| abstract
| - As with many famous events, many alternative theories about the sinking of Titanic have appeared over the years. Theories that it was not an iceberg that sank the ship or that a curse caused the disaster have been popular reading in newspapers and books. Most of these theories have been debunked by Titanic experts, claiming that the evidence on which these theories were based was inaccurate or incomplete. An overview of the Titanic myths:
* Jack Phillips reaching Collapsible lifeboat B, and dying of exposure
* Murdoch and Moody floating in sea, dead.
* The last music played by the ship's band being the hymn 'Songe d'Automne' or 'Autumn'
* Thomas Andrews was last seen in the smoking room, while others claim to have seen him after that on the Boat Deck.
* The ship sinking in one piece, this was proved wrong when Robert Ballard discovered the wreck, broken in 2 pieces.
* The ship being given the number 3909 04 before her construction began. The number 3909 04 looks like 'NO POPE' in mirror writing, but that number had never anything to do with the Titanic.
* Captain Smith was claimed to be seen at Collapsible B, even trying to save an infant.
* The Aberdeen Press and Journal, a paper notorious for its parochial coverage, reported the sinking of Titanic with the headline "Aberdeenshire Man Drowned at Sea" (or something similar). This is an untrue Scottish urban legend.
* There is a minor school of thought that it was not Titanic that sank but Olympic. Conspiracy theorists cited evidence in favour, including the Hawke incident, which seriously damaged Olympic. This supposedly motivated management to scuttle Olympic/Titanic and file an insurance claim. The two ships were dry-docked at the same yard at the same time (making a switch possible), and cosmetic changes were made, presumably to make the two ships more similar. A book: Beveridge, Bruce. Olympic & Titanic: The Truth Behind the Conspiracy.
* While the ship was being built in the Belfast shipyard, several Catholic workers reportedly walked off the job in protest when they noticed horrible blasphemies against Catholicism and the Virgin Mary spray-painted by Protestant workers on parts of the ship. One of the workers stated, "This ship will not finish its first voyage." The graffiti was supposedly noted by coal-fillers when the ship stopped at Queenstown, Ireland. In reality, Harland and Wolff employed very few Catholics at this time.
* The myth of the cursed Egyptian mummy. The mummy, nicknamed Shipwrecker after changing hands several times and causing many terrible things to happen to each of its owners, exacts its final revenge by sinking the Titanic. There was no mummy on board.
* The bottle of champagne used in christening Titanic did not break on the first try, which in sea lore is said to be bad luck for a ship. But Titanic was not christened at all, the White Star Line never christened their ships on launching.
* The sinking of the Titanic was not the first time the internationally recognized Morse code distress signal "SOS" was used. The SOS signal was first proposed at the International Conference on Wireless Communication at Sea in Berlin in 1906. It was ratified by the international community in 1908 and had been in widespread use since then. The SOS signal was, however, rarely used by British wireless operators, who preferred the older CQD code. First Wireless Operator Jack Phillips began transmitting CQD until Second Wireless Operator Harold Bride suggested, half-jokingly, "Send SOS; it's the new call, and this may be your last chance to send it." Phillips, who perished in the disaster, then began to intersperse SOS with the traditional CQD call.
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