Gardiner, Robert Titanic. The Ship That Never Sank?

In 1912, the unthinkable happened - the supposedly unsinkable "Titanic" sank after hitting an iceberg, or so it was thought. In this bestseller, author Robin Gardiner claims that it was not the "Titanic" but its sister ship "Olympic" that sank in the icy waters of the North Atlantic on that fateful night. He claims that the events were an insurance fraud by the White Star Line, in which the British government may also have been involved. On 20 September 1911, the "Olympic" was involved in a collision with the Royal Navy warship HMS "Hawke" in Southampton Water. It was established that the "Olympic" was at fault for the collision. As a result of this finding, White Star's insurers allegedly refused to settle the claim. As this would mean a heavy financial loss for the company, the badly damaged "Olympic" was allegedly repaired and then converted into the "Titanic" to ensure that at least one ship would make money. The real "Titanic" was then to be quietly put into service as the "Olympic" after its completion. In order to dispose of the supposedly irreparably damaged "Olympic" in such a way that White Star would receive the full insurance value of a brand new ship, the plan was to open the sea valves at sea and slowly flood the ship. Numerous ships were stationed nearby to pick up the passengers. The lack of lifeboats would not matter as the ship would sink slowly and the boats could make several trips to the rescuers. The controversy this theory has caused and some of the evidence used to support it is compelling and has made this book a bestseller in the years since it was first published. Regardless of whether you believe in this version of events on that terrible night in 1912, which still resonate so strongly well over a century later, "Titanic. The Ship That Never Sank?" is a fascinating, well-written and gripping read.