Above left: Early in the movie, a man makes use of a computerized simulation to explain the Titanic sinking scenario to an elderly Rose (seated at left). Above right: A close-up of the Titanic on the man's computer screen. The forward starboard (front right) portholes on C deck, are enclosed in the green rectangle pointed to by the yellow arrow.
A magnified view of the enclosed area from above. Note that there are fourteen forward starboard portholes on C deck on the computer diagram of the ship, which is presumably based on the original Titanic drawings that were created when the ship itself was designed. The point is that it was intended that Titanic, when built, would have fourteen portholes on the forward starboard side of C deck.
Above: A little later in the movie during Rose's 'flashback' of Titanic's voyage, it is evident that there are fifteen forward starboard portholes on C deck of the ship. The discrepancy between the designed and actual number of portholes is explained below.
The accepted version of the sinking of Titanic is that she sank in the North Atlantic Ocean in the early morning of 15 April 1912 after colliding with an iceberg, during her maiden voyage from Southampton, UK, to New York City, US; the sinking resulted in the deaths of more than 1,500 passengers and crew.
An alternative theory concludes that the ship that sank was, in fact, Titanic's sister ship Olympic, disguised as Titanic, as an insurance scam.
Olympic was the older sister of Titanic, built alongside the more famous vessel but launched in October 1910 (Titanic was launched in 1912). Her exterior profile was nearly identical to Titanic, save for minor details such as the number of portholes on the forward C decks of the ships.[a]
In September 1911 during its fifth commercial voyage, the Olympic collided with the HMS Hawke near the Isle of Wight, southern England. It was later determined that suction from the Olympic had pulled the Hawke into the ocean liner. Both ships suffered major damage, and the Olympic did not return to service until November 1911.[b]
Because of the finding that Olympic was to blame for the collision, its insurers allegedly refused to pay out on the claim made on it. Since construction on Titanic had not yet been completed, and Olympic had to be repaired, a serious financial loss would be incurred by the company that owned the two ships, White Star Line, due to loss of use. To make sure at least one vessel was earning money, the badly damaged Olympic was patched-up and then converted to become the Titanic. The real Titanic when complete would then quietly enter service as the Olympic. One alleged plan was that the patched-up Olympic, disguised as Titanic, would then be disposed of in such a manner so that White Star could collect the full insured value of a brand new ship.[a]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Since the maker of the film under analysis here, James Cameron, depicts the designed number of portholes on the Titanic (14, on the forward starboard part of C deck) to be different than the actual number when it set sail (15 at this location, the same number as on the Olympic - see first photo below), the indication is that he believes that the Olympic and Titanic were, in fact, switched.
Recall from previous posts in this analysis that Cameron placed inaccuracies in the film. He did this intentionally, in order to get us, the audience, to question (and research) the accepted version of events surrounding the Titanic and its sinking. When we see that we have been 'deceived' about the history of the Titanic by Cameron, we are to extrapolate this to the fact that we have been lied to about the ship's history in real life. Then, each of us will be in the proper frame of mind such that we can realize and accept the fact, that the Titanic was switched with the Olympic.
Olympic arriving at New York on her maiden voyage in June 1911. There are fifteen forward starboard portholes on C deck. The name "Olympic" can be seen inside the brown oval (click image to enlarge). [Image from the Wikipedia 'RMS Olympic' page, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; edited for clarity.]
RMS Titanic departing Southampton on 10 April 1912. There are fifteen forward starboard portholes on C deck. The name "Titanic" is discernible inside the brown oval (click image to enlarge). [Image from the Wikipedia 'RMS Titanic' page, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; edited for clarity.]
a. Wikipedia, 'RMS Titanic alternative theories'. Web, n.d. URL = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Titanic_alternative_theories.
b. 'Olympic'. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2015. Web. 30 Sep. 2015. URL = http://www.britannica.com/topic/Olympic.
