News about Madeleine Astor

When she went down in a tragic collision at sea, she was supposed to be the world's biggest passenger ship of her age, putting the country's naval prestige in jeopardy. No, not the RMS Titanic, but Her Majesty's Hospital Ship Britannic, which sank after hitting a mine in the Aegean Sea in November 1916. During World War I, she was the most important ship to be lost. However, there was a connection with the ocean-going liner that had been decommissioned four years earlier than striking a massive iceberg in the North Atlantic. They were sister ships built in the same dockyard - Belfast's legendary Harland & Wolff - and launched within three years of each other. The sinking of the Britannic may lead to the belief that there is a curse connected to the Titanic - and that any one or anyone else should do with her. The litany of sad events makes for enthralling reading, especially as suicides and other tragedies.