Updated 12:02 PM EDT, Sat, Nov 02, 2024

Titanic Replica to Set Sail in 2018: Is this a good idea?

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The Titanic is not the only luxury liner in the world, but it was certainly the first of its size in 1912. It's been over a hundred years since the luxury liner sank in the Atlantic, but people still remain fascinated by it, so much so that a billionaire is recreating the famous ship.

Buzzfeed noted that Blue Star Line, an Australian-based company owned by Clive Palmer, is recreating the original ship in all its 840-cabin, 2,400 passenger capacity glory. Unlike the original Titanic, though, this version will have modern amenities and better safety standards (meaning it will have more lifeboats, among other things).

Palmer originally announced plans of building the ship in 2012, but there have been delays. It is currently set to set off on its maiden voyage from Jiangsu, China to Dubai, UAE in 2018.

While romantics and Titanic enthusiasts will love to be taken back in time and experience the luxury, there is one little catch:

Titanic has been doomed to fail from the beginning, so would anyone really want to risk it?

In 1898, Morgan Robertson wrote a novella titled "Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan" which is about a fictional ocean liner called the "Titan."

In the story, the Titan sank in the Atlantic Ocean one night in April after striking an iceberg.

While that is coincidence enough, that's not all of it. The novel was written fourteen years before the voyage of the Titanic and way before the luxury ship was even conceptualized. However, there are a lot of uncanny similarities between the fictional and the real-life versions. Here are some of them:

  1. Both have triple-screw propellers.
  2. Both were said to be "unsinkable" and were almost the same size. Time Magazine noted that the Titanic measured only 25 meters longer than the Titan.
  3. Both had a shortage of lifeboats: The Titan carried only 24 for its 3,000 passenger and crew capacity, while the Titanic had only 16 lifeboats and four folding lifeboats for its over 2,400 passengers and almost 900 crew members.

Then of course, both struck an iceberg. What's more, both ships were hit on the starboard side in April, and sank 400 nautical miles away from Newfoundland.

Creepy, right? And remember that this book was written fourteen years before the Titanic set sail.

Paul Heyer, a Titanic scholar from Wilfrid Laurier University noted, however, that the similarities between the book and the actual historical event can be explained by the author's biography."He was someone who wrote about maritime affairs. He was an experienced seaman, and he saw ships as getting very large and the possible danger that one of these behemoths would hit an iceberg."

The Titan and the Titanic sank in the Atlantic, but Titanic II will not be taking the same route. Still, would you really want to risk getting on another boat with the name "Titan" on it?

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