The H.M.S. Titanic  

THE H.M.S. Titanic was conceived of by The White Star Line as part of a three-ship building programme. The idea was to build the biggest and the most luxurious ship of the day in order attract the lion's share of the trans-Atlantic ocean liner business. It did not exactly work out that way. A preview through the eyes of Parasari astrology would have given the owners a clue of the impending disaster. Alas, we are well into the Kali Yuga and the Western world is not easily persuaded by Brahminical advice.

The Titanic was launched on May 31, 1911 around noon in Belfast, Ireland. ( Chart 1 ) The white Star Line never christened its ships. A ship would simply be launched and a couple of rockets fired. If we take this to be the birth of the ship then a chart constructed for this time would be somewhat indicative of the ship's destiny.

The fact that Leo rises with the Sun in the tenth in Chart One testifies to the great fame that the ship enjoyed. The eighth house refers to the legacies and fame after death. Yogakaraka Mars is in the eighth. This does not augur well for longevity. He occupies the sign Pisces as the forth lord. The forth is the house of ships. Fiery Mars cannot be expected to give the best of results in such a watery sign; the Titanic suffered a watery death.

Does Saturn have a role in this chart? Among other things, Saturn represents steel and labor. It is said that the Titanic was constructed of a lower grade steel, something more akin to iron. And there are tales of shoddy workmanship because of discontent among the workforce. There was political alienation at the time because of the Home-Rule controversy. This makes sense because half of the workers were Irish and they considered it a British shipyard.

Debilitated Saturn afflicts the house of luck. He ssociates with Rahu and Maraka lord Mercury. Saturn is the planet of coldness and represents slow-moving icebergs. Was it not bad luck that the ship hit an iceberg and ripped apart at the rivets? In other words, the plates did not burst but the gash was along a seam of rivets. This is why the workmanship was called into question. We can conclude that Saturn certainly was the main culprit and his influence manifested in terms of labor, steel, bad luck and ice. Note also the aspect of debilitated Saturn on Venus ( ships ) and Jupiter, the lord of the house of longevity.


The more telling chart would be the one cast for the moment the actual voyage was embarked upon. One of the main teachings of the Vedic sages about travel is that the astrological alignment at the commencement of a voyage is deterministic about the fate of the voyage. We may infer from generally accepted astrological principals that a chart cast for the " birth " of a ship may also be pertinent but the moment of a journey's beginning would be the most indicative.

With regard to the journey's beginning, what was aparently an evil omen occurred as the ship was leaving the port. Omens are within the purview of astrology; so it is definitely of interest. It seems that the wash of the Titanic upon departure caused all the ropes holding the liner New York to break and actually drew the New York towards her. Thanks to the intervention of a tug, collision was avoided by about four feet. This near disaster forboded the fate awaiting the ship.

The Titanic's maiden voyage began at noon on April 10, 1912 from Southampton, England ( Chart Two ). In his book Muhurtha, DR. B. V. Raman points out that a horoscope cast for electional purposes must be analysed in terms of the following: lunar day, constellation, Lagna and Panchaka strength. To begin with, the 9th lunar day of the dark half is not an auspicious one.

How appropriate that the maiden voyage began under the sign Cancer. How inappropriate, however, that its lord, the Moon, was waning in a death-inflicting house, the seventh. The Moon receives an aspect from debilitated Saturn, Ayushkaraka, and lord of the house of longevity. The ascendant receives an aspect from Rahu as well as Jupiter. Rahu's influence is, of course, further evil and the aspect of Jupiter is not enough to help. Yogakaraka Mars is relegated to the house ofloss wherefrom his aspect on the Moon does not help much either. The ascendant is very afflicted.

Let us further examine the chart by looking at Venus. It is pointed out in all astrological literature that Venus represents boats and ships. As the lord of the 4th Venus represents ships on two counts. Venus is exalted in the ninth, a Trikona. Why did not this save the fate of the ship? Remember that Venus associates with the Nodal axis. Its Navamsa lord Sun is on the same degree as Rahu. Whatever the strength of Venus in spite of all this was not enough to alter the fate of the ship.

Actually, Venus represents musicians. The third house is also associated with music. As the song from the screenplay goes " And the Band Played on "- the ship's band assembled on the afterdeck and played music to the doomed until the Titanic went upright like a pencil and sank. It does not seem that musicians fared too well on the voyage. The affliction of Venus and the third house by the Nodes along with the association of third lord Mercury with Saturn should be sufficient explanation.

We have seen how the Sun associates with Rahu on the same degree. What does this indicate? First of all, the Sun is the Atmakaraka or indicator of the soul. The Sun indicates vitality, life and the soul of the ship. His placement with Rahu augurs badly for life.

The Sun is the king of planets. Would not the Sun, therefore, correspond to the captain of the ship? His name was E. J. Smith and he conscientiously went down with the ship. This would be another significance of the Rahu-Sun combination and it might also be indicated by the tenth lord Mars in the house of loss.

The Sun also indicates optics. In this context, the Sun-Rahu combination takes on new meaning. Somebody stole the ship's binoculars in the middle of the trip. They were there at the beginning but later on disappeared. Complaints by the lookouts were of no avail. The lookout who first reported the iceberg ( too late, of course ) was one of the survivors. He later claimed at the Board of Inquiry that if he had had binoculars he might have seen it earlier. Keep in mind that the collision occurred at night when there was only starlight to go by. Thus the affliction of the waning Moon had its role to play.

Lookouts typically were on guard for the frothy wash of waves against the icebergs to alert them. At least this was the case when the sky was dark. Otherwise, the moonlight would illuminate them. Since there was no wind there were no waves to create wash in the first place. Are debilitated Saturn and bad-lord Mercury responsible for this lack of cooperation ? They are the windy planets.

Saturn is certainly responsible for the higher percentage of deaths among the steerage and second class passengers. These, of course, consisted of the " huddled masses." In other words, they were the poor and the lower classes. Saturn represents them since he is of the Sudra caste and his debilitation in the maiden voyage chart basically seals their fate. Many of them were not properly alerted by the ship's crew because they were situated on the lower decks and also because a riot was feared. Thus debilitated Saturn indicates the awful lot of the commoners.

Actually, Venus represents musicians. The third house is also associated with music. As the song from the screenplay goes " And the Band Played on "- the ship's band assembled on the afterdeck and played music to the doomed until the Titanic went upright like a pencil and sank. It does not seem that musicians fared too well on the voyage. The affliction of Venus and the third house by the Nodes along with the association of third lord Mercury with Saturn should be sufficient explanation.

We have seen how the Sun associates with Rahu on the same degree. What does this indicate? First of all, the Sun is the Atmakaraka or indicator of the soul. The Sun indicates vitality, life and the soul of the ship. His placement with Rahu augurs badly for life.

The actual collision ocurred at 11:40 P.M. on April 14, 1912. According to some it was 11:46 P.M. Of course, the rising sign ( Chart Three ) and planetary arrangement that this occurred under do not carry the same significance and is not indicative in the way that the maiden voyage chart is. Still, it is interesting to see from an astrological perspective.

Scorpio was on the ascendent at the moment of the collision. Saturn was the forth lord and he occupied a very evil house, the 6th, still in his sign of debilitation. Mars, the Lagna lord, was in the house of death. Rahu afflicts both the waning Moon, the lord of the house of luck, as well as the Vahanakaraka Venus. The Sun associates with debilitated Saturn.

It was a terrible tragedy. There were only about 700 survivors and this represented a little less than a third of the total. If there is anything astrologers can learn from this disaster may be it is simply Yat Pinde Tat Brahmande- " as above, so below."

Before the Sun rose the next morning one of the Titanic survivors noted " the palest of moons and a bright star." (It was the 13th lunar day, dark half). If only the lookouts had had even this pale moon to see by! The bright star was, of course, Venus and Rahu, was unseen. Such an evil Moon was certainly bad association for Venus of ships. It was as if this afflicted trio were rising to survey the damage. How ironic that the survivors in their lifeboats contemplated the heavenly authors of their disaster in awe and ignorance.

At the British Inquiry, Second Officer Lightoller made a comment that was full of significance. It even has meaning which he didn’t realize, but astrologers know what it meant when the ship's Second Officer began his testimony by saying " Well, first of all there was no Moon".
 

By Dean Dominic De Lucia

Note: This article first appeared on the pages of  The Astrological Magazine , founded by B.V. Raman.

Back to Astro Articles by Dharmapad!

Dharmapad's Astro Vedica List!  

  

 

Feel Free to e-Mail Dharmapad