Titanic conspiracy theories 'claiming ship' never sank are flooding TikTok

According to TikTok conspiracy theorists the Titanic never sank.

That's what some users are claiming on the short-form video app, with some videos racking up millions of views. Those who believe in this conspiracy think it was the Titanic's sister the ship the Olympic that actually sank.

One TikTok account called @official_spooks, that has over 2.2 million likes and posts a range of conspiracy theories, said that the owners of the two ships swapped out the Titanic for the Olympic, which was heavily damaged and not very profitable, at the last minute to recoup some of the insurance money to cover the Olympic.

Conspiracy theorists also cite figures such as J.P Morgan pulling out of the trip beforehand as confirmation that something was amiss. With some even going as far to say the J.P. Morgan sunk the ship himself to eliminate his rivals of the Federal Reserve, as well as get insurance money as he controlled the parent corporation of the White Star Line, the British shopping company that operated the Titanic and the Olympic.

However this has been consistently disproved as the historical records as well as common sense do not support the theory. The reason Morgan pulled out from the trip at the last minute was to do with European art collection. And if the financier had wanted to collect insurance money or kill his rivals he'd have to be sure of the iceberg, as well as ensure that his opponents were not on any lifeboats.

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Some also claim that James Fenton, a man who worked on building the ship and survived the sinking, said on his deathbed that the ships were switched, and that he was told that if he ever said anything "something bad would happen to him", according to TikTok creator David Justin, who has over 9 million followers.

"It becomes kind of deflating to see a lot of this junk coming out," Charles A. Haas - founder of the Titanic International Society and co-author of five books on the topic - told The New York Times. "I feel like one of the very few voices crying out against the sound of a hurricane."

Conversations around the Titanic resurfaced this week after a submersible went missing whilst exploring the ruins of the Titanic. On Thursday night it was announced that the submersible had imploded and all 5 passengers were killed.

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