On April 15, 1912, the Titanic sank during its maiden voyage after striking an iceberg…or did it?

This month, 31 years ago, the wreckage of the Titanic is discovered at the bottom of the North Atlantic ocean by United States Navy officer, Robert Ballard. The sinking of the ill fated ship during her maiden voyage reached national headlines and sparked the notorious James Cameron movie, Titanic (1997). But, there are some that claim that the Titanic was not only sunk on purpose, but that it wasn’t actually the Titanic itself…

Among the many theories, some say that the ship is actually its sister ship, the Olympic, which cost the White Star Line thousands in repairs after colliding with another ship, the Hawk. Titanic and Olympic are virtually identical and could easily pass as one another to the untrained eye. The plan supposedly conjured up by the White Star Line, the owner of the ships, was to switch them and sink the Olympic, in a staged accident, for its insurance money. They would have another ship waiting close by, the Californian, to take all of the passengers to safety. Suspiciously, the Californian’s only cargo included sweaters and blankets.

Another theory involved JP Morgan, international financier and owner of the White Star Line. He was set to board the ship but canceled at the last minute due to ‘illness’. Some claim that Morgan devised a plan to sink the ship and kill some of the richest men aboard, including John Jacob Astor IV, Benjamin Guggenheim, and Isla Strauss, getting the idea from a book written by Morgan Robertson called Wreck of the Titan (1898). In the novel, a ship called the Titan strikes an iceberg in April (just as the Titanic did), killing more than half of the 2,500 people on board (just as Titanic did, as well). Both the Titanic and the Titan have a severe lack of lifeboats which causes the demise of most of the passengers on board.

It is said that Morgan created this plan to kill the richest men on board, since they opposed the Federal Reserve (what is now the central banking system of the United States). Interestingly enough, the Federal Reserve was created a year after the supposed ‘Titanic’ sinks. Another notable would-be passenger who canceled last minute includes Milton Hershey, friend of JP Morgan and founder of the Hershey Chocolate Company.

Today, more than 100 years after the Titanic’s fate, we are left with many questions and uncertainties about what really took place on April 15, 1912. Did JP Morgan devise one of the most catastrophic shipwrecks in history only to be covered up as an “accident”? What is certain, however, is that one ship lies 12,500 feet down at the bottom of the North Atlantic. But, is it the Titanic?