Some Believe the Titanic Was Swapped With Another Ship — Here’s Why

There are a bunch of conspiracy theories that have turned out to be true. Like the mayor of Arcadia, Calif., Eileen Wang is actually a member of the Chinese Communist Party who infiltrated the US government by weaponizing identity politics and cross-culturalism.

And then there are those that many don't believe have any merit whatsoever, like this one about the Titanic that's being skewered on Reddit.

One of the most prevalent conspiracies surrounding the sinking of the Titanic is that the vessel was destroyed as a means of eliminating key figures who opposed the formation of the .

The argument is that doing so would ultimately remove the value of capital and assets from the hands of the American people. If a singular banking system in the United States could govern and dictate the value of money at large, then the value of US currency could be altered at the behest of those in charge of the Federal Reserve.

In fact, the notion of a large banking entity has been staunchly opposed by several key US political figures throughout the nation's lifetime. Andrew Jackson famously vetoed a proposal to renew the charter for the Second Bank of the United States.

But there's another prevalent Titanic theory, and it's that the ship of the same name wasn't actually the one that sank to the bottom of the North Atlantic. Rather, the massive boat was switched out for the Olympic, a vessel that looked identical to the Titanic.

So why would someone go through all of the trouble of swapping the boats? The answer: plain old insurance fraud. It's believed that the Titanic's sister ship was severely damaged in the Hawke collision. So, the business decided to swap the names of the Titanic and Olympic.

This way, the company that owned the vessels, White Star Line, could send the boat out to sea and collect a ton of insurance money. Conspiracy Theory Online explains why the "swap" theory persists: it gives those who read up on it a clear motive: a dedicated villain, and a tragedy that claimed the lives of over 1,000 people.

Several Reddit users who've discussed the theory have pointed out flaws in it. One person in this thread highlighted that they may've given credence to the theory if the boats were identical. However, they were not. Yes, there were enough similarities and made by the same shipbuilders, but swapping out the vessels wouldn't be as simple as painting on a different name.

Another person in a separate thread highlighted how, compared to the Titanic's build cost, the ship was actually under-insured.

"The cost of of building the Titanic was the equivalent of about $7.5 million in US dollars at the time, and she was insured for $5 million. So anyone that tries to claim that the ship sinking was an insurance scam has to ignore the fact that WSL took a $2.5 million loss," they wrote.

And if you need any further evidence as to why the switch didn't occur, other folks have compiled a ton of compelling reasons why the conspiracy theory is bunk. Like the fact that the damage to the Olympic was $125,000, the photographic evidence of the Titanic's construction, that the Olympic was painted white, or that the Titanic's wreckage looked just like the Titanic, and that the captain, deck, and crew would've all had to keep quiet about the swap.

So what do you think? Do you believe that the ships were swapped out? Or is it just a theory people don't want to let go of?