Post date: Feb 26, 2013 11:8:44 PM
Titanic II blueprints unveiled, but don't call it 'unsinkable'.
ANIMATION (BLUE STAR LINE) - Australian mining entrepreneur Clive Palmer on Tuesday (February 26) unveiled blueprints for Titanic II, a modern replica of the doomed ocean liner, although he stopped short of calling the vessel unsinkable.
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 and wi-fi Internet, Palmer said in New York."It will have the same sort of design, except it will be constructed differently. So that the hull will be welded, it won't be pop riveted for example. The power will not be by a large amount of coal, it will be diesel electric. We'll still have three propellers because that was part of the original ship. We'll have an additional deck which will mean that the bridge is higher and we can see over the bow. And of course we'll have safety lifeboats, Atlantic first class lifeboats, that will sail around the world themselves as little ships if need be. We'll have radar, we'll have satellite navigation and we'll have air conditioning for everybody. But of course, we'll utilize the designs and then we'll have the same Titanic experience you would have had in 1912."
Palmer said courage and sacrifice comes to his mind when he thinks of the legacy of the original Titanic.
Palmer added, he would like Titanic II to inspire similar values of respect and kindness.
"I think of courage and I think of self-sacrifice. I think about respect and caring for others. And I think about overwhelming courage. You remember the guys that played.. they sang 'Nearer my God to thee'? How can you not want to cry when you think about that, the love that they had for the passengers. I think if you come to some countries around the world, you no longer think about people as human beings, we no longer respect them and I think that that's something that we've got to turn the clock back in time and do."
During a news conference, Palmer declined to answer questions about the project's cost. 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 to pay for it I think, so that's all that really matters."
Forbes estimated Palmer's net worth to be $795 million (USD) 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.
Palmer said 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.
White Star Line, the operator of the original ship, had said the Titanic was designed to be unsinkable. Some 1,500 people died on Titanic's maiden voyage in 1912 fromSouthampton 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 space in its lifeboats for every person on board and will have additional escape staircases.
Also, according to the designs, there will be 18 lifeboats and each lifeboat can hold up to 250 people.
Titanic II will operate as a luxury cruise ship with a casino, theater and modern hospital, but 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, if they have the appropriate ticket.
Although the classes will be kept largely separate, Palmer said he was considering offering ticket packages that would allow passengers to experience all three classes during a typical six-day Atlantic crossing.
Prices for the tickets will be announced later.
Helen Benziger, the great granddaughter of Titanic survivor Margaret Brown, better known as the Unsinkable Molly Brown, said Titanic II would honor the memory of the original ship's passengers.
"I see this as a great tribute to everyone who perished and also those who survived. I don't think a lot of people give credit to what the people who survived went through. I think there was an element of what you might call now PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), survivors' guilt. I know my great-grandmother never had a day that she didn't relive it. And she told the family that the worst sound she ever heard were the screams, until they stopped."
Benziger said she also hoped the ship would be a chance to experience the sort of grace and civility she said was sometimes lacking in today's world.
"The civility is gone, the manners, the consideration for others. The heroes that went down with Titanic who stepped back and let women of second class and third class get in the boats. And there you have Guggenheim and J.J. Astor standing back andGuggenheim saying in the smoking room, 'We are dressed in our finest and we will go down as gentlemen.' That way of thinking is gone and I think that's one of the things that this is going to bring back, and maybe just for five days, but I think there's going to be a whole attitude change when you board the Titanic. At least I would hope so. I would hope so."
Benziger has joined the project's advisory board.