Titanic Series: Bait and Switch
Explicit content warning
01/09/24 • 38 min
On April 10, 1912, the Titanic set sail for her maiden voyage across the Atlantic ocean. She was a beautiful ship, designed for British luxury, and coined the “Millionaire’s Special.” She was journeying from Southampton, England with the hope of touching shores in New York, New York, but she never made it. As many of you know, she had an unfortunate collision with the ICEBERG STRAIGHT AHEAD, and capsized in the middle of the ocean between April 14 and 15, 1912. With approximately 1500 deaths, most of which coming from the crew and the third-class passengers, it is one of the most infamous tragedies in both American and British history.
In the early 1900’s, the shipping industry was at full peak, especially those voyages seeking to cross the Atlantic. These ships were used for trade, as well as vacations for the wealthy high socialites of that time. White Star, a company looking to enter the competition for transatlantic cruises, started construction on three large liners that would be recognized for their speed and comfort. These three vessels would be named the Olympic, the Britannica, and the Titanic. The Titanic featured a large, upscale dining room, four elevators, and a swimming pool. It had 16 compartments that included steel doors that could be closed to contain water, should the vessel be breached. The designers and builders claimed that 4 of the compartments could be filled with water and it would not affect the buoyancy of the Titanic. She would continue to float. Because of these characteristics, the Titanic was deemed “Unsinkable.” She was one of the largest and luxurious ships of her time, at 882.5 feet long and 92.5 feet wide. She had a carrying capacity of approximately 46,000 tons and weighed about 52,000 tons. But was this horrible tragedy just an accident? Or could it be something more sinister? Could the Titanic have been launched on not only her maiden voyage, but a suicide mission? Let’s talk about it.
Source Material and Additional Content
Theme song by INDA
On April 10, 1912, the Titanic set sail for her maiden voyage across the Atlantic ocean. She was a beautiful ship, designed for British luxury, and coined the “Millionaire’s Special.” She was journeying from Southampton, England with the hope of touching shores in New York, New York, but she never made it. As many of you know, she had an unfortunate collision with the ICEBERG STRAIGHT AHEAD, and capsized in the middle of the ocean between April 14 and 15, 1912. With approximately 1500 deaths, most of which coming from the crew and the third-class passengers, it is one of the most infamous tragedies in both American and British history.
In the early 1900’s, the shipping industry was at full peak, especially those voyages seeking to cross the Atlantic. These ships were used for trade, as well as vacations for the wealthy high socialites of that time. White Star, a company looking to enter the competition for transatlantic cruises, started construction on three large liners that would be recognized for their speed and comfort. These three vessels would be named the Olympic, the Britannica, and the Titanic. The Titanic featured a large, upscale dining room, four elevators, and a swimming pool. It had 16 compartments that included steel doors that could be closed to contain water, should the vessel be breached. The designers and builders claimed that 4 of the compartments could be filled with water and it would not affect the buoyancy of the Titanic. She would continue to float. Because of these characteristics, the Titanic was deemed “Unsinkable.” She was one of the largest and luxurious ships of her time, at 882.5 feet long and 92.5 feet wide. She had a carrying capacity of approximately 46,000 tons and weighed about 52,000 tons. But was this horrible tragedy just an accident? Or could it be something more sinister? Could the Titanic have been launched on not only her maiden voyage, but a suicide mission? Let’s talk about it.
Source Material and Additional Content
Theme song by INDA
Previous Episode
Lunar Landing: Real or Multi-Billion Dollar Hoax? (with Update)
**Discussion begins at 5:10**
On April 12, 1961, the Soviet Union launched the first human into space. In an effort to “compete”, President JFK asked his VP Lyndon Johnson to identify a “space program which promises dramatic results in which we could win” and began calling for human exploration on the moon “before the decade is out”. Eight years later, on July 16, 1969, a rocket carrying the Apollo 11 astronauts (Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins) took off from Cape Kennedy. After four days of travel, the lunar module carrying Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon. As Neil Armstrong stepped out to become the first human on the moon, the event was captured by a television camera attached to the craft, and transmitted back to earth, where 650 million people watched from home. Of them, 125 million were from USA – making it the most watched television moment in US history according to the air and space museum”. Michael Collins stayed onboard the command module Columbia as a communications link and photographer. After 2.5 hours spent on the moon, the three began the journey home, eventually splashing down in the Pacific Ocean on July 24, 1969. There were 5 more lunar landings, with the final one in 1972. We have not been back to the moon since
The conspiracy theory here is that the US Government faked the lunar landing, in an attempt to win the space race with the Russians, and fulfill the late President’s promise to land on the moon before the end of the decade, a mere 5 months away. Non-believers argue that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin filmed the landing on a secret set, perhaps in Hollywood?. In fact, this was just a year after Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A space odyssey, which depicted “realistic” images of outer space. Did he also film the moon landing on a sound stage? The photo and video evidence was only available through NASA, so there is no way to independently verify their authenticity. On the other hand, did rumors of the moon landing hoax originate decades later, due to the fact that the Pentagon Papers and Watergate had left a lot of Americans distrustful of the government?
Theme song by INDA
Next Episode
Missing Malaysian Flight MH370: Part I
**Discussion starts at 3:20**
On March 8, 2014, Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 took off in the early hours of the morning as the red eye flight from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, with an intended destination of Beijing, China. There were 227 passengers on board, with 12 crew members. The pilot in command, 53 year old Captain Zaharie Shah, was performing a final instructional flight for 27 year old co-pilot, First Officer Fariq Hamid. It was a clear, calm night, and the flight was initially uneventful. At cruising altitude of 35,000 feet, the flight was leaving Malaysian Air Space and was instructed to transfer to the air traffic control tower in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. At 0119, Captain Shah radioed the Air Traffic Controllers in Malaysia “Good night, Malaysian 370”. That was the last verbal contact with anyone on the plane. Approximately 103 seconds later, the aircraft went dark and vanished from all radar screens in Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, and Ho Chi Minh City. There were two transponders onboard the plane, so to disappear, both transponders would need to cease functioning - either by catastrophic failure or by manual override by someone on the plane. It was over 20 minutes before anyone noted the plane was missing. It did not arrive for its 6:30AM ETA, and only had enough fuel to fly until approximately 8:15 AM. The most expensive search and rescue operation in aviation history was initiated. To this day, we do not know where the airplane is, or what happened to the 239 souls on board. An extensive safety report was released which did not answer many questions and had inconclusive findings. They denied suspecting any crew was involved, and reported that air traffic control was delayed in noting the missing plane. Theories vary, from a hijacking or suicide mission, to a military operation, and a plethora of questions still exist. One thing is for sure, evidence of shoddy investigative work and potential cover-ups abound. What really happened to MH370 in the early morning hours of March 8 , 2014?
Theme song by INDA
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