3. Quite simply Titanic was underinsured, the main reason being that the White Star Line actually insured its own ships. 23. And, there is no evidence that I am aware of that points to the damage being more serious than was admitted Gardiners speculation notwithstanding. However, as discussed in point 36 (below), almost certainly James Fenton was not aboard Titanic as he claimed. Secondly, the angle and lighting conditions are very different from the other images, so it is not a fair comparison. It is the Olympic, not Titanic. The bulkheads were not actually sealed at the top, this oversight allowed water to flow over, filling each compartment, one at a time. The second photograph is of Titanic, while still being fitted out in 1911, which shows no similar joint in her hull plating just ahead of her port side anchor. Mr Reginald Fenton Butler was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England over the summer months of 1886. 'Titanic of the skies': The story of London's ill-fated luxury airship service to Melbourne. instead of a promenade as on Olympic's B deck, two private verandahs and suites were added to Titanic, hence necessitating a change in the B deck window configurations. About 29 results for James Fenton's poetry masterclass. There was nothing particulary newsworthy about her. Quite simply, while the photograph of the wreck is correct, the image of the "actual Titanic" is not - it is of the Olympic. - Yes. The Olympic, like the Titanic, was fitted originally with the same 14-porthole arrangement on the port side of her focsle, but 2 additional portholes were later fitted; they were there in March 1912. Titanic prior to her departure on her maiden voyage. I think it is impossible that the Olympics keel was damaged in the collision, as Robin Gardiner speculates in his 1998 book Titanic: The Ship That Never Sank? 14. Marble in the Sitting Room and would never get a job when they got out. For a company that has miraculously been able to switch ships including hundreds of thousands of numbers on the back of wooden panels, without anyone knowing, this seems a rather farfetched and unlikely plan. Act explaining that if they told of the real reason for the sinking, or the 9 and was ordered by 1st Officer Murdoch down to A Deck where he helped with the loading of lifeboat No. Lightwood, Stoke-on-Trent - Wikipedia . 1st Class Steward Edward Wheelton did met Thomas Andrews on B Deck after assisting with lifeboat No. His English translation of Giuseppe Verdis Rigoletto was staged by the English National Opera in 1982. Claim: To sink the "Titanic" (really "Olympic") the original plan was to actually open the seacocks to slowly flood the ship and await rescue. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. 38. There is not one occasion in which he Again no mention here that lifeboats were seen from B Deck. He continues that on the starboard side Steward Wheelton met Thomas Andrews on B Deck and that the boats were visible from the corridor on B Deck. However, there are several large issues with this theory. 26 'James Fenton antiques' For Sale and Sold ( 4 For Sale 22 Sold) Page 1. rumours of an insurance scam, they would serve a minimum of 20 years in jail In 1912 Paddy [claimed he] was a 22-year- Which brings us to a total of at least 1047 aboard the Carpathia on the night of the Titanic disaster. And the answer is the same. Gardiner argues that when on the port side boat No. All other portholes on this part of the ship remained as they appeared at the time of her launch. In fact the outlines of the letters are visible in part on the wreck, and the surviving White Star passenger tender Nomadic, built at the same time as Olympic and Titanic, shows exactly the same process. Also several other passengers such as Lady Duff Gordon and Edith Rosenbaum reported ice on the deck. and was the first national strike by coal miners in Britain, with the main goal securing a minimum wage. If indeed Titanic had been insured at the last minute at "$12.5 million," as is alleged by conspiracy theorists, would this not have raised serious alarm bells in the minds of the insurers at the time, especially if it was part of the public record that the value was "$7.5million"? 'Faux' as in false or imitation. After a million men had walked out for 37 days the government intervened and ended the strike by passing a minimum wage law. 1852) and Susannah Haryott (b. RMS Olympic after the collision with HMS Hawke. Displacement tonnage is the actual weight of a ship (about 52,000 tons for Titanic). This was because Olympic's patched-up hull could not take any long periods of high speed. If not insurance, a switch would keep the company operational The ships that were launched were not launched in a finished state. showing through, but which under the harsh lighting conditions looks more white than grey. the shadows of the butt lap is still discernable." However, it is definitely not logical. This is where Gardiner's theory starts to get even more bizarre. The switch theory primarily rests on the alleged premise that the sinking was a deliberate act to recover insurance money, to rescue the White Star Line from bankruptcy. It is pure speculation about a 'switch' that did not happen. 28. 5 on starboard. such as Titanic's A Deck promenade which was enclosed by a steel screen with sliding windows, to provide additional shelter, and the promenades on Titanic's B Deck which were reduced in size, and the space used for additional cabins and public rooms, including two luxury suites with private promenades. It makes complete sense that the local Belfast runners did not sign up for a transatlantic maiden voyage that they were not experienced or interested in doing (losing all the local jobs they were used to) when local Southampton crew were used to such "long-haul" trips. Titanic, although only just superceding her sister in size, was no longer big news and so the public and media were not as interested in her maiden voyage as that of her sister. The wreck clearly has a flat wheelhouse and hence it must be Titanic. Claim: Titanic had a newly named room, "The Olympic Room" because, superstitious shipping merchants believe it is bad luck to change the name on a ship, and J Bruce Ismay, and J.P. Morgan thought it best to have the Olympic's name still somewhere on board. Olympic's name is on the wreck Claim: While the wheelhouse of the Olympic was allegedly constructed in a bow fronted fashion, a photograph taken from the top of the huge steel gantry appears to show a straight fronted wheelhouse, exactly as it appeared on earlier drawings of the ship. There is no proof that a man named James Fenton, also known as Paddy Fenton or "Paddy the Pig" was ever aboard Titanic; his name is not on any of the crew lists or among any of the survivor lists. Olympic had a 2 degree list to port, as did Titanic is unfair and disingenuous at best. 47. and came to the conclusion that while elements of Fenton's background can be validated In fact the coal strike ended four days before Titanic sailed (April 6) so there would be an increase in opportunities for shorter crossings. 9. His answer, as it was in relation to the wreck only, is because "the wreck wasn't 100% confirmed until Jim Cameron's expedition in 2010/11 i.e. Only a limited number of changes required for a switch, 8. Titanic's sea trials were shorter than Olympic's Could it be And those occasions he returned early were in June - never as early as April. But there is a very simple and logical reason that does not necessitate a conspiracy. But according to Titanic researcher Ioannis Georgiou "none of Titanic's boats were reused by the White Star Line. from the wreck was actually the crows nest (or lookout) bell, and he states: on 30. Seacocks opened to hasten the sinking, 30. - Lookout Reginald Lee at the British Inquiry (Day 4) ice " fall inboard. Claim: The surviving crew were detained overnight and forced to sign a pledge under the 'Official Secrets Act', promising to keep secret forever, the actual events of the night of 14th / 15th April, 1912. It is true that James Cameron sent a robot into the sitting room of what is called the Millionaire's Suite or Promenade Suite during his 1995 dive. As for the White Star Line itself, it was the Damage from Olympic 's collision with Hawke was more significant 3. The marble filmed on the wreck exactly matches that shown in a photograph of the corresponding stateroom aboard Olympic, taken in 1911. 15. Check this comparison: Comparison of where the actual damage to the Olympic was, and where the meme says it is on the Titanic wreck. did not do serious damage but when the cold water hit the coal fire, it In fact, the area of the wreck highlighted in this so-called 'evidence' has peeled away from the side of the stern so was most likely further forward on the hull than presently seen. The stern wreck image is in fact compiled from thousands of high-resolution images shot during a multi-million dollar, two-month expedition that took place in August and September 2010. Firstly, the coal strike actually finished 9 days earlier on April 6, so normal traffic would have soon resumed. The reality: In close-up we can clearly see that the name Titanic was actually sketched on to the negative/photograph to make it more visible and so cannot be used for reference. [American Inquiry, Day 7] There is no mention that he jumped in from B Deck. 24. of her 24 double-ended boilers connected up." In fact, White Stars profit Auden, with whom he developed an intermittent friendship and to whose poems his own were later stylistically likened. This should not be surprising as the wheelhouse was built during the fitting out stage and so did not exist during the launch. Even more conclusively, a New York Times newspaper article of Thursday 28th March 1912 reveals that in March "J. Pierpont Morgan has written a cordial letter to There are a couple of important points to first realise. Deck plans previously published on the 'switch' theory -no doubt due to the release of the book "The Riddle of the Titanic" in 1996. 22. Clutch my hand. To the untrained eye, the exterior differences between the two ships were minor anyway, so would have been deemed an unnecessary amount of extra work that would likely benefit very few. The lifeboat was wrecked in a collision with the Gosport Ferry at Portsmouth and taken by the Royal Navy to Haslar for demolition. About James Fenton. Claim: Eyewitnesses themselves describe running along Titanics decks, but where they said there were promenades, there should have been cabins. Fitting out photographs They also allege that the three wireless messages the Californian sent Titanic were personally addressed to Captain Smith, telling him of her position, as if the Californian was telling Smith that she was ready and waiting. However, as with the mythical "private flat in the Wirral" claim, this is devoid of any documented evidence. Cross-checking with Encyclopedia Titanica website, which has extensive passenger and crew lists, the number of crew aboard the Carpathia exceeded 300 (it lists 307, but it is not necessarily a complete list). This was the number that was given to Titanic when it was being built in Belfast, Ireland. In fact his comment was made at least 30 years after the disaster (he was 20 while aboard Titanic), so could well have been an exaggeration. This is another one of those inaccurate claims that more importantly does not make any sense even if it was accurate. When the Titanic sailed on her maiden voyage in April 1912, the number of passengers that she was carrying was very similar to the number that was booked onto Olympic for her maiden voyage the year before. Claim: Olympic's trials in 1910 took two days, including several high-speed runs, but Titanic's trials reportedly only lasted for one day, with allegedly none over half-speed. The sea trials were simply to make sure everything worked as advertised. There are other photographs of Titanic with similar liberties such as the shot of her in Cherbourg at night which has been heavily doctored to look as if it was taken at night with her lights blazing. off the bell. Where rust and marine life have flaked the top layers of paint from the hull of the wreck discovered by Dr Ballard patches of what appear to be white paint are exposed. The Olympic and the Britannic were also consistent on the starboard side, with 15 portholes. According to the documentary "Titanic Breaking New Ground", James Cameron sends a robot submarine into the sitting room of the promenade suite on B deck and films 11 [American Inquiry, Day 7]. Titanic or Olympic: Which Ship Sank? In fact both Olympic and Titanic were launched with 14 portholes on the port side forecastle on C-Deck and 15 portholes on the starboard side of the same area. Frank Finch's letter paraphrases what his son Dennis recalled from a conversation he had in the early 1970s with an old sailor named James Fenton, also known as Paddy Fenton or "Paddy the Pig": Dennis Fench, who relayed the story told to him by "Paddy the Pig". the Olympic. Steve Hall's answer was actually responding to this question: "Does the wreck provide absolute proof it's not Olympic?" To be able to go into that room and see that marble fireplace still sitting there 12 was lowered a French man jumped in from B Deck. 33. They would only be interested in shorter crossings. He holds an undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering with honors from The University of Iowa and completed medical school at The University of . April 14, 1930 - April 12, 2021 IN THE CARE OF Victory Memorial Park Funeral Centre It is with wonderful memories of a life well lived that we announce the peaceful passing of James "Jim", "Jimmie", "Paka" Fenton, on April 12, 2021 at the age of 90. 3rd-class: 2,250. - Able Bodied Seaman Edward John Buley also reported a couple of tons of block ice (British Inquiry (Day 16). Titanic sailor's deathbed confession of 'switch' 1853). Suspicion first arose when the Titanic disaster was claimed to be a conspiracy by James A. Fenton, otherwise known as "Paddy the Pig." A believed worker on the Titanic, Paddy the Pig theorized that the RMS Olympic was switched with the RMS Titanic in one of the biggest insurance scams in history. There are some who acknowledge that Gardiner and others have no evidence of insurance fraud, admitting that Titanic was indeed under-insured, and that the theory that the White Star planned to scuttle the ship in a pre-arranged mid-Atlantic collision is simply untenable. Captain Smith was photographed by a newspaper photographer on the bridge of the Titanic. Incidentally, although called 'Old Reliable' her 24 years Local "runners". Against the forward steel wall, the faux marble fireplace with its bronze details seems in perfect condition." Another key component of the 'switch' theory is to state that damage to HMS Hawke was much more substantial. Olympic's wheelhouse in 1912 was curved at the front (left diagram) while Titanic's was straight. Two libretti and an oratorio were published as The Love Bomb (2003). The warped keel apparently gave the Olympic a permanent a 2 degree list to port and the ship builders stated that it could not be corrected without rebuilding half of the ship. Ice on the deck was not from an iceberg, 26. Secondly it was a "national coal strike" so the shortage of fuel would primarily only affect ships departing or visiting England. In regard to J.P. Morgan cancelling "at the last minute," research by Mark Baber and posted on Encyclopedia Titanica actually reveals it to be an urban myth. But also it must be noted that there were tours of However both RMS Olympic and RMS Titanic had their names riveted oncovering something up perhaps? Compare the two videos below -one is the real footage of the Titanic name on the wreck, one is fake. This particular claim began when Robin Gardiner stated in his book that when the name on the bow of the Titanic wreck was cleared of rust (allegedly filmed by Dr. Ballard during his 1986 dive to the wreck), the raised letters 'M, P & Y' were visible. The art of not violating the verse. The crew aboard Titanic from Belfast to Southampton were (except for the deck officers) local operators (or "runners") who mostly worked on voyages that were made locally, and did this with a number of ships, not just Titanic. distribution for 1910 being 30 percent after depreciation. "Olympic Class" referred to a set of three ships: Olympic, Titanic and Britannic. Morgan and Ismay would have to be fortune tellers as well as fraudsters! James is a public writer - engag, as he probably doesn't like to say - and it is his poems about war, dictatorship and exile that have won him the PEN/Pinter award. everything else was added. single-ended boilers in Boiler Room No. 21. It is, however, agreed that crew returning to England were under instructions to give evidence at the Board of Trade Inquiry and not to talk to the media beforehand. (for more information see here). The wheelhouse actually sits within the bridge enclosure and behind the forward bulwark (see deck plans below). Gardiner further hypothesizes that the ship that was hit by the Titanic was the one seen by the Californian firing distress rockets, and that this explains the perceived inaction of the Californian (which traditionally is seen as failing to come to the rescue of the Titanic after sighting its distress rockets). As far as I am And if you compare actual photographs of Titanic's starboard side to images of the wreck you will see it matches completely: A direct comparison reveals that the B-deck windows on Titanic and wreck match precisely, revealing the 'meme' to be false. 46. Was the confusion because they had been switched? had switched ships at layup and that an insurance scam was going on. LET'S SEE THE "EXPERTS" DEBUNK THIS ONE." There are two key issues with this story. The Lack of publicity for Titanic of the surviving crew. Actually there were only 6 within a 140 mile radius. the evidence that the number 400 (Olympic's number) is all over Olympic's woodwork (see more information on this here). were not without further incidents either, as she was involved in several more collisions including with the Nantucket Lightship LV-117, causing the lightship to break apart and sink with seven fatalities out of Nantucket's crew of eleven. First and foremost is that the Californian would be a ridiculous choice as a rescue vessel. Difference in Titanic's windows on B deck Claim: The unsinkable ship somehow had to become sinkablevery sinkable. The evidence for this is that it is only mentioned how in just four and one-half days the Titanic reached the position where she sank if she was never able to travel at more than 12 knots! Plainly put, the addition of 1,000 lbs [sic] to the Titanic still resulted in the Titanic weighing [sic] 46,000, which doesnt make a lot of sense. Visit Fenton's special Poetry Archive webpage and listen to recordings of him reading the poems 'Wind', 'Blood and Lead', 'Jerusalem', and 'In Paris with You'. After studying at the Chorister School in Durham, where he performed with the cathedrals renowned choir, he attended the Repton School and the British Institute of Florence. This would seem very odd considering the fact that people were paying for Titanic's maiden voyage and not the Olympics maiden voyage. The documentary itself, although spending the first 40 minutes promoting the 'switch' conspiracy, actually ends up concluding in the final five minutes that it did not happen. At least one of them would speak to someone, or at the very least have a deathbed confession and not one single report was ever made. Importantly, Claim: When you look at anything to do with advertising for the Titanic and White Star Line, the ship that was always used was Olympic and its interior every time they needed pictures. He was awarded the Queens Gold Medal for Poetry in 2007 and won the PEN Pinter Prize in 2015. aware she never exceeded 75 revolutions. Act explaining that if they told of the real reason for the sinking, or the Without evidential support it is merely another concocted claim. 19. This is one of several undocumented, unreferenced claims. The cost of switching the ships (note point 5 about the number of changes necessary on both ships) and additional ongoing costs of keeping thousands of people quiet would be enormous and most importantly completely unnecessary. 3 additional double-ended boilers were lit up about 8 a.m. (although they take 12 hours before they are put online) and he was sure that the ships five auxiliary Survivor Lawrence Beesley wrote about men in the smoking room sighting the iceberg in his book, "The Loss of the SS Titanic": "One of them had seen through the windows an iceberg go by towering above the decks. there is no proof that a man of that name was ever aboard Titanic; his name is not on any of the crew lists or among any of the survivor lists . 7:15 PM. For those who have read this website, they will realise that there is certainly no evidence of a 'switch', all the claims have been exposed to reveal nothing but misinformation or fiction and most importantly that there is conclusive evidence to prove that it is Titanic that sank. Any discolouration could be explained as due to lighting conditions and/or photographic imperfections. in a high position in the company, the other man was in a very high position B. Ismay know this? In a similarly themed false claim, it is also stated that "when the supposed Olympic was taken out of service in 1935 (arriving in Jarrow, UK on October 13th 1935 to be stripped and broken down) part of the wood panelling and other parts including the Aft first class staircase, was taken and used in the White Swan Hotel, Alnwick, UK. Quite simply, Titanic had 14 portholes on the port side C deck (bow) when launched, but in the following months she received 2 extra for better light and air. "It was a somewhat quiet affair.". - Able Bodied Seaman Joseph Scarrott "there was a large quantity of ice and snow on the starboard side of the foredeck Incidentally, Titanic's name was first filmed in 1987 by IFREMER and Titanic Ventures (later RMS TITANIC INC.) after they cleaned that part of the bow from rust. 36. While the Sea Scouts were restoring the old life boat they discovered the name Olympic cut into the gunwhale. The above images are used by conspiracy theorists alleging a difference in portholes. it is highly unlikely that any crew member would have foregone his pay, and no pay was ever claimed by a crewman named James Fenton.