Bold plan unveiled to build Titanic II
JONATHAN ALLEN
Last updated 09:34 27/02/2013
Fairfax NZ
The plan to build the Titanic II has been unveiled in New York by an Australian mining magnate.
Reuters
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Australian billionaire Clive Palmer speaks
at a news conference to announce plans for the building of his cruise
ship Titanic II under the Blue Star Line in New York.
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The ship will largely recreate the design and decor of the fabled original, with some modifications to keep it in line with current safety rules and shipbuilding practices, and the addition of some modern comforts such as air conditioning, Palmer said at a press conference in New York on Tuesday (local time).
However, as in 1912, the three passenger classes will be prevented from mingling.
"I'm not too superstitious," Palmer said when asked whether recreating a ship best known for sinking was tempting fate.
White Star Line, the operator of the original ship, had said the Titanic was designed to be unsinkable. Some 1500 people died on Titanic's maiden voyage in 1912 from Southampton to New York after the ship collided with an iceberg in the North Atlantic.
Palmer, who created the company Blue Star Line last year, declined to make a similar boast.
"Anything will sink if you put a hole in it," Palmer said. "I think it would be very cavalier to say it."
Unlike the original, Titanic II will have more than enough lifeboat spaces for every person on board and will have additional escape staircases. Markku Kanerva, sales director at Deltamarin, the Finnish company designing the ship, said it would be the "safest cruise ship in the world".
Palmer declined to answer questions about the project's cost, but it is understood to be about US$200 million (NZ$239m). Although the Titanic was the world's largest ship in her time, she would be smaller than many of today's modern cruise ships.
"It's not about the money," Palmer said. "I've got enough money for it, I think that's all that matters."
Forbes estimated Palmer's net worth to be US$795m in 2012. He describes himself as a billionaire.
Titanic II will be built by Chinese state-owned CSC Jinling Shipyard, which is already building four ore carriers for Palmer's mining business, he said. The contract to build Titanic II has not yet been signed, Palmer said.
"Oh, probably next week, something like that," Palmer said, when asked when that would happen. "Most things I say I'll do I do."
He hoped construction would begin later this year, and that the maiden voyage, recreating the trans-Atlantic crossing of the original, would take place in 2016, he said.
"But if it takes longer, it takes longer," he said. "But we'll do it. We've got a big pile of money."
Titanic II will also operate as a cruise ship, and passengers will find 1912-style clothing in their rooms should they wish to dress up and pretend they are living in an earlier era as they visit facsimiles of the original gilded first-class dining and smoking rooms, should they have the appropriate ticket, or the more austere third-class areas.
Helen Benziger, a descendant of Titanic survivor Margaret Brown, better known as the Unsinkable Molly Brown, said at the press conference that the ship would be a chance to experience the sort of grace and civility she said was sometimes lacking in the modern world.
"I think it's a chance to go back in time," said Benziger, who has joined the project's advisory board.
Palmer said he plans to travel in third class on Titanic II's maiden voyage.
"I'll be looking forward to it as you bang the drum and play the fiddle, twirling around like Leonardo does," he said, meaning actor Leonardo DiCaprio, in one of the repeated references he made to the 1997 James Cameron film Titanic.
- Reuters
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Titanic II: Billionaire launches plans for replica of doomed ship
Clive Palmer unveiled blueprints for the famous ship's namesake Tuesday at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York. He said construction is scheduled to start soon in China.
By Eileen AJ Connelly, Associated Press / February 28, 2013
In
this rendering provided by Blue Star Line, the Titanic II is shown
cruising at sea. The ship, which Australian billionaire Clive Palmer is
planning to build in China, is scheduled to sail in 2016. Palmer said
his ambitious plans to launch a copy of the Titanic and sail her across
the Atlantic would be a tribute to those who built and backed the
original.
Blue Star Line/AP
Mr. Palmer said 40,000 people have expressed interest in tickets for the maiden voyage, taking the original course from Southampton, England, to New York. He said people are inspired by his quest to replicate one of the most famous vessels in history.
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The original Titanic was the world's largest and most luxurious ocean liner when it hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank on April 15, 1912. Only 700 people of the more than 2,200 on board survived the most famous maritime disaster in history, partly because there were not enough lifeboats to carry everyone.
Palmer said an unknown when the original ship sailed – climate change – may play into a positive for the new ship's fate.
"One of the benefits of global warming is there hasn't been as many icebergs in the North Atlantic these days," Palmer said.
Passengers on board the replica will dress in the fashion of that period and eat dishes from the original menu, in dining rooms copied from the ill-fated predecessor.
Joining Palmer on Tuesday was Helen Benziger, the great granddaughter of Titanic survivor Margaret "Molly" Brown. Ms. Benziger, who agreed to serve on the advisory board for the Titanic II, said her great grandmother, who died in 1932, would have loved to see the Titanic rebuilt and complete the journey it never got to finish.
In what some may consider a temptation of fate for a remake of a notoriously "unsinkable" ship that sank, a representative of the Finnish designer of the Titanic II said it will be the "safest cruise ship in the world."
Markku Kanerva, director of sales for marine design company Deltamarin, said that while the vessel is modeled after the legendary liner – the diesel-powered ship will even have four decorative smoke stacks mimicking the coal-powered originals – it will meet modern navigation and safety requirements.
In addition, plans call for a new "safety deck" featuring state-of-the-art lifeboats, safety chutes, and slides. The new ship will also have amenities unknown a century ago, such as air conditioning.
Palmer, who is funding construction of the ship himself, built his fortune in real estate and coal. Australia's BRW magazine estimated his net worth last year at $4 billion, although Forbes puts it at $895 million.
"I want to spend the money I've got before I die," he said. "You might as well spend it, not leave it to the kids to spend. There will be enough left for them anyway.
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