Here you will find the opinions from members of the public who have used the #TitanicOlympicSwitch. Also Interviews on the subject
The switch theory, one of the most well-known conspiracy theories surrounding the RMS Titanic who sank on her maiden voyage with a huge loss of life. Here you will be able to locate the opinions of others on this very theory. Some have come from interviews and others from the following hashtag: #TitanicOlympicSwitch.
This image shows the exact place the two ships would have been photographed together for the last time, sat side by side at the ship yard of Harland and Wolff in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
However, before we get to these opinions here is background on the theory for those people who either can’t remember it or have never heard of it.
The theory goes that during the final stages of Titanic being built and fitted out, her sister ship Olympic (launched in 1910 and had its maiden voyage in 1911) collided with another ship. This ship was sad to have been the HMS Hawke. Due to the collision, Olympic was damaged which meant she would have to be returned to Belfast to be fixed.
While this was happening, White Star Line (the owners of the Olympic Class Liners) was losing money as they had no other ship big enough to allow them the ability to take thousands of passengers from Southampton, Cherbourg and Queenstown to New York. Then to add to fact they had no money coming in, the company were unable to pay the legal bills that would have been stacking up in connection to the incident.
So in light of this, the four main men in charge: J.P. Morgan, J.Bruce Ismay, Thomas Andrews and Lord Pirrie decided to swap Olympic with Titanic in what would be a massive insurance scam. This meant that Olympic would undergo Titanic’s maiden voyage. These four men supposedly felt that they would be able to claim the money from sinking their brand-new ship then with the insurance money be able to pay off the bills.
So, the theory is that the current ship that lies 12,500ft below the North Atlantic Ocean is actually Olympic not Titanic.
Tim Whitaker, who is in his early 50s commented on this switch theory by giving his own opinion: “The Switch Theory: I’m not big on conspiracies. They make for good reading. I just personally do not feel there is enough proof to support it. I feel that The White Star Line was a very reputable company in its day. My reading up on the company, they were known for providing the best ships for cruises during their time. That gave the best experience to both upper and lower class as far as accommodations. When reading personal testimonies of those who survived the Titanic or even telegrams that was sent from those on board. I’ve read where those in 3rd class said the food was delicious. Even though they were not served the same as 1st and 2nd class. That their accommodations were better than their living situations at home. They maintained a strong profile all the way up until the Great Depression where they merged with Cunard Line. Now if a company can hold a tight position like that, why would they do a switch to ruin their reputation in the industry. To me it sounded like the company operated off of integrity. Otherwise, they would have failed when the RMS Titanic sank and so many lives were lost. Especially considering at this point, it was the third ship they lost.”
Now you have gained some knowledge of the theory, below you can read the opinions of other people and then using the hashtag #TitanicOlympicSwitch on Twitter to add your own opinion to the theory.
Jan Georg Taljaard (@talkaard_jan): I believe they switched it. #titanicolympicswitch
Muhammad Abbass (@Rabitnexus): #TitanicOlympicSwitchThere's really no argument. The pictures of the ship on the seabed today, clearly prove it is the Olympic.
Mary Ann Diviney (@maryann757731): I never thought I would believe that titanic was switched until now. Wow mind blown #TitanicOlympicSwitch
Ultra Instincts Goku (@Diane_Lox): When i read the artical online where they mention the parts that were put into a hotel thats when it was "This has ro be true" numbers dont lie #TitanicOlympicSwitch
Haych Parker (@Haych_Pea): When you spend Sun morning reading Titanic conspiracies & now fully believe the #TitanicOlympicSwitch theory...
These tweets are just a couple from a long list of tweets regarding the subject.
Gareth Icke a musician from Derbyshire in Yorkshire used the hashtag who then agreed to be interviewed said: “Around the 100-year anniversary, there was a lot of events around Southampton, and as I lived on the Isle of Wight, these events were well covered in the local media. I found myself watching a documentary that seemed to make a case for the swap. I'm open to anything. Personally, I think the sinking was an insurance job that went wrong.”
For Mr Icke, a documentary was what sparked his interest in Titanic and the switch theory and he believes in this theory unlike Eugene Nesmeyanov who has a whole different opinion on the matter.
Eugene Nesmeyanov, from Russia said: “The so-called "switch theory" has long been debunked and has absolutely no sense. It does not deserve any serious consideration. There are lots of much more important and interesting issues to study and solve.”
Mr Nesmeyanov’s opinion is only one of many who believe it is wrong as both ships had different building numbers that were printed on them. Olympic’s being 400 and Titanic’s 401.
Another person who does not agree with the ships being switched is Ray Laubenstein, said: “I have heard of the switch theory, and I believe that it is false. There is a lot of noticeable wear and tear between a new ship right off the line and one that’s been running for a year. Window placement were different on the sister ships in certain areas of the superstructure, and the windows on the wreck matched the Titanic, not the Olympic. The Titanic’s bridge wings also hung off the ship slightly while on Olympic they were flush with the ship. If nothing else I believe they would have taken a loss in revenue if they had sunk the ship purposely like some suggest.”
This conspiracy theory will be the one that everyone will still be arguing over for generations to come. This is due to the way in which you can only gather so much evidence in terms of pictures of the two ships that could help prove this theory. Also, anyone who may have helped to make this switch which in terms of the theory could have happened over the course of a weekend with only a select group of people (as they only need to change the flooring by putting carpet over the wood to hide the footprints that had been left by passengers. Plus, anything that had the names of the ships on like lifeboats and stationary would have to be swapped over) would have been told not to say anything therefore there would not be much documented in terms of conversations between people.
Sami Ghidini, on Facebook said “I have heard of the switch theory and there's no way it could have happened and that’s because there are plenty of reasons why it could never have happened: Firstly, the ships were vastly different both in exteriors and interiors. Some examples are the Olympic had a different number of port holes on c deck at the Forecastle. Secondly, there was no A La Carte restaurant on Olympic or Cafe Parisian. Some more reasons this is impossible are as follows: No B deck suites and private promenades, the dining saloon entrance was different, the names places could have never been switched, as they were etched into the hull, rather than screwed on, the titanic and Olympic had different hull numbers. This point with the hull numbers was on EVERY SINGLE piece of furniture, hull plating, and plank of wood had 401 stamped on it for Titanic and 400 stamped on it for Olympic. There are plenty more reasons, but perhaps the most useful one is that neither Olympic nor titanic were fully insured. Instead, they were insured up to 5million dollars each but their cost was 7.5million (neither of those figures are adjusted for inflation). Purposely sinking a ship would have been a massive loss of White Star Line, and therefore completely stupid.”
Michael Standart, of South Carolina said: “Yes I've heard of it. It's a steaming pile of crap with no historical basis at all. Even if White Star wanted to pull off insurance fraud, no elaborate switches are needed. All you need is the constructive total loss of the vessel and that would-be child's play to arrange at the pier...risk free, in the middle of the night...by a few enterprising guys with some gasoline and a match. Also, pointless since of the ship's $7,500,000 value, only $5,000,000 was covered by any outside underwriter. The rest was covered by White Star's in-house fund. In order to get me to believe in a fraud, one would have to accept the notion that White Star would try a scam where they would be defrauding THEMSELVES out of $2.5million in their own money in a day and age when that was BIG money.”
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