman, even being promoted to first mate.

While the events of Robertson's novella and the disaster are eerily similar, Heyer highly doubts that the author actually predicted the Titanic sinking, claiming the similarities are just a coincidence (albeit a really weird one).

"He was someone who wrote about maritime affairs," Heyer explained. "He was an experienced seaman, and he saw ships as getting very large and the possible danger that one of these behemoths would hit an iceberg."

Public interest in the Titanic has surged recently following the 'catastrophic implosion' of OceanGate sub, Titan that was on an expedition to the ship's wreckage, killing all five people on board on 18 June.

The company have since announced that they've suspended all business and expeditions.

Topics: Titanic

Bec Oakes