The Wreck of the Titan or Futility

Once seen as a prediction of the sinking of the Titanic, this novella was written 14 years before that ill-fated event of 1912. Those striking similarities can be examined again in this new edition. John Rowland, a disgraced former Royal Navy lieutenant, has taken employment as a lowly deck hand aboard the largest ship ever to have sailed, the Titan. One night in deep fog, the ship strikes a gigantic iceberg and sinks almost immediately. Hailed in equal measures as a prophetic work and the work of pure coincidence. Certainly the similarities are striking: two unsinkable ships steam ahead in treacherous conditions, carrying privileged passengers, with insufficient lifeboats aboard.