'Curse' of the Titanic explained as five people are trapped on missing sub

20 June 2023 , 12:58

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Could the Titanic have been cursed? (Image: OceanGate Expeditions)

The RMS Titanic sank in 1912 and more than 1,500 people lost their lives in the tragic incident, which is still remembered today.

The maritime disaster was the deadliest sinking of a single ship up to that time, and remains the worst peacetime sinking of a cruise ship of all time.

The ship went down after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage, but could there be another reason behind the outcome of the ill-fated voyage?

Rumours of a 'curse' on the Titanic have been circling for more than 100 years, and now, with five people missing from a tourist submersible that was on a trip down to the bottom of the ocean to see the wreckage, we take a look at the truth behind the claims.

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A sub on a trip to visit the Titanic has disappeared (mirror.co.uk)

Do you think the Titanic was cursed? Let us know in the comments...

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William Stead, a British editor, was a first-class passenger on the ship and while on board he entertained other guests by sharing stories about his work.

For years he had been documenting "Egyptian curses" and writing about "Native American burial grounds", and claimed that a "mummy" was causing destruction in London.

Some claimed that documenting the mummy had caused the curse to follow Mr Stead, and others claimed that it was on the ship.

Several survivors later said they heard Mr Stead share stories about a "mummy's curse", and word of the story made it back to The Washington Post which ran the headline: "Ghost of the Titanic: Vengeance of Hoodoo Mummy Followed Man Who Wrote Its History."

'Curse' of the Titanic explained as five people are trapped on missing sub

The OceanGate submersible is currently lost (OceneGate)

Egyptian artefacts were found on the ship, but Paul Burns, vice president and curator for the Titanic Museum Attractions in Missouri and Tennessee, said survivor Margaret Brown had the historic items with her as she was due to deliver them to a museum in Denver.

Another version of the story states that the mummy was aboard the ship, as the British Museum had sold it to an American who was shipping it home, as Snopes reports.

But, as the History Channel reports, in reality, the so-called "Unlucky Mummy" is still with the British Museum to this day.

The Unlucky Mummy dates back to the 22nd Dynasty, and in the 1900s, journalist Bertram Fletcher Robinson spent months investigating claims that the monument was cursed.

This photo shows the inside of an OceanGate submersible from a previous expedition (PA)

But sadly before he could publish his work, he mysteriously died.

Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle thought Mr Robinson's death was an unlikely coincidence, and later wrote: "It was caused by Egyptian 'elementals' guarding a female mummy, because Mr Robinson had begun an investigation of the stories of the mummy's malevolence.

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"The immediate cause of death was typhoid fever, but that is the way in which the elementals guarding the mummy might act."

It is believed that Mr Robinson's work inspired Mr Stead, who had been invited personally on the Titanic by William Howard Taft, the 27th President of the US.

The wreckage of the Titanic is in a very difficult location to reach

After the disaster, one survivor, Marjorie Dutton claimed her life was cursed.

She was just eight-years-old at the time and travelled as a second-class passenger with her father.

She said: "My father was drowned taking our worldly wealth with him, as in those days people were not as bank-minded as they are now.

"Since that time I have been blessed with bad luck and often wonder if it will ever give me a break, but it just seems to be my lot... I think my name was published at the time as having been drowned."

OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush was onboard the submersible (OceanGate)

Paul-Henri Nargeolet, the French explorer, is also missing (Paul-Henri Nargeolet)

Another survivor, The Countess of Rothes, shared the after-effects of the terrible incident.

Years later, she said she "suddenly felt the awful feeling of intense cold and horror" while at a public event, and later realised the orchestra was playing The Tales of Hoffman - the last music she had heard on the Titanic.

Many people suffered survivor's guilt after making it to safety when the Titanic sank, as so many people lost their lives.

Shahzada Dawood, and his son Sulaiman, were both onboard (FACEBOOK)

The tourist submersible, operated by OceanGate, is controlled by a mothership on the surface but worryingly all contact with the ship was lost around one hour and 45 minutes into the dive.

Hamish Harding, a British billionaire, and father and son Shahzada Dawood, 48, and Sulaiman Dawood, 19, from one of the wealthiest families in Pakistan, were on board the submarine, alongside French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush.

A massive search and rescue operation is currently underway in the mid-Atlantic after the vessel went missing during a dive to the sunken Titanic shipwreck on Sunday.