Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan

"Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan" was an 1898 novella written by Morgan Robertson. The story features the ocean liner "Titan", which sinks in the North Atlantic after striking an iceberg. The "Titan" and its sinking have been noted to be very similar to the real-life passenger ship RMS|Titanic, which sank fourteen years later.

ynopsis

The first half "Futility" introduces the hero, John Rowland. Rowland is a disgraced former Royal Navy lieutenant, who is now a drunkard and has fallen to the lowest levels of society. Dismissed from the Navy, he is working as a deckhand on the "Titan". The ship hits the iceberg and sinks somewhat before the halfway point of the novel. The second half follows Rowland, as he saves the young daughter of a former lover by jumping onto the iceberg with her. After a number of adventures, in which he fights a polar bear and finds a lifeboat washed up on the iceberg, he is eventually rescued by a passing ship and, over several years, works his way up to a lucrative Government job restoring his former income and position in society. In the closing lines of the story he receives a message from his former lover, pleading for him to visit her and her daughter.

imilarities to the "Titanic"

Although the novel was written before the Olympic-class "Titanic" had even been designed, there are some remarkable coincidences between the fictional and real-life counterparts. Like the "Titanic", the fictional ship sank in April in the North Atlantic, and there were not enough lifeboats for the passengers. There are also similarities between the size (800 ft long for "Titan" versus 882½ ft long for the "Titanic"), speed (25 knots for "Titan", 24 knots for "Titanic") and life-saving equipment.

Similarities between "Titanic" and "Titan":

1. Unsinkable / Indestructible

- The "Titanic", world's largest luxury liner (882 feet, displacing 66,000 tons). The Titanic was once described as being (nearly) unsinkable. - The "Titan", largest craft afloat and the greatest of the works of men (800 feet, displacing 75,000 tons). The "Titan" was considered 'indestructible'.

2. Number of propellers and masts

- The "Titanic" had three propellers and two masts

- The "Titan" was equipped with three propellers and two masts

3. Launched in April

- The "Titanic" steamed from Southampton, England on her maiden voyage in April 1912.

- The "Titan" was also launched in April.

4. Lifeboats

- The "Titanic" carried only 20 lifeboats, less than half the number required for her passenger capacity of 3000.

- The "Titan" carried "as few as the law allowed", 24 lifeboats, less than half needed for her 3000 capacity.

5. Struck an iceberg

- Moving too fast at 23 knots, the "Titanic" struck an iceberg on the night of April 14, 1912 in the North Atlantic.

- Also on an April night in North Atlantic, the "Titan" hit an iceberg while traveling at 25 knots.

6. The Unsinkable Sank

- The unsinkable "Titanic" sank, and more than half of her 2,207 passengers died screaming for help.

- The indestructible "Titan" also sank, more than half of her 2500 passengers drowning, their "voices raised in agonized screams"

Differences between "Titanic" and "Titan":

1.The ship does not make a glancing blow with the iceberg on a clear night, as in the case of the "Titanic", but drives headlong onto an ice shelf possibly formed by the recent overturning of a berg.

2.The "Titanic" hit the iceberg in perfect sailing conditions, while the "Titan" hit the iceberg in bad, misty and foggy conditions.

3.705 people aboard the "Titanic" were saved, while only 13 of those aboard the "Titan" survived.

Popular culture

Walter Lord's 1955 nonfiction account of the "Titanic" disaster, "A Night to Remember", opens with a brief description of Robertson's novella and the similarities between the actual and fictional ships.

A copy of "Futility" can be seen in the apartment at the beginning of the PC game "". The obituary of a "Titanic" survivor is used as a bookmark.

Similarities between the "Titan" and the "Titanic" were mentioned at the end of the episode 'Night of April 14th' in the TV series "".

A dramatisation of the what led the author to write it and detailing the similarities between the events in the book and the "Titanic" disaster were shown in an episode of "".

References

*cite web | author= | title=The Titan & the Titanic | work=Lux Aeterna Publishing Limited | url=http://www.lux-aeterna.co.nz/Titan.htm | accessdate=November 23 | accessyear=2005
*cite book | author=Rutman, Sharon and Jay Stevenson, Ph.D. | title=The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Titanic | publisher=Alpha Books | year=1998 | id=ISBN 0-02-862712-1

External links

* [http://www.titanic-titanic.com/wreck_of_the_titan_1.shtml On-line version of the text]