Fourteen years before Titanic’s maiden voyage, author Morgan Robertson wrote a novel called The Wreck of the Titan: Or, Futility, which was about the largest ship in the world meeting disaster.  The ship in the fictional story was called the Titan. Its measurements were nearly identical to Titanic, as were the speeds they were going when they met disaster. Also, both struck an iceberg on the starboard side. They also both sank in April, at the exact same location, with as few lifeboats as the law allowed.  Though people credited him with clairvoyance, Robertson claimed that he simply had an extensive knowledge of ships and sailing. The Wreck of the Titan: Or, Futility (originally called Futility) is an 1898 novella written by Morgan Robertson. The story features the fictional ocean liner Titan, which sinks in the North Atlantic after striking an iceberg. Titan and its sinking have been noted to be very similar to the real-life passenger ship RMS Titanic, which sank fourteen years later. Following the sinking of the Titanic, the novel was reissued with some changes, particularly in the ship's gross tonnage.

Although the novel was written before the RMS Titanic was even conceptualized, there are some uncanny similarities between both the fictional and real-life versions. Like the Titanic, the fictional ship sank in April in the North Atlantic, and there were not enough lifeboats for all the passengers. There are also similarities between the size (800 ft (244 m) long for Titan versus 882 ft 9 in (269 m) long for the Titanic^[3]), speed (25 knots for Titan, 22.5 knots for Titanic^[4]) and life-saving equipment. Similarities between the Titanic and the fictional Titan include:

• Similar names of the ships
• Both were described as the largest craft afloat and the greatest of the works of men
  • The Titan was 800 feet long, displacing 75,000 tons (up from 45,000 in the 1898 edition).
  • The Titanic was 882 feet long, displacing 46,000 tons.
• Described as "unsinkable"
• Had triple screw (propeller)
• Shortage of lifeboats
  • The Titan carried "as few as the law allowed", 24 lifeboats, which could carry "less than half" of her total complement of 3,000.
  • The Titanic carried only 16 lifeboats (plus 4 Engelhardt folding lifeboats).
• Struck an iceberg
  • The Titan, moving at 25 knots, struck an iceberg on the starboard side on a night of April, in the North Atlantic, 400 nautical miles (740 km; 460 mi) from Newfoundland (Terranova).
  • The Titanic, moving at 22½ knots,^[6] struck an iceberg on the starboard side on the night of April 14, 1912, in the North Atlantic, 400 nautical miles (740 km; 460 mi) from Newfoundland (Terranova).
• Sinking
  • The Titan sank, and the majority of her 2,500 passengers and crew died; only 13 survived.
  • The Titanic sank, and 1,523 of her 2,200 passengers and crew died; 705 survived.
  • The Titan and Titanic both sank on a night in the month of April.

After the Titanic's sinking, some people credited Robertson with clairvoyance. Robertson denied this, claiming the similarities were explained by his extensive knowledge of shipbuilding and maritime trends.

New information reveals the possible reason why the ocean liner sunk in the Atlantic Ocean trying to connect Southampton to New York in 1912. A major blaze started in a coal bunker, near the hull of the White Star Line transatlantic liner, at the time the largest liner ever built, just as it was completed and ready to leave the Northern Ireland capital. It burned unchecked for nearly three weeks. When the incredible heat on one side of the hull was exposed to ice cold water on the other side, the rivets just popped out!  It is possible that the Titanic NEVER STRUCK and iceberg! Instead after the hull gave way, and the ship was doomed to sink, the captain and ship top brass came up with the iceberg story, an idea that they got from the book: The Wreck of the Titan.  Maybe the book didn't predict the disaster after all, maybe the disaster used the book to make up a story for the insurance claim!