Titanic and the International Mercantile Marine Company

The debris map of the Titanic was finally released showing the areas around the bow and stern sections. White Star Line claimed that God Himself could not sink the great luxury liner when she foundered on  April 15, 1912 after hitting an iceberg. The famous writer William T.  Stead published two pieces that gained greater significance in light of his fate on the Titanic. On 22 March 1886, he published an article named "How the Mail Steamer Went Down in Mid-Atlantic, by a Survivor", where a steamer collides with another ship, with high loss of life due to lack of lifeboats. Stead had added "This is exactly what might take place and will take place if liners are sent to sea short of boats". In 1892, Stead published a story called From the Old World to the New, in which a vessel, the Majestic, rescues survivors of another ship that collided with an iceberg. The largest of the first class cabins aboard the ship was which John Jacob Astor occupied was originally reserved by J.P. Morgan owner of the International Mercantile Marine Company which was the trust that owned the RMS Titanic.

The International Mercantile Marine Company, originally the International Navigation Company, was a trust formed in the early twentieth century as an attempt by J.P. Morgan to monopolize the shipping trade. The end result was heavy losses for Morgan.

IMM was founded by shipping magnates J. Bruce Ismay of the White Star Line, Clement Griscom of the American Line and Red Star Line, Bernard N. Baker of the Atlantic Transport Line, and John Ellerman of the Leyland Line. The Dominion Line was also amalgamated. The project was bankrolled by J.P. Morgan & Company, led by financier J.P. Morgan. The trust caused great concern in the British shipping industry and led directly to the British government's subsidy of the Cunard Line's new ships RMS Lusitania and RMS Mauretania in an effort to compete. However, IMM dramatically overpaid to acquire some of the amalgamated companies, due to overestimation of potential profits.

IMM was a holding company that controlled subsidiary corporations that had their own subsidiaries. Morgan hoped to dominate transatlantic shipping through interlocking directorates and contractual arrangements with the railroads, but that proved impossible because of the nature of sea transport,  American antitrust legislation, and an agreement with the British government. One of IMM's subsidiaries was the White Star Line, which owned the RMS Titanic.

The early 1910s marked a turning point for the IMM. Indeed, on April 15, 1912, the Titanic, flagship of its fleet, sank during her maiden voyage. Besides the financial and human losses, the sinking had repercussions on the organization of the trust. Through the American commission of inquiry devoted to the sinking, Senator William Alden Smith openly attacked the very principle of the company and J.P. Morgan. As had been arranged before Titanic sank, J. Bruce Ismay retired as president of IMM in 1913. In 1934 the British Government offered Cunard loans to finish the Queen Mary and to build a second ship, the Queen Elizabeth, on the condition that Cunard merged with the then ailing White Star Line to form Cunard White-Star Ltd. Cunard owned two-thirds of the new company. Cunard purchased White Star's share in 1947; the name reverted to the Cunard Line in 1950.