Hump day
#20
Moist IT Outsourcing Services
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Indian Ocean
Posts: 5,331
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#22
It's QQ thankyouverymuch
iTrader: (39)
I'll just leave this here...
I'm not the guy to believe conspiracies, but I know of one that has been nicely thought up.
Remember Titanic? If you don't let me help you. Big boat, white on top, lower half is black. Four big funnels, two masts. According to the legend the biggest best whatever ship ever built. Now, Titanic was the second in a series of three boats that all rather looked alike. And when Titanic was nearly finished, her older sister, Olympic, had already made quite a few succesfull crossings of the Atlantic ocean.
One day however, a Royal Navy battleship bumped into Olympic. Or - if you believe the Royal Navy - Olympic bumped into their boat. Despite heavy damage (look it up, Olympic HMS Hawke or something in google images), Olympic remained afloat. She was towed to the shipyard that had built her for repairs. This incident by the way, is where Titanic and Olympic got their 'unsinkable' reputation from.
And this is where it all went south for the owners of Olympic. Harland and Wolff, the shipyard, took a close look at Olympic and their assesmentwas that the dents could be patched up, and a few bits of the engines needed straightening out. But the keel was bent. And there's nothing you can do about that. Olympic would be good for sailing around in big circles, not crossing the ocean. Harland and Wolff informed the White Star Line.
Dismayed at loosing their prime source of income, White Star called their insurance company. Now if you - at that time - in England, bumped into a boat belonging to the Royal Navy, that same navy would conduct the inquiry to the cause of the incident. Unsurprisingly, White Star where found guilty of causing the accident, and the insurance company declined to pay out. No ship had sunk, and Olympic being reduced to a write-off was White Star's own fault, their argument was.
Now White Star had a real problem on their hands. Their last cash was in Titanic, and Olympic was a complete write-off before returning even the slightest profit. Looking at the two ships sitting side by side in a Harland and Wolff dock, one executive asked the other executives the question: "What if Titanic would hit an iceberg?"
"We'd have some insurance cash, sure - but we'd still be left with Olympic. And her back is broken." Said one of the others. He then pointed to the nameplates of the to ships. "What if we dress up Olympic as Titanic?". And that's what happened. Late on a rainy evening, a few workers who where given a few quid, took of the nameplates, switched them, and left.
Allegedly, when taking command of "Titanic" for her maiden voyage, Captain E.J. Smith was given an instruction to find a nice iceberg near a certain location. Park the boat into the iceberg, and wait until we come pick you and your passengers. Some cash was stuffed into the old man's pocket to keep him silent, and off went Smith in search of the iceberg.
Now I've heard different versions of the outcome. Smith found his iceberg allright, but some stories say that the ships standing by to rescue had second thoughts about being involved with the biggest insurance scam of the century, while others say Smith found his iceberg, just in the wrong spot where no one was waiting for him.
TL;DR Titanic was an insurance scam.
Remember Titanic? If you don't let me help you. Big boat, white on top, lower half is black. Four big funnels, two masts. According to the legend the biggest best whatever ship ever built. Now, Titanic was the second in a series of three boats that all rather looked alike. And when Titanic was nearly finished, her older sister, Olympic, had already made quite a few succesfull crossings of the Atlantic ocean.
One day however, a Royal Navy battleship bumped into Olympic. Or - if you believe the Royal Navy - Olympic bumped into their boat. Despite heavy damage (look it up, Olympic HMS Hawke or something in google images), Olympic remained afloat. She was towed to the shipyard that had built her for repairs. This incident by the way, is where Titanic and Olympic got their 'unsinkable' reputation from.
And this is where it all went south for the owners of Olympic. Harland and Wolff, the shipyard, took a close look at Olympic and their assesmentwas that the dents could be patched up, and a few bits of the engines needed straightening out. But the keel was bent. And there's nothing you can do about that. Olympic would be good for sailing around in big circles, not crossing the ocean. Harland and Wolff informed the White Star Line.
Dismayed at loosing their prime source of income, White Star called their insurance company. Now if you - at that time - in England, bumped into a boat belonging to the Royal Navy, that same navy would conduct the inquiry to the cause of the incident. Unsurprisingly, White Star where found guilty of causing the accident, and the insurance company declined to pay out. No ship had sunk, and Olympic being reduced to a write-off was White Star's own fault, their argument was.
Now White Star had a real problem on their hands. Their last cash was in Titanic, and Olympic was a complete write-off before returning even the slightest profit. Looking at the two ships sitting side by side in a Harland and Wolff dock, one executive asked the other executives the question: "What if Titanic would hit an iceberg?"
"We'd have some insurance cash, sure - but we'd still be left with Olympic. And her back is broken." Said one of the others. He then pointed to the nameplates of the to ships. "What if we dress up Olympic as Titanic?". And that's what happened. Late on a rainy evening, a few workers who where given a few quid, took of the nameplates, switched them, and left.
Allegedly, when taking command of "Titanic" for her maiden voyage, Captain E.J. Smith was given an instruction to find a nice iceberg near a certain location. Park the boat into the iceberg, and wait until we come pick you and your passengers. Some cash was stuffed into the old man's pocket to keep him silent, and off went Smith in search of the iceberg.
Now I've heard different versions of the outcome. Smith found his iceberg allright, but some stories say that the ships standing by to rescue had second thoughts about being involved with the biggest insurance scam of the century, while others say Smith found his iceberg, just in the wrong spot where no one was waiting for him.
TL;DR Titanic was an insurance scam.
#24
Moist IT Outsourcing Services
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Indian Ocean
Posts: 5,331
Car Info: Mahindra Tractor
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