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The Wreck of the Titan

The Wreck of the Titan

List Price: $24.95
Your Price: $24.95
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: THIS IS SCARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: That's all I have to say about it!

The most harrowing of modern sea-vessel prophecies!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Too many coincidences........
Review: The book "Futility", if taken alone, only deserves 1 star. Morgan Robertson, a self described "visionary", was not a very good writer. His writing style was, in my opinion, a sure cure for insomnia! But on a fateful night in 1912 one of Robertson's books came true -- almost. He mispelled the name of the ship by two letters (Titan rather than Titanic) but everything else he got right: month, number of people on board, lifeboat capacity... the coincidences are astounding. If you choose Futility, be prepared for one of the worst written books you've ever read.... and chills down your spine!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The actual stories are not the same as the myths about them
Review: The book is actually a collection of Robertson's short sories, including Futility, The Pirates, Beyond the Spectrum, and In the Valley of the Shadow. I have read both Futility and Spectrum, since these stories have gotten a lot of press lately. Much has been made of Robertson's tales about a great steamer named the Titan and the Titanic. Yes, there are a number coicidences between the two, but the stories diverge in a number of ways. Robertson displays an arrogance amongst the crew and the owners that exceeds even that of the Titanic and White Star Line. Sheer hubris sank the Titan; a blend of hubris and ineptitude sank the Titanic (see Lord, W., The Night Lives On). The Titan sinks almost instanstanously with almost no survivors; its demise differs quite a bit from the Titanic's. The story also spends a lot of time on the attempt to make an insurance claim for the loss from Lloyd's of London and where the liability for the tragedy lies. Finally, there is a subplot about a Titan crew member, his emotional breakdown, his heroism during the disaster, and the near tragic results afterward for him. The story was fairly interesting, the writing rather stilted (which I would expect for a story written a century ago), but it was not a great piece of literature. Like most people, my interest was peaked by the hype; the reality makes the story a bit disappointing, except where there is convergence between fact and fiction, which I must admit, are quite intriguing. The innacuracies in the comments about Spectrum make it even more disappointing than Futility. Yes, there is the Japanese attack on US interests in the Pacific, with the attack on Hawaii a component of that attack, and it's not clear to me that a war actually ensued. There are no airplanes and bombs mentioned in the story, and the weapon that blind combatants is designed to do only that. (The reviews intimate that the weapon is actaully a nuclear device, which it is not). The story focuses on bringing justice to the perpetrators, and the story of that weapon offers an interesting twist regarding its genesis. This story is a short read, only twenty pages, and again, the style is what you would expect from nearly a century ago. But beyond the superficial coincidences between the story and WWII, the hype and the reality are clearly disconnected. My suggestion, find the book in a library before investing twenty plus dollars in it. The stories are more intriguing curiosities rather than great literary pieces, and one should be sure they want to add this to their library before they make the purchase.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This book is eriee
Review: This book predicts the Titantic disaster 14 years before the Titanic sinks. Morgan Robertson predicts everything that will happen to the Titanic. Robertson predicts the the ship's size, how many passengers (rich and poor), how many lifeboats, which side of the ship the iceberg hits and how many people die when the ship takes its final plunge to the ocean floor. The book also predicts the inquieries which take place after the sinking.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: This book was not authored by Nostradamus
Review: This book was a huge disappointment. I've known of this story for years, but could never get a copy of it until now. The story itself is only about 37 pages long, shouldn't take more than a hour to read, yet seems to never end. The similarities between the Titan and the Titanic are mere coincidences, and the story is choppy and incoherent. This book is not a prophetic work. Perhaps if it were lengthened it would make a decent novel in its own right, but comparing it to the Titanic is a waste of time. If you want to read about a good historical prediction try reading about Cortez's landing in Mexico, and how it coincided with the return of an exciled devil of the Aztecs.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: IF IT WERE NOT FOR THE TITANIC...
Review: This book would not even be of any value. The book had very little to do with the ship, Titan and the storyline that Morgan Robertson applied to the story was scarcely believable. After so much attention was given to the similarities between the Titan and the Titanic, I was expecting more than what I got.

I know little about the author but he did write other pieces that had some degree of prophecy associated -- lasers, as US war with Japan, etc. But he could not develop his thoughts and put them down on writing in an entertaining manner.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Yes, it's NOT like today's writings, but...
Review: This is a story (really stories) worth reading. It is uncanny how the author concocted this whole premise only to have a fatal chunk of it become reality 14 years AFTER it was written! The Edgar Cayce of the sea! Worth having in your Titanic library.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Yes, it's NOT like today's writings, but...
Review: This is a story (really stories) worth reading. It is uncanny how the author concocted this whole premise only to have a fatal chunk of it become reality 14 years AFTER it was written! The Edgar Cayce of the sea! Worth having in your Titanic library.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The Wreck of the Titan - 20/20 forseight
Review: Walter Lord's book, "A Night to Remember" ends with a list of "ifs." If only they had heeded the ice warnings; If only the lookouts had been given binoculars; If only there were more lifeboats; and a long list of others. Add one more: "If only they'd paid attention to Morgan Robertson." The "Wreck of the Titan," is only one of several short stories in the book, "The Wreck of the Titan." All of the stories deal with the sea, and through them, you can see that Mr. Roberts was very knowledgeable in all aspects of maritime science. Many of his stories deal with Annapolis, and one might assume that he was a graduate, though I have no way of knowing that for sure. Many of his stories show amazing insights - for example, in "Beyond the Spectrum" he speculates on a Pacific war between the United States and Japan, where submarines and secret weapons play an essential role. However, Robertson's main claim to fame was the title story: "The Wreck of the Titan." Robertson knew everything about the Titanic disaster, fourteen years in advance. He knew where shipbuilding was going; he knew the length, and displacement of the next generation of ships, the power of their engines, the speeds they could achieve, and all about their "safety" features - including electronic control and communications systems and the approximate number of watertight compartments. He also knew that the ships carried too few lifeboats; that they raced at unsafe speeds through dangerous waters, and that watertight compartments wouldn't save a supposedly "unsinkable" ship if it sideswiped an iceberg. He even knew when and where a disaster was most likely to happen. He had his Titan sink in the month of April, just a few miles north of the actual spot where the Titanic went down. Was he clairvoyant? Probably not. In hindsight, his dire prediction should have been obvious to anyone. He realized that the way ships were being run a disaster was inevitable. On the other hand - what about the name of his mythical ship - the "Titan." Just a lucky guess, perhaps. However, if that's true, then he guessed right twice. In his story "Pirates" he has a ship much larger than the Titan being torpedoed. Titanic buffs know that the Titanic had two sister ships, and that her younger and larger sister, the Britannic, was torpedoed in World War 1. However, "Britannic" was not the original name when the ship was first designed. White Star originally intended to call her the "Gigantic." They changed the name after the Titanic disaster because "Gigantic" sounded too much like "Titanic." So what was the name of Robertson's torpedoed super liner? The "Gigantia." And one more thing - though I admittedly take this out of context - consider the following passage from "Pirates:" "When he looked, the bow was under water, the stern rising in the air, higher and higher, until a third of the afterbody was exposed; then it slid silently, but for the bursting of air bubbles, out of sight in the depths." For all his insights, however, it has to be said that Robertson not a great writer. In fact, he was mediocre at best. Perhaps that's why his warnings went unheeded. Other than certain facts that turn out to be amazingly accurate, his plots are nonsensical. Still, the stories are entertaining, and there is a certain charm about all of his writings. This charm cannot be found in the great classics, because they are timeless; it can only be found in the lesser-known works of any era. Through Robertson, an average writer, we can gain rare insights into the mind of the average person of the Victorian era. From the way Robertson writes, it must have been an age of romance and chivalry. A world practically inconceivable by today's standards. Case in point: In Pirates, escapees from a military prison steal a supposedly deserted navy Destroyer. Once out to sea, however, the pirates discover that a single naval officer had been sleeping, unnoticed in the galley as they stole the ship. So what do these cutthroats do with him after they find him? Pitch him overboard, perhaps? Not quite. That would be murder; and just because they're pirates and condemned criminals, that doesn't make them murderers. Instead, they make him promise to behave, and and once he'd given his word of honor, they give him the respect he deserves as an officer, and complete freedom of the ship. Unbelievable!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Every "Titanic" buff should have a copy, but...
Review: What "Titanic" buff hasn't heard of the infamous story of the "Titan?" Here, at a very reasonable price, is a chance to actually read the fiticious story which has been unavailable for so long. Unfortunately, once having read the story, most will find it a minor disappointment.

"Futility" is not the epic story of a shipwreck. Indeed, the actual wreck and sinking of the "Titan" takes place over the course of only five paragraphs.

Rather than a maritime disaster, the title "Futility" refers to the events surrounding the main character, John Rowland, before, on and after the "Titan." Morgan Robertson (the author) uses the ship and wreck only to establish a circumstance in which Rowland's true character can be contrasted with the hypocracy of Victorian society.

"Futility" is a novella, easily readable in about two hours. Robertson's writing is flowery by modern standards but always intelligible. After reading it, most are likely to understand why the book has been out of print for so long: it is not great literature. It is, however, part of the "Titanic" legend and therefor deserves to be on every "Titanic" buff's shelf.

My strongest complaint with the 100th Anniversary Edition is the complete absence of editing. Mis-spellings abound and words are obviously omitted. Spell-check doesn't catch syntax errors or word substitutions such as "to" for "two." We've all come to accept and expect this sloppiness in e-mail and on web-sites, but the printed word deserves closer scrutiny and better acuracy.

Do buy the book. Be aware of what it isn't.


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