RMS Titanic was designed with four massive smokestacks, but the fourth one was entirely fake and built strictly to make the doomed ocean liner look cooler and more intimidating.

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RMS Titanic was designed with four massive smokestacks, but the fourth one was entirely fake and built strictly to make the doomed ocean liner look cooler and more intimidating. White Star Line engineers knew that rival ships had four funnels, and they figured wealthy passengers would unconsciously associate more smokestacks with raw power, speed, and luxury. The dummy funnel wasn't completely useless, as it functioned as a ventilation shaft for the first-class smoking room and the galleys, ensuring the rich didn't have to choke on their own cigar smoke while wearing top hats. It is the ultimate historical example of prioritizing aesthetic vibes over structural honesty, proving that even in 1912, massive corporations were obsessed with faking it for the marketing materials. Of course, all the fake funnels in the world couldn't save the supposedly unsinkable ship from an icy rendezvous with an iceberg, rendering the impressive aesthetic choices moot when it came time to actually float