Robertson, Morgan. Futility. 1st printing. NY: M.F. Mansfield. 1898. hardcover. fiction. isbn: none. scarcity: very scarce.

Robertson’s prophetic story of a great passenger liner, claimed unsinkable, which strikes an iceberg and sinks with horrific loss of life. Robertson wrote this novella 14 years before the Titanic disaster.

For those of you who have not read it yet, Robertson wrote of a British ocean liner, 800 feet long, with triple expansion engines, two masts and three screws. This fictional ship was the largest most luxurious ever built and was considered unsinkable. She was racing across the Atlantic in the month of April at high speed when she collided with an iceberg off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland near midnight. Despite her many watertight compartments, the ship foundered very quickly and almost everyone was lost, due in no small part to a completely insufficient number of lifeboats. The name of Robertson’s fictional ship was the Titan.

Many writers have compared the similarities between the fictional wreck and the real disaster, but Gardner, in his book The Wreck of the Titanic Foretold? is the first to go on and contrast the differences between the two events as well. The Titan was filled to capacity, for example, while the Titanic was barely half full. Titanic’s last night was clear and cloud free, the Titan was racing through heavy fog. The survival rate between the two is also very different. On Titanic, roughly a third of the people survived, while the Titan went down with just about everyone aboard, there were only thirteen survivors.

Gardner misses the single most striking difference between the two events. In Robertson’s story, the Titan does not sideswipe a berg, the ship actually steams right up onto an upward sloping ice shelf. The Titan then tips over onto its starboard side and slides back into the ocean, where it quickly floods and sinks.

The original book was called Futility, but when it was reissued after the Titanic disaster, it was renamed Futility, or The Wreck of the Titan.

Robertson, Morgan. The Wreck of the Titan, or, Futility. autograph edition. NY: McClure’s Magazine. 1912. hardcover. although this is the ‘autograph edition’, it is not actually signed by the author. fiction. isbn: none. scarcity: scarce.

This edition was the one published shortly after the Titanic sank when it was realized how closely Robertson’s Titan resembled the real Titanic. Although Futility is the only title mentioned on the title page and on the covers, there are actually three other Robertson novellas in this edition as well; The Pirates, Beyond the Spectrum, and In the Valley of the Shadow.

Although this is called the ‘autograph edition’, this volume was not actually signed by the author. The autograph edition was a multivolume set of the author’s works, and the title Where Angels Fear to Tread was the volume with the signature page.

The version of Futility in this edition is slightly altered from the original 1898 edition. The two biggest changes is that there is an extra paragraph added to the very last page of the book, which changes the underlining moral of the story. The second big difference is that the statistics for the Titan were augmented when the book was rereleased in 1912. It has long been a myth that these changes were made to make the Titan appear closer to Titanic in power and speed but actually this is not quite true.

I don't personally have a copy of the original 1898 version, but Martin Gardner in his book The Wreck of the Titanic Foretold? compares that 1898 version to the 1912 edition. What actually happened was that Robertson wrote in numbers to leap frog Titan ahead of Titanic in size and power.

Here are the relevant statistics:

the Titan, 1898 version:
45,000 ton displacement, horsepower 40,000.

the Titanic:
52,000 tons displacement, horsepower 46.000.

the Titan, 1912 edition:
70,000 tons displacement, horsepower 75,000.

This indicates to me that rather than trying to mimic the real Titanic, Robertson was trying to keep his fictional ship ahead of the technology of the current day.

Robertson, Morgan. Futility, or The Wreck of the Titan. 1st British edition? London: Arthur F. Bird. 1912. hardcover. isbn: none. scarcity: very scarce.

Robertson, Morgan. The Wreck of the Titan, or, Futility. reprint edition. Cutchogue, NY: Buccaneer Books. 1991. hardcover. fiction. isbn: 0899668216. scarcity: fairly common. This edition is a reprint of the 1912 version that was published shortly after the Titanic sank. Besides Futility, it includes the other three short stories found in that edition, The Pirates, Beyond the Spectrum, and In the Valley of the Shadow. With thanks to Mary Jean Faulkner for details about this version..

Robertson, Morgan. Futility, Autographed First Centenary Edition. limited edition. Pigeon Bob and Berry Publishing. January, 1998. hardcover. fiction. This edition limited to just 125 copies. isbn: 0953207307. scarcity: very scarce. With thanks to Sarah Hewitt for information about this special limited edition.

Robertson, Morgan. Futility, or The Wreck of the Titan 100th Anniversary Edition. Virtual Ink. May, 1998. wraps. fiction. isbn: 0966545818. scarcity: hard to find.

Robertson, Morgan. The Wreck of the Titan, or Futility & Morgan Robertson the Man. modern reprint. Ludlow, MA: 7 C’s Press. 1995. hardcover. fiction. isbn: none. scarcity: hard to find.

This edition includes the 1912 version of Futility, plus several autobiographical and biographical sketches about the author. The latter section, covered under the title Morgan Robertson, the Man was originally printed in McClure’s Magazine in 1915.

The biographical section includes the following articles:

“Morgan Robertson, Shipmate” by a friend from Robertson’s early years at sea, whose name is withheld by request.

Following is an autobiographical piece by Robertson called ?Gathering No Moss, an Autobiography?. Although made to appear to be an autobiographic piece, it was actually written by Bozeman Bulger.

Next is a short piece by Seth Moyle, called “Sidelights on Morgan Robertson”.
Then another piece by Robertson himself, “My Skirmish with Madness”.
Following is a series of articles by friends and acquaintances:

“Morgan Robertson, Hero”, by J. O’Neill.
“The Art of Morgan Robertson” by Charles Hanson Towne.
“The Morgan Robertson I Knew” by Arthur T. Vance.
“The Psychic Mystery of His Time” by Henry W. Francis.
“Morgan Robertson, the Man” by Bozeman Bulger.
“Morgan Robertson” by Arthur B. Maurice.
“The Man I Knew” by Grace Miller White.

Robertson, Morgan. The Wreck of the Titan, or Futility & Morgan Robertson the Man. limited edition. Mattituck, NY: Amereon House. 1995. hardcover. supposedly limited to 80 copies. isbn: 0848814614. scarcity: scarce.

This is essentially the same edition, with all the same content, as the version printed for 7 C’s Press. Although the copyright page states that this edition is limited to 80 copies printed in 1995, it appears that the publisher has put out later printings without stating they are reprints.

Robertson, Morgan & Ian Stevenson, M.D. The Wreck of the Titan, or Futility; & The Paranormal Experiences Connected with the Sinking of the Titanic. Riverside, CT: 7 C’s Press. 1974. hardcover. fiction. isbn: 911962093. scarcity: hard to find.

This edition is actually three books in one.

First is a reprint of the 1912 version of Robertson’s amazing fiction, The Wreck of the Titan.

Following is a 31 page article by Edward S. Kamuda titled “R.M.S. Titanic, 1912. A Tragedy Still Remembered After 60 Years”.

Finally there are two articles on other-worldly events associated with the ship by Ian Stevenson. The first is called “A Review and Analysis of Paranormal Experiences Connected with the Sinking of the Titanic”, the second is called “Seven More Paranormal Experiences Associated with the Sinking of the Titanic”.

Robertson, Morgan & Ian Stevenson, M.D. The Wreck of the Titan, or Futility; & The Paranormal Experiences Connected with the Sinking of the Titanic. Cutchogue, NY: Buccaneer Books. 1991. . fiction. isbn: . scarcity: hard to find.

A reprint of the 7 C's edition.