Legends and myths regarding RMS Titanic
At the time the "Titanic" sank, the 1 May 1912 issue of "The Popular Magazine", an American pulp magazine, was on the news stands. It contained the short story "The White Ghost of Disaster," which described the collision of an ocean liner with an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean, the sinking of the vessel, and the fate of the passengers. The story, by Mayn Clew Garnett (the pseudonym of sea-story author T. Jenkins Hains), created a minor sensation. In 1898, fourteen years prior to the "Titanic" disaster,
Morgan Robertson wrote a book called "Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan". This story features an enormous British passenger liner called the "Titan", which, deemed to be unsinkable, carries insufficient lifeboats. On a voyage in the month of April, the "Titan" hits an iceberg and sinks in the North Atlantic with the loss of almost everyone on board. There are some similarities between the fictional sinking of the "Titan" and the real-life sinking of the RMS "Titanic".
Jack Thayer
In 1940, Thayer shared his experiences of "Titanic" sinking in vivid detail, in a self-published pamphlet titled "The Sinking of the S.S. Titanic"; 500 copies were printed for family and friends. Oceanographer Robert Ballard used it to determine the location of "Titanic" and proved that the ship had split in half as it sank, contrary to popular belief. Thayer was among those who clearly reported seeing "Titanic "break in two, as it was finally confirmed by Ballard's discovery of the wreck.