Arguably one of the most unexpected tragedies of the 20th century was the sinking of the Titanic where some 1,514 people lost their lives. The liner is often said to be the centerpiece of a tremendous curse that has appeared time and time again whenever the name Titanic is invoked in a similar fashion. And now one Billionaire is promising to create controversy by reigniting the age old mystery of the Titanic by building its sequel. The ship is expected to be crossing oceans by 2016. But will it share the same curse that has followed the name?
It all starts years before the actual sinking of the Titanic with a book about a vessel named the Titan written by Morgan Robertson. The book detailed the unbelievable sinking of a tremendously huge ship with a number of passengers still on-board. While the vessel shared many disturbing similarities with the Titanic, it was years prior to the sinking of the actual ship. Both vessels (one fictional, the other real) met a watery fate, and it was only later that the eerie coincidence was noticed. The original story was not at the time published as it was too fantastic to believe.
In 2011, 44 year old Mark Wilson named his new vessel the Titanic II shortly before it too met its fate at the bottom of the Ocean. The ship was not the first similarly named to meet an unfortunate fate. But while the name Titanic is often seen as asking for trouble, this latest mega-ship which has been given the same or a similar name as the others is expected to be sharing several coincidences with the others. There are even unconfirmed reports suggesting that the vessel will be trekking across the Atlantic and following the older ship’s route in April of 2016. And while everyone involved in the project is expected to take every safety precaution necessary, there is a considerable amount of uncertainty regarding the coincidences that will be too unnerving for some.
But there are a few noted differences as well, including the fact that the billionaire funding the ship Clive Palmer has not called it unsinkable. In fact, he said that any vessel is obviously capable of sinking. Will this lack of hubris be enough to still some peoples’ apprehensions about the project?
The RMS Titanic was one of the largest ships to be built at the time it first left the docks on the 15th of April in 1912 with 2,223 people on-board. After it struck an iceberg and the passengers began filling up the lifeboats it became immediately apparent that there were nowhere near enough lifeboats to save everyone on-board. As mentioned previously, some 1,514 people lost their lives in the ocean that night. This was on the maiden voyage of one of the largest ships to ever be built.
James Cameron’s film Titanic since then chronicled the tragedy and proved an unstoppable force at the box office. And if you’re wondering if anyone will ever make a second film about the Titanic being built once again and meeting a similar fate to its predecessor, you don’t have to wait. A straight to DVD production of Shane Van Dyke’s film Titanic II has already been made. Let’s hope it proves less prescient than the book “Futility” about the Titan.