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".
Herbert Haddock
At the time of "Titanic"s sinking Haddock was sailing "Olympic" easterly from New York to Southampton, approximately west by south of "Titanic"s location. Haddock was informed of the disaster by wireless operator Ernest James Moore at 2250 ET on 14 April. After receiving a CQD call from "Titanic", Haddock calculated a new course and headed directly to her. He also sent for an engineer to set the ship's engines to full power. When from "Titanic", at approximately 1600 ET on 15 April, Haddock received a message from Captain Rostron of RMS "Carpathia", explaining that continuing on course to "Titanic" would gain nothing, as "All boats accounted for. About 675 souls saved [...] Titanic foundered about 2.20 am." Rostron requested that the message be forwarded to White Star and Cunard. He said that he was returning to harbour in New York, and recommended that other ships do the same. Subsequently, the wireless room aboard the "Olympic" operated as a clearing room for radio messages.