It was Nice of the Iceberg to Cooperate

James Lileks came across this. I really don't know what to say.

Ah, the things a little research reveals: there’s a book about the theory that the Titanic found on the bottom of the ocean was not the Titanic, but was actually the Olympic, which had suffered a collision with another vessel and was too costly to repair. So they switched the identities - change the nameplates, the china, the towels, the stationery - and deliberately sunk the “Titanic” for the insurance money.

The author of the book also notes that some people believed the Titanic was sunk as part of a Jesuit plot to enable the creation of the Federal Reserve, but he finds those theories absurd.

Truly astonishing.