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In 1898 the American writer Morgan Robertson published Futility, a novel about the largest liner ever built, the Titan, which hits an iceberg on an April night in the North Atlantic and sinks with most of its passengers for want of lifeboats. The Titanic sank fourteen years later.

Morgan Robertson, Futility (1898)

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The parallels are striking: both ships were the largest afloat, both were called practically unsinkable, both carried far too few lifeboats, both were moving fast through icy water in April, and 'Titan' needs only two more letters to become 'Titanic'. In the novel only 13 people survive. Robertson had worked at sea for years before he became a writer, and most readers see knowledge rather than prophecy in the book: he knew how big liners were becoming and how few lifeboats the rules of the day required. After the Titanic sank in 1912, the novel was reissued as Futility, or The Wreck of the Titan, with some changes that made the ship's figures even closer to the real one.

Türkçe oku
Amerikalı yazar Morgan Robertson, 1898'de yayımladığı Futility adlı romanında o güne dek yapılmış en büyük yolcu gemisi Titan'ı anlatır: Gemi bir nisan gecesi Kuzey Atlantik'te buzdağına çarpar ve filikaları yetmediği için yolcularının çoğuyla birlikte batar. Titanic on dört yıl sonra battı.

Benzerlikler şaşırtıcı: İki gemi de denizdeki en büyük gemiydi, ikisi de neredeyse batmaz diye anılıyordu, ikisinde de filika sayısı çok yetersizdi, ikisi de nisan ayında buzlu sularda hızla ilerliyordu ve “Titan” adı yalnızca iki harf eklenince “Titanic” oluyor. Romanda yalnızca 13 kişi kurtulur. Robertson yazarlığa başlamadan önce yıllarca denizde çalışmıştı ve okurların çoğu kitapta kehanet değil bilgi görür: Yolcu gemilerinin ne kadar büyüdüğünü ve dönemin kurallarının ne kadar az filika istediğini biliyordu. Titanic 1912'de batınca roman, geminin rakamlarını gerçeğine daha da yaklaştıran bazı değişikliklerle Futility, or The Wreck of the Titan adıyla yeniden basıldı.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: The Wreck of the Titan: Or, Futility
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