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Today, we know April 15th as "Tax Day."
It's also the day the Titanic sunk, some note, killing some of the biggest, and richest opponents of the Federal Reserve and sparing one of its primary American supporters, in J.P. Morgan, who's holdings included the White Star Line, the Titanic's builder, along with his good friend, Milton Hershey, both avoiding the voyage at the last minute.
Even more interestingly, a little known writer, named Morgan Robertson, wrote a story that could've been a news account of the sinking of the Titanic, complete with an "unsinkable" ship, with too few life boats and an experienced Captain who believed the massive ship's hype, some 14 years before the actual event.
Today, Morgan Robertson, if remembered at all, is most recalled for his short novella, "Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan," ("Futility, or Wreck of the Titan": https://www.amazon.com/dp/0848814614/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_LNmZAb01R8H9F) first published in 1898. This story features an enormous British passenger liner called the SS Titan, which, deemed to be unsinkable, carries an insufficient number of lifeboats and on a voyage in the month of April, the Titan hits an iceberg and sinks in the North Atlantic.
There are many remarkable similarities between Morgan's story and the real-life disaster of the RMS Titanic, 14 years later, which also carried an insufficient number of lifeboats, and sped through an iceberg field, hitting an iceberg in the early hours of April 15th, 1912 and sank in the North Atlantic, killing most of the people on board. The incredible similarities between the two has lent credibility to conspiracy theories regarding the Titanic.
Right before the RMS Titanic was set to sail, JP Morgan canceled his reservation at the last minute, due to health concerns. A close friend of JP Morgan's, Milton Hershey, also canceled at the last moment and survived to build the Hershey food empire.
A number of very wealthy, prominent men, who were at the time opposed to the formation of the Federal Reserve, did, in fact, get on the ship and didn’t survive.
There were no red flares on board the Titanic used to signal any nearby boats that a rescue was required. The Titanic was only stocked with white flares, used to signal a party was in progress.
The Titanic was the first ship of its kind with the ability to seal decks electromagnetically which could also seal people below deck.
Interestingly enough, the author of the book died after being poisoned, in 1915, a few years after the Titanic sank. Morgan Robertson died in Atlantic City, NJ from the effects of Paraldehyde, which was used in some cough medicines at the time.
The Federal Reserve was formed just 20 months after the Titanic sunk. It was rushed through, along with the 16th Amendment (The Income Tax), on December 23rd, 1913.
At that time, the Astor Family was one of the richest families in the world and John Astor IV vehemently opposed the Federal Reserve.
John Jacob Astor IV was a friend of Nikola Tesla, and an outspoken opponent of the creation of the Federal Reserve. Astor gained his wealth, in part, as a real estate builder, investor, and inventor.
Astor supported Thomas Jefferson's view, opposing a Central Bank comprised of a consortium of privately owned banks. Jefferson said, "If the American people ever allow the banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children will wake up homeless.... The issuing power of money should be taken from the banks and restored to Congress and the people to whom it belongs. I sincerely believe the banking institutions (having the power to issue money) are more dangerous to liberty than standing armies. My zeal against these institutions was so warm and open at the establishment of the Bank of the United States (Hamilton's foreign system), that I was derided as a maniac by the tribe of bank mongers who were seeking to filch from the public." (Thomas Jefferson)
Such sentiments are mostly dead now, so dead as to seem antiquated, but on that score, "More's the pity."
Other prominent Federal Reserve detractors, such as Benjamin Guggenheim and Isidor Strauss, also died on board the doomed Titanic.
It should be noted that along with Guggenheim and Strauss, some of the most vigorous opponents of such a Central Banking system were, in fact, Jewish, which you might think would undermine other "Jewish banking conspiracies," but of course, they do not. Facts rarely pierce hate.
The character of Benjamin Guggenheim, John Astor IV and Isidor Strauss deserves some attention.
According to reports, "Although Isidor (Strauss) was offered a seat in a lifeboat to accompany (his wife) Ida, he refused seating while there were still women and children aboard and refused to be made an exception. According to friend and Titanic survivor Colonel Archibald Gracie IV, upon seeing that Ida was refusing to leave her husband, he offered to ask a deck officer if Isidor and Ida could both enter a lifeboat together. Isidor was reported to have told Colonel Gracie in a firm tone: "I will not go before the other men". Ida insisted her newly hired English maid, Ellen Bird, get into lifeboat #8. She gave Ellen her fur coat, stating she would not be needing it. Ida is reported to have said, "I will not be separated from my husband. As we have lived, so will we die, together." Isidor and Ida were last seen on deck arm in arm. Eyewitnesses described the scene as a "most remarkable exhibition of love and devotion." Both died on April 15 when the ship sank at 2:20 am."
As for Benjamin Guggenheim, reports claim, "Titanic survivor Rose Amelie Icard wrote in a letter, "The billionaire Benjamin Guggenheim after having helped the rescue of women and children got dressed, a rose at his buttonhole, to die."
"Guggenheim and his longtime valet, Victor Giglio were seen heading into the Grand Staircase, closing the door behind them. Guggenheim was heard to remark, "We've dressed up in our best and are prepared to go down like gentlemen." He also gave Bedroom Steward Henry Samuel Etches, who survived the sinking, a message, which Etches wrote down: "If anything should happen to me, tell my wife in New York that I've done my best in doing my duty." Etches reported that "shortly after the last few boats were lowered and I was ordered by the deck officer to man an oar, I waved good-bye to Mr. Guggenheim, and that was the last I saw of him and Giglio."
"Guggenheim and Giglio were last seen seated in deck chairs in the foyer of the Grand Staircase sipping brandy and smoking cigars.
John Astor IV, concerned over the state of his wife (she was pregnant) also allegedly displayed the chivalry of that age, "According to child survivor Betty, as quoted on Children on the Titanic (2014), Astor was boarding the final lifeboat with his pregnant wife when he saw two scared children on deck and stepped aside, giving his place to them."
As astounding as that chivalry seems in our current unchivalrous age, it's also an amazing story, in and of itself, that a little known writer could effectively predict the future in a fictional sea tale about man's hubris.
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