A TITANIC BLUNDER ?

by Bob Walsh

Work has begun again on the Titanic II, a ocean liner being financed by Clive Palmer, a rich Aussie, and being built in China.

The new ship will be substantially more massive than the original, 56,000 tons as opposed to 46,000 tons. It will be 13 feet wider in the beam and will have stabilizers. It will carry 2,400 passengers and 900 crew, very similar to the original ship. It is being built with a welded hull rather than a riveted hull like the original, and presumably with better steel. High sulfur content steel which got brittle in cold water and second-rate rivets are believed to have contributed to the demise of the original Titanic. The new vessel will also have plenty of life boats. It will also feature diesel-electric propulsion rather than steam. It should be cheaper per mile to operate and cost a mere $500 million to build.

The maiden voyage will be from Dubai to Southampton, from where it will attempt to duplicate the intended course of the original, hopefully without icebergs.

Theoretically the thing will be ready to sail in 2022. Don't hold your breath on that.

As an interesting historical note I bring to your attention Violet Jessop, who died of natural causes in 1971 at the age of 83. Ms. Jessop was a stewardess on board the Titanic and was 24 years old when the ship sank. She was a demonstrator during the evacuation, showing non-English speakers how to get into the life jackets and life boats. She boarded boat 16 and was (allegedly) given a baby to take care of.

In November of 1916 she was as stewardess with the British Red Cross on board the Britannic, sister ship to the Titanic that had been converted by the government to a hospital ship. The ship was either hit by a torpedo and hit a mine, there is no conclusive proof either way. It sank in the Aegean Sea (much nicer place to sink rather than the North Atlantic) with a loss of only 30 of the 1,066 people on board. She was nearly killed when she had to abandon her lifeboat as the ships propellers will still spinning and sucked several life boats under the stern of the boat.

She went back to work for White Star in 1920 and continued that line of work for White Star, Blue Star and the Royal Mail Line until she retired.