Ted Walker, official Titanic Artist, "The Maiden Voyage"
Titanic Day
Apr 15
Other Scottish Country Dances for this Day
Today's Musings, History & Folklore
“She was the largest craft afloat and the greatest of the works of men. In her construction and maintenance were involved every science, profession, and trade known to civilisation. On her bridge were officers, who, besides being the pick of the Royal Navy, had passed rigid examinations in all studies … they were not only seamen, but scientists."
~ Futility, Morgan Robertson, 1898 (quote from the novella about a doomed steamship "Titan," which perishes after collision with an iceberg)
Many myths and legends are associated with the Titanic. Several incredible literary foreshadowings have been noted. Besides the 1898 novella, Futility (see above), the 1 May 1912 issue of The Popular Magazine, an American pulp magazine, already on the news stands at the time of the sinking, contained the short story "The White Ghost of Disaster," which described the collision of an ocean liner with an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean, the sinking of the vessel, and the fate of the passengers!
Titanic
Considered to be the greatest maritime disaster of modern times, the RMS Titanic sank this day in the North Atlantic Ocean in 1912, after colliding with an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City.
The wreck of Titanic was discovered in 1985 (more than 70 years after the disaster) during a US military mission, and it remains on the seabed. The ship was split in two and is gradually disintegrating at a depth of 12,415 feet (3,784 m). Thousands of artefacts have been recovered and displayed at museums around the world. Titanic has become one of the most famous ships in history; her memory is kept alive by numerous works of popular culture, including books, folk songs, films, exhibits, and memorials.
Many myths and legends are associated with the Titanic. Several incredible literary foreshadowings have been noted. The first has to do with the 1 May 1912 issue of The Popular Magazine, an American pulp magazine, which was already on the news stands at the time of the sinking. It contained the short story "The White Ghost of Disaster," which described the collision of an ocean liner with an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean, the sinking of the vessel, and the fate of the passengers. The story, by Mayn Clew Garnett (the pseudonym of sea-story author T. Jenkins Hains), created a minor sensation.
And in 1898, fourteen years prior to the Titanic disaster, Morgan Robertson wrote a book called Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan. This story features an enormous British passenger liner called the Titan, which, deemed to be unsinkable, carries insufficient lifeboats. On an April voyage, the Titan hits an iceberg and sinks in the North Atlantic with the loss of almost everyone on board!
For more on Titanic Artist, Ted Walker, and his spooky memory of a painting that he was working on that flipped on its side when he was out of the room, click the advertising poster for the White Star's new luxury liner, The Titanic!
