An online rumor claims the sinking of the Titanic was an inside job. According to the claim, American financier J.P. Morgan orchestrated the sinking of the Titanic in order to kill three prominent businessmen who opposed the formation of the Federal Reserve.
For example, on Nov. 13, 2024, a user on X posted (archived), "J.P. Morgan funded the building of the Titanic, and cancelled his long-awaited journey just hours before its proposed departure. 3 of the wealthiest men on earth, whom were against the creation of the Federal Reserve Bank happened to be invited aboard for its maiden voyage."
Also, for a number of years prior to 2024, users shared on social media websites a meme reading (archived), "Benjamin Guggenheim, Isidor Straus, [and John] Jacob Astor [all] opposed the new Federal Reserve bank. Today, these men would be worth $11 billion. All three of these men were aboard the Titanic when it sank. All three died that night."
A Baseless Conspiracy Theory
It's true that American businessman Benjamin Guggenheim, Macy's co-owner Isidor Straus, and fur magnate and real estate developer John Jacob Astor all perished in the sinking of the Titanic. However, the overall claim intimated by the meme was nothing more than a baseless conspiracy theory.
The misleading meme was born out of previous ones mentioning Morgan, who owned the companies that managed the Titanic and was not a passenger on its maiden voyage.
Past memes suggested that Morgan had somehow miraculously orchestrated the voyage to end in tragedy in order to kill Guggenheim, Straus and Astor.
"J.P. Morgan striking photographer with cane." (Courtesy: Library of Congress)
According to the memes, Morgan's supposed reason for planning the demise of the three prominent men was because they all opposed the formation of the Federal Reserve — the centralized banking system established in 1913, the year after the sinking of the Titanic.
The meme also said, "Today, these men would be worth $11 billion." However, it's unclear how much each of the men's descendants would be worth today had they survived.
Titanic Expert George Behe Says 'False'
In March 2021, Reuters published a thorough report that debunked the rumor behind all of the memes on this subject. The article included an interview with Titanic expert George Behe, whose research into the history of the Titanic goes back to the 1970s. According to Behe, there is no known evidence that showed Guggenheim, Straus or Astor opposed the formation of the Federal Reserve. In fact, in 1911, The New York Times reported that Astor was very much in favor of the idea.
The reporting from Reuters said experts widely agree that the sinking of the Titanic was an accident. The ship struck an iceberg on the night of April 14, 1912. Within hours, more than 1,500 people had died.
As for Morgan purportedly deciding to skip the voyage hours before departure, the Reuters story documented thoughts from three different historians:
"I've never been able to find an authoritative 1912 source explaining the exact reason why J.P. Morgan cancelled his passage on the Titanic, but he definitely didn't do so mere 'hours' before the ship's departure," Titanic expert George Behe said in an email to Reuters.
Meanwhile, Don Lynch, a historian at the Titanic Historical Society (THS), said: "One of J.P. Morgan's biographers said that France was changing its laws to prevent Americans from exporting art treasures from that country, so Morgan went to Paris to oversee getting his purchases out of the country before the new laws went into effect."
Also from THS, advisory board member Ray Lepien, said that as well as the art treasures theory, "the 'official' explanation was that he (Morgan) fell ill and wanted to take the 'cure' at a spa in France with his mistress." Lepien added: "It could have been both reasons."
We contacted Behe in an effort to find out if there had been any updates since Reuters published its story in 2021.
"To the best of my knowledge, the conspiracy theory is just as false today as it was when it was first created, and no important new revelations have turned up within the last couple of years," Behe told Snopes in an email dated Jan. 8, 2023. "Sadly, once these nonsensical conspiracy theories have been foisted upon the general public via the internet, the theories are destined to plague humanity forevermore and will continue to fool innocent people who are unfamiliar with the facts."
Thoughts from Historian J. Kent Layton
For further details, Behe pointed us in the direction of historian J. Kent Layton, who authored books including "Conspiracies at Sea: Titanic and Lusitania," "On a Sea of Glass: The Life & Loss of the RMS Titanic" and "Recreating Titanic & Her Sisters: A Visual History."
"We've been tackling this nonsense with historical data since at least the late-90s to early-00s," Layton told Snopes by email in June 2023. "However, social media is a fantastic breeding ground for conspiracies of all sorts. Titanic seems to be a favorite of many."
Layton remarked to us in detail regarding why the conspiracy theory made no sense to him:
I would point out that if the sinking had actually been a conspiracy to kill those three individuals, there would have been no way that they could ensure their actual demise unless they had locked them somewhere inside the ship to die as it sank. Instead, the evidence indicates that all three were seen during the sinking.
Guggenheim famously cast aside his heavy coat and lifebelt after his steward had helped him into them, saying that he and his manservant were "dressed in their best and prepared to go down as gentlemen."
Straus nearly made it into a lifeboat, and fellow passengers even recommended that he board a lifeboat with his wife, but he deferred, preferring to let women and children board while he waited behind with other men.
Astor was seen very late in the disaster, helping his wife into a lifeboat; when he asked an officer loading the boat, apparently Second Officer Lightoller, if he could board, Lightoller said no. However, Lightoller had maintained a rather rigid policy of allowing no men into the lifeboats that he filled, and there had been plenty of other opportunities for Astor to board a boat. In fact, we recently discovered an account that indicated that Astor and his wife had approached an early boat on the other side of the ship, when the situation seemed less serious, but that they had stepped back from the lifeboat of their own accord at the last moment and stayed for a while longer on the ship.
If a conspiracy to kill these three men had been so deep and involved so as to actually sink an ocean liner and kill hundreds of innocent people, one would think that the individuals responsible would not have left the survival of these three men to chance.
This story will be updated in the future should we uncover any further helpful information.