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    Futility, Or The Wreck of the Titan
    Futility, Or The Wreck of the Titan
    Futility, Or The Wreck of the Titan
    Ebook288 pages6 hours

    Futility, Or The Wreck of the Titan

    By Morgan Robertson

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    Futility, or The Wreck of the Titan is Morgan Robertson’s 1898 novella about the unsinkable ship Titan, which goes down after striking an iceberg in the North Atlantic. Disgraced former naval lieutenant John Rowland is working as a deckhand on the Titan when it strikes an iceberg and capsizes. Saving the younger daughter of a former lover by jumping onto the iceberg with her, Rowland and his charge are eventually rescued and return to their homes.

    Written before the Titanic was designed, Futility, or The Wreck of the Titan’s narrative is eerily similar to the real-life disaster that occurred the night of April 15, 1912: both Titanic and Titan were considered to be unsinkable; neither ship carried enough lifeboats for the number of passengers on board; and both sank after striking icebergs. The sinking of the Titanic in the frigid waters of the north Atlantic in the early hours of April 15, 1912, is arguably the most famous peacetime maritime disaster of modern history, and one that continues to capture popular imagination a century later.

    HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateMay 5, 2015
    ISBN9781443447584
    Author

    Morgan Robertson

    Morgan Robertson (1861-1915) was an American novelist and short story writer. Born into a seafaring family, Robertson entered the merchant service as a teenager, rising to the rank of first mate by the time of his departure in 1886. With his sailing days behind him, Robertson studied jewelry making and worked in New York City as a diamond setter for 10 years. During this time, he also wrote sea stories and novels, including Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan (1898), a novel with a striking similarity to the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. Despite seeing his work published in McClure’s and the Saturday Evening Post, Robertson failed to make a living as a professional writer, leading to a deep dissatisfaction also fueled by the author’s claims to have not received credit for his invention of the submarine periscope. Despite his lack of popular success and critical acclaim, Robertson’s work is thought to have influenced such writers as Edgar Rice Burroughs and Henry De Vere Stacpoole.

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    Reviews for Futility, Or The Wreck of the Titan

    3/5

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    • 4/5
      This book is evidence that time travel isXXX coincidences are a real thing.
    • 4/5
      The Gutenberg edition includes another Novella, 'The Pirates' and two shorter pieces, 'Beyond the Spectrum' and 'In the Valley of the Shadow'. I found all four pieces very interesting. Beyond the Spectrum seems to describe lasers, and I found it hard to remember that this was written before WWI, as it seemed to fit the beginning of WWII. An amazing author!
    • 3/5
      Got it because of the story accompanying the actual book. As a Titanic afficionado, I had no idea. Quite a good story, with some very interesting elements. Smooth reading as well.
    • 3/5
      This book has been called "a nineteenth-century prophecy" due to its striking similarities to the actual wreck of the Titanic, which occurred fourteen years after this story was published. I had been wanting to read this book for some time to see for myself the "prophetic" story of an 'unsinkable' liner named the Titan which struck an iceberg in the Atlantic one April, whose passengers perished due to a lack of lifeboats. This book wasn't exactly what I thought it'd be, probably since I had books like "A Night to Remember" in mind, where most of the action focused on the time immediately before and after the iceberg was struck. This story, on the other hand, wasted little time (a paragraph?) sinking the ship, and the rest of the book focused on the story of a survivor who beats the odds and rescues the small child of his former love interest.Despite not meeting my expectations, I actually really liked the story that did take place, as it was a story of personal survival and redemption for the protagonist, who showed a lot more character than I had taken him for initially.
    • 3/5
      Not very well written, if memory serves, but interesting in its historical juxtaposition to the sinking of the RMS Titanic. Like the Titanic, Robertson’s Titan is, prophetically, the largest ship of its day and is carrying some of the wealthiest people in the world when it strikes an iceberg on its maiden voyage and sinks with a great loss of life and property. Unlike Titanic, Titan is powered by steam and sail and some of the survivors seek refuge on the icebergs with, of all things, polar bears, again if memory serves. It’s just another one of those mysterious “happenings” and circumstances surrounding the Titanic’s loss, adding to the mythology surrounding it. A must have for Titanic buffs but not for much else.
    • 3/5
      Quite a famous story purely because, published in 1898 and featuring the collision of a luxury liner, the Titan, with an iceberg, it presaged the Titanic collision by 14 years. The similarities in terms of ship size, speed and lack of lifeboats are startling. Beyond this curiosity, however, it is a rather pedestrian story of nautical insurance fraud, an unlikely hero and improbable coincidences.
    • 4/5
      Since I heard about the short story that seemly predicted the sinking of the Titanic I wanted to read it. It's bizarre how close the ship details and the description of the sinking of the Titan and Titanic. If the Titanic had never sunk this would have been an interesting obscure short story published in 19th century. Nevertheless it is an entertaining short story on its own.
    • 3/5
      Been a long time since I read this book. I remember i bought it around 97or 98 when James Cameron's Titanic was out. This book was written only a few years before the actual Titanic Tragedy occurred. Same story - an unsinkable ship winds up sinking because of an iceberg in the north Atlantic with a bunch rich and poor folk on the ships maiden voyage.

    Book preview

    Futility, Or The Wreck of the Titan - Morgan Robertson

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