New Titanic to be built

Hi all
I read in one of our UK newspapers about 3 years ago that a Swiss-British company (I forget the name) was actually going to build another Titanic, exact in every aspect of the original.
They were intending to have her ready for 2012,Titanics 100th anniversary.
It seems rather shocking to me that anyone would consider building an exact replica of Titanic and have her sailing the seas where the original sank.
Has anyone else heard this story?
 
I have heard many things about new Titanic's. The skills to make a ship like Titanic no longer exists. No one would put that much wood on the ship either. Titanic may have been state of the art in 1912, but a ship like that would not be allowed to sail.
 
That will never happen.

If they were to build a ship I would hope it was more affordable. $10,000-100,000. Who the hell can afford a hundred thousand for a couple days on a ship. Aside from Bill Gates that is.
 
Hugo, this whole thing started back in 1997 when Cameron's production whipped up something of a craze on the ship. Since then, hundreds of schemes have come and gone without so much as a single contract being put out to tender or a plate of steel being cut. Rather then belabour a lot of points already made, I'll offer the banker's perspective which Lee Gilliland posted on the 13th of this month;
quote:

Some of you have read Lee's speech on Titanic II and are therefor excused. Sorry, I know it sounds like a rant. Maybe it is.

I worked at a privately-owned bank in Richmond for a while, right after Ballard
had found the ship. For some reason, a lot of the ship-making loans from around
Norfolk were made there. We went through three, I said three, Titanic II
applications that year. The idea won't float - pun intended. We did a
feasibility study on the first one - then just kept it around, as the
others wouldn't believe (we did retype the first page). The ship would
need extensive alteration in order to comply with current health and
safety regulations, including radar and sonar as well as certain things
being required to be handled by computer (all the fire and safety systems,
etc.), which was after the point in time I'm discussing, but are now required.
Then there's the idea of making money off this thing - which is, after all,
what bankers do.

Who would be the passengers on such a ship? At the moment, she is too small
to be a money-making passenger ship, unless you charged exorbitant amounts of
money - and for what? The "luxurious travel" of 1912 doesn't hold up today -
at all. First of all, the quarters - most the first-class quarters shared
bathrooms. So there's a major refit right there - and forget Third Class
altogether.

OK, let's say we go ahead and make all the rooms the equivalent of First
Class, with bathrooms. Now what are you going to have the passengers do?
Please don't forget that the main pleasures were walking the decks, talking
(excuse me, "social intercourse" ) and eating - they spent the entire evening,
every day, eating! And changing clothes. Boy, did they change clothes.

Which means, as public spaces, we have a place to read books, a place to write
letters, a place to walk around the ship or sit and have a bit of broth and
biscuit, and two places to eat. Period. No cinema, no real bar, no golf,
no shuffleboard, one - repeat one - swimming pool, inside, 1/4 Olympic length,
and one squash court. That's it folks, them's the amenities!

So now you are going to ask people to spend thousands on one-way trips in this?
Or cruises? And who, pray tell, will be the clients? Yes, the first year
(if you're lucky) all the Titanic enthusiasts in the world will sign on -
for a once-in-a-lifetime experience. This doesn't give much for the return-trip
crowd a lot of modern cruises plan for. So who next? Who would want to sail
on this thing?

At a dead minimum, at this point you need to spend at least half-to
three-quarters what you needed originally to re-outfit her as a normal
cruise ship. What's the point? Build a modern one immediately and be done
with it - who needs to waste what little profit you would make - and in
the cruise-ship business, trust me we are talking peanuts - to build
this thing? There are not enough Titanic enthusiasts in the world to make
this critter profitable.

It's dead in the water. Trust me.
I think that says it all.​
 
Well they could add a few things to make it more 'modern'. Like a dance hall, casino a bigger pool and gym. A nicer pool at that. More lifeboats of course. But to me it wont be a Titanic if it doesnt have the grand staircase and four funnels. Neither of which would happen. You only need one funnel, and you cant put that much wood on a ship. Damn technology!
 
To make her more modern would not be faithful to the real McCoy and as David G. Brown pointed out once, anything less would simply be a fraud. Regretably, the very features which would make a replica as close to being a copy of the genuine article gaurantee she would be a commercial failure as well as never being allowed to get underway.

While we mourn the loss of a lot of the grand wood panaling and carvings that graced the Edwardian liners, the fact that it's use is kept to a bare minimum is due to the severe fire hazard it represents. Which fact survivors of the Morro Castle and the Yarmouth Castle can ruefully attest to!
 
It is a crying shame that a full working replica of Titanic could never be built, I am surprised someone in Las Vegas has not built a casino mock up.

I do not think the wood restrictions would be so harsh that way, and the original engine and boiler machinery could be replicated as it would be non functional.

Best Regards,

Brian
 
I belive that replicating the Titanic is a feasable thing, if not used as a sailing ship. The idea of re-building the ship and docking it somewhere (ie: Queen Mary) and using it as a tourist attraction / Hotel and resturant. If this idea ever did come to frutation (which I do not believe it EVER would, unless I become a Billionare someday!Hee Hee) I would like to see the ship "docked" in either New york or Southampton. As far as the wood paneling and such, I have a simple solution for that as well. Someone on here used the phrase "Damn Technology." However, technology could be our saving grace in this case. There are several new materials out that are both cost effective and in some cases somewhat fire retardent, that could be used to create a faux wood paneling. I know, I know. I can hear all of the purists now. "Then it wouldn't be an actual representation!" But it would still be Titanic. I mean we live in an age where NOTHING is real. From Movies to Amusement parks, we are constantly shown things that look real. So I'm sure that we can all suspend belief for the short while it would take us to walk around our little "shrine" Just make it look real. Everyone on board would know that they were not on the "real" Titanic but being somewhere that looked exactly the same would be good enough.
As far as my idea for a hotel / resturant, it goes like this. Tourists can come aboard for guided tours for certain hours durring the day. They see everything from the Bridge to Engeneering. They pay a set fee for the tour. Of course, some room will have to be allocated (probably off the boat deck) for a souvineer (spelling??) shop. Now you also have those who wish to sleep on board. They pay different rates for diferent class staterooms. I know some will say "why would anyone want to stay in 3rd class when they could stay in 1st or 2nd?" Simple. Your average person, small time Titanic Buff, everyday tourist, etc. May not want to pay $200.00 a night (total guess on price by the way.) but may only want to spend or be able to afford $75.00. They still want to sleep on Titanic but not go all out. Others, will. Me, I'd save for a night in 1st Class as I'm sure most of ya'll would too. fine. If I own it, I'm making money. As far as eating goes, the daily tourists eat wherever they want. The gallies are progressivly nicer as you go up in class. You serve both traditional type meals based on class and what was eaten durring the time period as well as modern stuff. Cheeseburgers in 3rd class, Cafe/Dinner style food in 2nd and nice resturant type things in 1st. Also, the Parisian Cafe you turn into a snack bar/ice cream bar place. People can sit in the cafe and enjoy some fries or an ice cream cone. Or they can take thier food or drink up to the boat deck and walk around a bit more or lounge in a deck chair. The only major madification I would suggest is taking out the swimming bath and putting in a small movie theater. There, overnight guests could go to a showing of Titanic themed movies and documentaries. Schedule varies and people could watch what they wanted, cost included in their "ticket". of course.

I guess all Im saying is that while i agree that a sailing version of Titanic is out of the question..I see no reason that a replica couldn't be built and be cost effective. If anyone takes this idea and runs with it by the way, I want at least a little credit and profit sharing. Ha Ha. Let me know what ya'll think.
 
>>I know, I know. I can hear all of the purists now. "Then it wouldn't be an actual representation!" <<

Oh I'm sure it would look convincing. but you'll be running into some other problems. If nothing else, when this stuff burns, it produces some extremely toxic fumes.
 
I think it just ain't going to happen for all the reasons outlined above and then some.

Any ship is a very expensive proposition to build and maintain even under ideal conditions. Making an exact replica of Titanic would, among other things, require the ressurrection of obsolete shipbuilding technologies such as the construction of riveted hulls. Since this ship would be put together with obsolete technologies, that would require a lot of retooling to get everything needed together and it would involve training people in these techniques. Count on that raising the costs from the merely rediculous to the astronomical and all for a return that would be peanuts by comparision.

Even if the ship never went anywhere, simple upkeep would be a major problem. This sort of thing calls for still more money with income of any kind from admissions being uncertain even in the best of times. Museum ships don't always succeed even as non-profits and even small vessels such as submarines have gone to the breakers for lack of funds. You would be amazed at how many efforts fail. The ones that survive don't do so without major problems, even if the ship is donated.
 
Thanks for the vote of confidence. It's really a shame that the Olympic herself didn't survive to the present day as it would render this whole discussion moot. If there was any ships of that day that would have had a fighting chance at preservation, I would think that the Olympic would have been on of them, and I reckon the Mauritania would have been the other. Both were well loved and popular. Too bad The Depression came and reared it's ugly head.
 
Well, out of all the museum ships, a docked Titanic might have the *greatest* chance of succeeding due to its popularity . . . but Michael is right, it is highly unfeasible. ::sighs:: Looks like the only chance we've got at being on Titanic is some really advanced virtual reality program. But on the off chance that several members here all happen to win the lottery . . . ;-)
 
Back
Top